Review: FACES OF DEATH’s Slaughtering is Enviable, but the Overall Thesis is Lacking

Calling Daniel Goldhaber’s Faces of Death a remake is a stretch. It’s not a pseudo-documentary; Goldhaber and co-writer Isa Mazzei opt for a serial killer angle. Themes of censorship, desensitization, and internet brainrot examine the legacy of John Alan Schwartz’s 1978 original from afar. By concept, it’s more aligned with films like Spree or Random Acts of Violence (2026’s SXSW hit Monitor, too—like, eerily so); American Psycho for the Instagram generation. A film about the rush of watching illicit content, and the thrill of adoring audiences craving depraved smut. Goldhaber has plenty to say about how social media and access to the dark web have poisoned society (that you’ve heard before), but as a Faces of Death film? It’s a mondo-influenced misfire.

Euphoria star Barbie Ferreira plays Margot, a content moderator for popular app Kino. When she encounters a series of disturbing videos depicting all-too-realistic replications of murders, her boss Josh (Jermaine Fowler) brushes them off as fake. But Margot isn’t convinced and starts investigating with the reluctant help of her roommate, Ryan (Aaron Holliday). All she can think about is the clips as dots start connecting to other crimes, like the missing-persons case of Kino star Samantha Gravinsky (Josie Totah). Margot sought her job in honor of her sister, who passed tragically while filming a viral video, and there’s nothing that’ll stop her from uncovering the truth. Not even sketchy-vibes Arthur (Dacre Montgomery), a Signal Wireless employee cosplaying as a well-adjusted normie.

The approach is provocative, if not explored seven times over. It’s giving both Censor and Found, movies obsessed with the effects of violent media on impressionable minds and the morality at stake. Not much is added to the conversation; different package, heaps more gore. Goldhaber’s methods are abominable, albeit a bit trifling in practice. There’s a menace and sick celebrity appeal to Faces of Death that pounds home a nauseating truth about the way psycho-sickos are driven and even immortalized by strange fandoms, and yet, the experience feels forced. Inorganic, even? One of those killer flicks where you’re scratching your head at more than one scene because the graphic nature is more important than sensical plot advancement.

If you haven’t already presumed it or seen the trailer that confirms what’s revealed very early in Faces of Death, Montgomery is the avant-garde version of Patrick Bateman. He’s a disciple of the Gorgon Video-produced series, with each staged kill recreating an old-school Faces of Death design. It’s a savage turn for Montgomery, who steals a little Dexter, a lotta Manhunter, and a little of countless other famed murderers of both screen and reality. Our ability to roll with Faces of Death hinges on Montgomery’s modern-day Peeping Tom, and he’s best when delivering sinister lines that cut to the heart of clickbait’s stranglehold on culture. “It’s the attention economy, and baby, business is booming.” The way he utters those words, fakes civility, or slides on fresh killing clothes over his muscles; it’s all so frigid.

Yet, there’s a hollowness about the star-making theatrics in Faces of Death. It’s more about what Margot has to endure as she screams for help, falling on deaf ears to Josh, the police, or her roommate. There are capture and escape dynamics involving Arthur’s den that aren’t thoughtfully implemented, as well as a cheekiness that doesn’t quite fit such a cynical tone. Arthur speaks as Goldhaber at parts, remarking how parts aren’t “canon” in remake context, or how you can get away with murder in remakes because all audiences care about is nostalgia. Sure, Arthur is established as a twisted cinephile for his love of Faces of Death alone, but these lines make a mockery of grim sequences that hit way harder in, say, The House that Jack Built or Maniac. It cheapens Montgomery’s performance; this isn’t Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.

As far as slaughtering goes: yucky! Faces of Death honors its elders by heightening the brutality of hammer whacks, beheadings, and throat slashings. Arthur’s methods are surreal, using mannequins like puppets to reenact Faces of Death kills, adding a layer of disturbance because it’s not even a human committing the violence (on camera). But that doesn’t stop Arthur from getting his hands dirty—wearing red contact lenses and a white, definitionless mask like a display window demon. Goldhaber questions how Arthur views his crimson-splattered crimes as art, searching for creativity amid inhumanity. Well, until Margot gets HER hands dirty, and Barbie Ferreira delivers her best work while caked in fake bodily juices, viciously showing what real violence looks like.

Parts of 2026’s Faces of Death are enviable, but the overall thesis is lacking. Schwartz’s crude exploitation schlock sticks are dreadlier landing, while Goldhaber’s sibling watch gets too 4th-wall-break-y and slight for its own good. There are positives here revolving around Montgomery, but the heft of repugnance on screen doesn’t have lasting appeal. Where 1978’s sparked outrage, legal hearings, and exactly the horrifying real-life influence detailed in Goldhaber’s reboot / homage, this update will come and go as quickly as Charli XCX’s screentime. Don’t get your hopes up too high.

Movie Score: 2.5/5