Faces of Death
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Daniel Goldhaber
Written by
  • Isa Mazzei
  • Daniel Goldhaber
Based on Faces of Death
by Gorgon Video[a][1]
Produced by
  • Don Murphy
  • Susan Montford
  • Greg Gilreath
  • Adam Hendricks
Starring
  • Barbie Ferreira
  • Dacre Montgomery
  • Josie Totah
  • Aaron Holliday
  • Jermaine Fowler
  • Charli XCX
Cinematography Isaac Bauman
Edited by Taylor Levy
Music by Gavin Brivik
Production
companies
  • Legendary Pictures
  • Angry Films
Distributed by Independent Film Company
Release dates
  • April 5, 2026 (2026-04-05) (Beyond Fest)
  • April 10, 2026 (2026-04-10) (United States)
Running time
98 minutes[2]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $7.4 million
Box office $2 million[3][4]

Faces of Death is a 2026 American horror film and reimagining[5] of the 1978 film. Directed by Daniel Goldhaber and co-written with Isa Mazzei, it stars Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Josie Totah, Aaron Holliday, Jermaine Fowler, and Charli XCX. Filming was completed in May 2023.

The film premiered at the Beyond Fest Chicago as a 35mm screening on April 5, 2026. It was released in theatres by Independent Film Company on April 10, 2026.

Plot

Margot Romero, a content moderator for Kino, a TikTok-like platform responsible for filtering out any content that is offensive or violent, comes across an eerily real decapitation execution video on the site. Although she initially disregards them as staged with potentially hyper-realistic practical effects, her concerns grow when another video depicting death via electric chair pops up in a similar format. She reaches out for second opinions but is quickly dismissed, seemingly attributed to her past involvement in a trend which accidentally resulted in the brutal, recorded and uploaded death of her sister on a train track. At home, Margot's roommate Ryan gives her a lipstick knife.

Arthur Spevak tracks down influencer Samantha, injects her with fentanyl, and kidnaps her. Margot is increasingly alarmed by the appearance of another graphic video involving a gruesome scalping, but she's shut down once more. Meanwhile, Arthur kidnaps a local news-anchor and his son. Margot turns to Reddit to accurately decipher whether or not the murders are staged or real. The videos quickly skyrocket in popularity.

Arthur kills the news-anchor in a shoot-out setup. Through Reddit, Margot discovers the original Faces of Death film and the murder sprees identical alignments to the material. Ryan explains the film's purported infamy as a "real" array of snuff deaths yet revealjs that it was all fake, which may coincide with the uploaded modern renditions. Disturbed and wanting clearer proof, she gives her boss Josh concert tickets to distract him away from his computer so she can download the available footage onto her hard-drive, view the uploader's metadata, and upload them to Reddit. Under a throwaway account, Arthur replies with a malicious link to Margot's post and acquires her IP address.

The next day, Margot is fired from Kino due to breaking company policy. Despite constant resistance, she continues her pursuit in hopes of avenging her sister's death and to hopefully restore her own public status. Later, Arthur breaks into their apartment, kills Ryan, and drugs and kidnaps Margot.

Margot awakes in a caged basement and is able to free herself with the lipstick knife in her coat pocket. She saves Samantha who urges her to leave the property immediately yet Margot stays behind to steal Arthur's hard-drive for the raw footage, which shows him unmasked. Samantha manages to break free but is shot by Arthur with a scoped rifle. Margot flees into the woods and manages to return with a police escort in hopes of saving Samantha, but Arthur manipulates them into believing she trespassed on his property and she is detained.

At a hospital, Margot receives Narcan and is sent a text demanding she return with the drive or Samantha and the other boy will be murdered. At his place, Arthur holds Margot at gunpoint, explains the world's desensitization to violence alongside the attentive desire for remade content in a newer age which spurred his murder spree. In the garage, Arthur reveals the severed heads of the two victims strewn atop mannequins and orders Margot to inject herself with fentanyl. Minutes later, Margot repeatedly stabs Arthur with her lipstick knife and a lengthy, bloody scuffle ensues between the two. Margot manages to survive, having recorded the entire confrontation on a hidden body camera. Arthur watches the last lines of Faces of Death as he bleeds out. On his computer, Margot uploads the footage to Kino and laughs in celebratory victory as it passes through the site's moderation.

