Daniel Goldhaber’s “Faces of Death” remake, which has been ready to go since 2024 and was given a hard R rating by the MPA for “strong bloody violence, gore, sexual content, nudity, language, and drug use,” has finally released a trailer— with actual footage, no cryptic nonsense like the last one — and you know what? It looks good!
What I would want from a “Faces of Death” remake — or reimagining, whatever you want to call it — is something fresh, modern, and wholly shocking. Judging by some of the footage I was lucky enough to catch a few weeks ago, I think horror fans are in for a treat here.
Shot in April 2023, Goldhaber’s film is a “modern” take on the premise of the 1978 cult classic. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one gets tons of walkouts, with disgusted customers disturbed by what Goldhaber has concocted here. This is grisly stuff, shot in an almost lo-fi style, much like the filmmaker’s previous two films, and made on a relatively small budget of just $7M.
Almost three years after it was in the can — with unhappy producers paying for reshoots — the film had tested very well. The claim from backers was that the movie was too “experimental,” one person told me, and not the film Legendary expected Goldhaber to deliver. I can also confirm that the film was actually supposed to premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in 2025, but was pulled without explanation — almost to spite Goldhaber.
“Faces of Death” stars Dacre Montgomery, Barbie Ferreira, Josie Totah, and — her again — Charli XCX. It follows a female moderator of a YouTube-like site as she sorts through content deemed unfit for the platform. She 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 deepfakes?
Goldhaber turned a lot of heads with 2022’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 that surreal, almost nightmare-like film, I highly recommend streaming it on Netflix.
“Faces of Death” is getting a nationwide release on April 10 via IFC/Shudder.
It’s no wonder 20th Century decided to dump the movie during the last week of August—a place where movies are set up to die quietly before the fall movie season begins.