Faces of Death (2026) Gives Needed Facelift While Falling Into Familiar Slasher Territory
Title: Faces of Death
First Non-Festival Release: April 10, 2026 (Theatrical Release)
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Writer: Isa Mazzei, Daniel Goldhaber
Runtime: 97 Minutes
Starring: Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Josie Totah
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
In 1978 Faces of Death was released with the general public unaware that a cult classic was ready to be discovered. Presented in documentary format, the B-movie depicts a wide-range of deaths through short, unrelated clips. The vast majority of which are fake with a few examples of real footage sprinkled in. Largely, Faces of Death was a gimmick but it sparked controversy all the same.
Flash-forward to the modern day, where Faces of Death has a more legendary appeal given its cult popularity. Content moderator Margot Romero (Barbie Ferreira) is passionate about her role in making the internet a safer place after the release of a particularly humiliating internet video that shows Margot inadvertently leading her friend to her death. It’s this mission to heal the world that leads Margot down a terrifying rabbit hole when she believes real-life snuff films are being released on her employer’s social media app. Investigating further, it seems these videos are re-creating famous scenes from an old movie called “Faces of Death”. Incensed at the lack of response, Margot takes matters into her own hands, unaware that puts her squarely on the killer’s (Dacre Montgomery) radar.
Well-intentioned and executed, Faces of Death is a solid yet dated tech slasher.
The mystery behind this tech horror slasher is obvious but that doesn’t minimize its stylish impact. Faces of Death is unconcerned with holding its antagonist’s identity close to its chest. Instead, Margot’s swirling descent into his life and lair takes priority. This journey culminates with the sickening realization of where her story is heading proving to be Faces of Death’s most unsettling attribute. By removing the unknown, the known inspires more than sufficient tension to keep viewers invested in its more aspirational moments.
Margot’s crusade to prevent as much harmful content from reaching the general public is honorable, even if the character arc goes to strange places. Her quest for redemption makes her an affable enough lead, despite her propensity of making impulsive decisions. It almost echoes the through-line of Faces of Death’s commentary on the slow erosion of online social norms leading to real-life violence. Margot’s actions throughout echo these good intentions that many understandably passionate advocates take in real life to steer us away from the dangers of technological advancement without ethical guardrails. Faces of Death shows the ways in which our data can be compromised by bad actors, how tech companies evade their duty to protect its customers in favor of profit, and how social media is weaponized to create false or conflicting narratives.
Easily Faces of Death’s most memorable element, Dacre Montgomery’s performance keeps the film from veering off the deep end, even if the character isn’t all that interesting. Flexing his acting chops as the manipulative serial killer, Montgomery delights in his villainy with all the cocky charms of a brainrot streamer churning out ad after ad for their supplements. Capturing the wanton cruelty towards others he deems lesser and leaning into his privilege as an innocuous looking, quirky white guy, Arthur is a realistic serial killer in the sense that his mundane hatred of women and minorities is exacerbated by a steady diet of internet hate. There’s nothing inherently wrong about any of this, it’s just a very boring and obvious point at this point in the discourse. Regardless, Montgomery rises to the challenge consistently surprising, even if a few hokey scenes still manage to sneak their way into the picture.
Its surface-level musings on internet antagonism and radicalization are juxtaposed against its strange meta narrative that ultimately accomplishes little. Throughout 2026’s Faces of Death, there’s this overestimation of the original’s cultural impact that leaves the film feeling too ambitious. While readily known to horror fans and the endless cycle of the edgiest 12-year-old boys somehow always managing to get their hands on a copy, the impact Faces of Death had on the general public feels disconnected from a modern audience. While its choice to embrace a traditional slasher narrative saves it from implosion, it doesn’t have much to say about the ways technology has evolved with film that make it stand out from its contemporaries that are exploring far deeper and more complex questions.
It’s the way that Faces of Death frames its violence and builds tension that gives the film an edge. There’s a level of viciousness afforded to the violence here. Each stab wound feels personal, with director Daniel Goldhaber refusing to tone it down to pass servers. The shocking and brutal moments desensitize the viewer the way Margot’s endless stream of videos to review does. By the time it reaches its end, Faces of Death executes its violence with the appropriate amount of tension while giving credence to its familiar thoughts on the modern shaping of violence and the passivity in which society watches the time bomb tick.
Seasoned genre lovers will find little new in Faces of Death but will likely embrace the slasher all the same. Solid performances, great gore, and a decidedly dark approach to social critique outweigh its reliance on familiarity and stale takes on social violence. Dacre Montgomery and Barbie Ferreira are worth the price of admission alone for anyone seeking out an equally entertaining and scary modern slasher.
Overall Score? 6/10
