Originally announced back in 2021, Daniel Goldhaber’s “Faces of Death” remake began production in April 10, 2023 and wrapped on May 12 of that year.
The project, spearheaded by Legendary Entertainment, is said to be a modern twist on the premise of the 1978 cult classic. Much like Goldhaber’s last few films, “Faces of Death” is said to have a very measly budget as it was only made for $7.4 million.
Released in 1978, “Faces of Death” is widely regarded as one of the more controversial films of the 20th century. Presented in docu-fiction style, the film followed a pathologist examining the various gruesome ways that people around the world have died. The film has been mythologized for allegedly showing footage of real murders — it ended up being banned in numerous countries. One can confidently theorize that there might not be a “Blair Witch Project” without this film’s existence.
The remake stars Dacre Montgomery, Barbie Ferreira, Josie Totah and Charlie XCX. It will instead follow a female moderator of a YouTube-like site as she sorts through content unfit for the platform. Here’s the synopsis we have, so far:
A woman who moderates a YouTube-like platform, responsible for filtering out any content that is offensive or violent, comes across a group on the website that appears to be re-enacting the murders from the original film. However, given the digital age of widespread misinformation online, are these murders real or fake?
Goldhaber’s film recently test-screened in California, and one of our go-to testers sent in their reaction to the film. It’s a very positive take:
This was modern take on “Faces of Death,” but done in a very meta way in which a “fan” of the original is recreating the deaths from the original cult movie. An internet moderator comes across his remakes and becomes convinced they’re real despite everyone else disregarding them as really well done fakes. A really intense thriller, that’s very smart and darkly funny, about the way the internet consumes viral content and creates victims/perpetrators of all of us.
Good acting from both of the leads. Barbie Ferreira is a very modern final girl with a tragic past. A Patrick Bateman-esque turn from Dacre Montgomery as an unhinged 21st century internet psychopath. The movie also looks great, it was shot on film and that gives it an extra grimy look. Watch out for a tense single-take chase scene that’s impressively crafted.
Now, I’m not very surprised that this film might be good. Goldhaber turned a lot of heads with last year’s taut, tense and terrific “How to Blow Up A Pipeline.” I was also a big fan of his 2018 breakout, “Cam” — if you haven’t seen this surreal, almost nightmaresque, film then I highly recommend you stream it on Netflix.
“Faces of Death” currently has no distributor, and, obviously, no release plans to its name, but I bet someone will pick it up soon. It sounds like a winner and Goldhaber is definitely a new talent to keep an eye on.
Zeller’s feature debut, “The Father,” was an acclaimed and Oscar-winning film. Many believe he struck out with his sophomore effort, 2022’s critically maligned “The Son.” This is another miss.