Younger viewers might not realize this, but seeing videos of people kicking the bucket was not such a common occurrence once upon a time. Nowadays you could just be scrolling Twitter or TikTok and BAM, someone gets absolutely annihilated right before your eyes. Back in the day, you had to actively search stuff like that out, whether it be through outlets like LiveLeak or 4chan. But while the availability of disturbing content has changed over the years, the human fascination with death has not. There’s something about that inevitability and the swiftness in which it can happen that’s terrified us, but also intrigued us. And it’s that intrigue that led to the rise of the mondo subgenre of horror, with one of the most notorious offerings being 1978’s Faces of Death.

This was a mockumentary style horror film that presented footage of gruesome deaths in an effort to better understand the many forms expiring takes. Most of the stuff shown in the film is indeed fake, but it did stir up quite a bit of controversy at the time, having been censored or outright banned in some countries. And, as someone who’s seen it, it’s a neat little piece of film history; a window into a time before all the world’s atrocities were accessible at the press of a button. But it doesn’t hold up much more beyond that, in my opinion. Truth be told, like the fictional pathologist in the film, we’ve kinda become desensitized to real world violence and the progression of realism in film and TV that the gruesome scenes might not affect you as much as you’d expect. So, how do you make a Faces of Death for the modern age? Well, you turn it into a Scream style slasher movie, apparently.

I was pretty floored for this meta continuation of the series from director Daniel Goldhaber, whose 2022 film How to Blow Up a Pipeline was a shocking and grounded look into activism and eco terrorism. But man, it just feels like the mark was majorly missed with this one. 2026’s Faces of Death takes on the reality of desensitization through social media, but only really as a set dressing rather than a fully explored theme. It bemoans society’s obsession with the macabre without really showing us the effect it has on us in an interesting or thought provoking way. The social commentary never really comes full circle, but it’s the film’s parallel story of a serial killer looking to go viral that ultimately makes this watchable. Its darkly funny moments are more than worth the admission, but I just can’t help but wonder why this decided to latch itself onto the self-serious cult film of the same name. With only a surface level of enjoyment to be had here, I found myself making a variety of faces throughout, and I only wish those expressions weren’t dominated by an overwhelming feeling of “meh”.

Margot Romero (yes, really) is a content moderator working for the world’s largest social media platform. Her job is to approve what’s acceptable for audiences to view and flag things that insult modern sensibilities. But when she comes across videos of possible murders reenacting scenes from the original Faces of Death, she begins to dig deeper and discovers that a serial killer might be feeding off people’s sick curiosities, leading to more and more vertically-shot snuff films to be created. With seemingly no one believing her, Margot must do what she can to warn the world of this threat before others, and maybe even herself, become another piece of gory content.

Margot is portrayed by Barbie Ferreira, who I think is unfortunately done a little dirty here. Her position puts her in a place where she should be numb to the amount of violence and depravity she has to shift through, but a dark moment from her past keeps her from fully slipping into being unfeeling. I think this is a solid build for a character, but as soon as the film starts to devolve into a more stereotypical slasher direction, she really starts to fall apart. She’s written to handle all of her hangups and issues in kind of an annoying way where you want to root for her on principle, but she just doesn’t come off as likable or complex. The second and third act of the film subject her to the traditional dumb and contrived decision making many horror movies thrive on because a person would not realistically respond in such a way that the movie needs them to. From not illustrating her point to needlessly delaying escape, Ferreira is not done many favors, leading to an unfulfilled character whose payoff is nowhere near satisfying.

The saving grace of the film comes in the form of Dacre Montgomery as Arthur Spevak, a weirdo obsessed with the original Faces of Death who sets out to recreate scenes from the film with limelight-adjacent people he kidnaps, only this time he actually kills them. It’s certainly not the first take on a murderer who is also obsessed with getting likes and follows, but it is certainly entertaining. Arthur is competent, yet his ego keeps him from being a full on Zodiac Killer. His obsession with virality leads to some goofy moments, from wondering how many question marks he should put in a post to taking a selfie with a dismembered body he’s dissolving with acid. There’s unfortunately not a whole lot of nuance to the character, mostly because we don’t see a lot of effect to his cause. Still, he’s entertaining for what it’s worth, and I kinda wish the film was more centered around him.

Oh, and Charlie XCX is in two scenes to do nothing but get confused about what accent she should be using. Cool.

I can’t say this thing isn’t competently directed, however. Goldhaber has proven himself to be fairly reliable as a guiding hand when it comes to visuals and composition. The film has a lot of color to it, which I think gives it a pop-type vibe at points that I enjoyed. Even still, I was surprised by how reigned in this felt at times. The original Faces of Death was unapologetic in its use of violence and gore. While it could be argued this was mainly done for shock value, it does set a precedent you would expect to be carried over into this meta-sequel. It doesn’t really capture the essence of what the original film was trying to do, and this goofier, more stylized approach kind of water down not only the visceral impact, but what the film is trying to say in general. By the time the third act rolls around, the psychology of its topic is thrown out the window, leaving us with an underwhelming ending that plays out exactly like you’d expect.

The film takes on a lot of ideas. The reality of the attention economy, the inability to discern authenticity from the fake, and how seeing a grisly death is just another Tuesday in the modern day. It says a lot of these ideas, but none of them are really articulated in a way that ends up being meaningful or poignant. We don’t really see the greater effect of this societal change outside of the killer getting a lot of unconcerned comments and likes on his posts and two guys being like “have you seen the latest beheading?” I don’t know, I guess I was expecting something a little more surgical based on Goldhaber’s prior film. I certainly wasn’t expecting the villain to monologue the themes of the movie back to the audience, but that’s sort of the trapping that most of these societal mirror films fall into. Every time it brings up an interesting point, it has to be doused in forced, frustrating horror movie BS that complicates things further purely for the sake of the plot. If the world was shown to be as truly vapid and depraved as the film seems to suggest, I think this could have been a much different story.

Not quite as unnervingly reflective as something like Red Rooms and not nearly silly enough as something like Evil Ed, 2026’s Faces of Death lands somewhere in the middle. It’s most serviceable as a goofy social commentary, but it’s disappointing that there’s not really much to be said here. It comes very close to breaking into something more nuanced, but it lacks the grit that made its namesake a piece of media to be feared. Without the Faces of Death name, this probably would have just been seen as an average Shudder original, but because it brings a bit of history along with it, I can’t help but feel underwhelmed. It’s not terrible, just shockingly not as noteworthy as I was anticipating.

RATING

MONDO REEL

If you’re gonna subject yourself to terror beyond your comprehension, i.e. social media, you better make sure your brain is wired. The Mondo Reel is a balance between the sweet and bitter, combining the flavors of coffee and Campari to make a flavor akin to dark chocolate. Additionally, we’ll be throwing in some raspberry to sweeten it up, making for a blood-red mixture that’s gonna wake you up and get you ready for some doom scrolling.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5oz gin
• 1oz Campari
• 1/2oz coffee liqueur
• 1/2oz lemon juice
• 1/2oz raspberry liqueur
• Garnish: orange peel

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add ingredients to a shaker and shake with ice.
2. Strain into coup glass.
3. Garnish with orange peel cut in a triangle shape (for a play button).