Cast

  • Barbie Ferreira as Margot, a content moderator for Kino
  • Dacre Montgomery as Arthur, a serial killer recreating deaths from the original Faces of Death
  • Josie Totah as Samantha, an influencer and one of Arthur's victims
  • Aaron Holliday as Ryan, Margot's roommate
  • Jermaine Fowler as Josh, Margot's boss
  • Charli XCX as Gabby, one of Margot's co-workers
  • Kurt Yue as a local news anchor and one of Arthur's victims

Production

In October 2006, Rogue Pictures was in talks to produce a remake of the 1978 horror film Faces of Death with J. T. Petty attached to direct with producers citing a desire to tap into audiences' appetites for gory horror films citing the success of The Grudge and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.[6] The rights were reported in May 2021 to have been acquired by Legendary Entertainment. The writing team Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei were hired, with Goldhaber set as director.[7] Susan Montford and Don Murphy produced under Angry Films, while Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath under their Divide/Conquer banner.[8]

In April and May 2023, Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Josie Totah, Charli XCX and Jermaine Fowler were announced as the lead cast.[8][9][10] On a production budget of $7.4 million (before tax incentives),[11] principal photography began in New Orleans on April 10, 2023, under the working title Home Movies, and wrapped on May 12, 2023.[12][8][13] While principal shooting was completed in 2023, pick-up shots were finished in March 2024.[14]

Release

North American distribution rights to the film were acquired by Independent Film Company and Shudder, with a release date set for April 10, 2026. The film marks IFC's widest release to date.[15] The film premiered at the Beyond Fest Chicago as a 35mm screening on April 5, 2026.[16][17] It also screened at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles on April 7,[18] and at the 2026 Overlook Film Festival on April 9.[19][20]

Reception

Box office

Faces of Death opened in 1,678 theaters, earning $892,000 from preview screenings and Friday ticket sales, and was projected to gross $1.8 million over its opening weekend.[21]

Critical reviews

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 69% of 86 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "A fiercely transgressive, self-aware reimagining that occasionally gives way to conventional genre exploitation, Faces of Death interrogates the morbid spectacle of violence with striking brutality and intelligence."[22] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[23] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Faces of Death". Writers Guild of America West. Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  2. ^ "Faces of Death [18A]". British Columbia Film Classification Office (Consumer Protection BC). March 24, 2026. Retrieved March 24, 2026.
  3. ^ "Faces of Death (2026)- Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved April 12, 2026.
  4. ^ "Faces of Death". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 12, 2026.Edit this at Wikidata
  5. ^ Earl, William (April 9, 2026). "As Social Media Tears Society Apart, a New Crop of Scary Movies Focuses on the Horror of Content Moderation". Variety. Retrieved April 11, 2026.
  6. ^ "Rogue will face 'Death'". Variety. Archived from the original on October 23, 2025. Retrieved October 22, 2025.
  7. ^ Kit, Borys (May 7, 2021). "Cult Horror Movie Faces of Death Getting 21st Century Reimagining Via Legendary (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  8. ^ a b c Wiseman, Andreas (April 3, 2023). "Josie Totah Joins Barbie Ferreira & Dacre Montgomery In Faces Of Death Update; Legendary Horror Begins Filming This Month". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  9. ^ Gonzalez, Umberto (April 21, 2023). "Charli XCX to Make Feature Film Debut in Legendary's Faces of Death (Exclusive)". TheWrap. Retrieved May 3, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  10. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (May 3, 2023). "Jermaine Fowler Joins Legendary's Faces of Death". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 18, 2024. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  11. ^ "Fastlane NextGen: Initial Certification Search" (Type "Faces of Death aka Home Movies" in the search box). Louisiana Economic Development. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  12. ^ "Productions". New Orleans Film Commission. Archived from the original on May 6, 2023. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  13. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony; Kroll, Justin (May 2, 2023). "How WGA Strike Could Impact Movies Gearing Up For Production". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 3, 2023. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  14. ^ DeVore, Britta (March 16, 2024). "Barbie Ferreira Gives an Update on "Gruesome" Faces of Death Remake [Exclusive]". Collider. Archived from the original on May 23, 2025. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  15. ^ Earl, William (February 4, 2026). "Faces of Death Remake Set for April Release by IFC and Shudder; Director Teases Using Real-Life Violence Like the Original 'Within the Bounds of the Law' (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved February 4, 2026.
  16. ^ Foreman, Alison (March 4, 2026). "Beyond Fest Announces Programming for Inaugural Chicago Edition in April". IndieWire. Retrieved March 19, 2026.
  17. ^ "Faces of Death". Beyond Fest. Retrieved March 19, 2026.
  18. ^ "Faces of Death". American Cinematheque. Retrieved April 1, 2026.
  19. ^ Foreman, Alison (March 11, 2026). "Overlook Film Festival Announces First Wave of 2026 Lineup: 'Obsession', 'Leviticus', 'Hokum', and More". IndieWire. Retrieved March 19, 2026.
  20. ^ "Faces of Death". 2026 Overlook Film Festival. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  21. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 11, 2026). "Super Mario Galaxy Movie Still Jumping Past $300M+ – Saturday Box Office Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 11, 2026.
  22. ^ "Faces of Death". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 11, 2026.
  23. ^ "Faces of Death". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved April 11, 2026.

Notes

  1. ^ Original 1978 film written and directed by John Allen Schwartz.