If you were born before 1990, chances are a beat-up VHS copy of 1978’s Faces of Death was the ultimate school hallway currency. It was the “forbidden fruit” of the video store. A movie you had to sneak past your parents and watch with the volume low, terrified that what you were seeing was 100% real. It was a traumatizing rite of passage, and now, it’s coming back to finish the job.
Legendary Entertainment and IFC Films have confirmed that the reimagining of the infamous cult classic will haunt theaters this April. To celebrate its upcoming release, a new Red Band trailer has officially dropped, and it’s already causing a stir. The new character posters are so disturbing that they’ve been banned from some public displays. In fact, the posters have been blurred just to release them.
A Digital Age Nightmare
Rather than just a simple montage of gore, directors Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber (Cam) are dragging the concept into the social media era with a meta twist. We follow a content moderator (Barbie Ferreira) for a massive, YouTube-style platform. Her soul-crushing job is to scrub the internet of things no human should see. However, she stumbles upon a group meticulously recreating the “deaths” from the original 1978 film. In a world of deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation, the movie asks the most terrifying question of all: Is it real, or just a really good fake?
A Surprisingly Stacked Cast
The lineup for this movie is surprisingly stacked for a gore-fest. Barbie Ferreira (Euphoria) stars along with Dacre Montgomery, our favorite “Stranger Things” lifeguard/villain. Charli XCX, Josie Totah, and Jermaine Fowler round out a very modern cast.
Why the Original Still Scares Us
For the uninitiated, the original Faces of Death was a “mondo” horror flick. It infamously blurred the line between staged stunts and actual newsreel footage of accidents and animal attacks. It was banned in multiple countries and became the holy grail for horror fans looking to test their mettle.
If you’re feeling brave (or just want to relive some of the trauma), the original is currently streaming on Roku and Prime Video.
Coming Soon
Come April 10, brace yourself, Faces of Death hits theaters everywhere. And for the love of god, leave your kids at home! You don’t want to leave them traumatized. Theaters are likely to sell out, so get your tickets now.
Warning: Red Band Trailer NSFW
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- Barbie Ferreira “Margot”
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- Dacre Montgomery “Arthur”
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- Josie Totah ”Samantha”
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- Aaron Holliday “Ryan”
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- Charli XCX ”Gabby”
