Faces of Death

by Mike McGranaghan

Anyone who wasn’t around in the 1980s might have a difficult time understanding what a dark phenomenon Faces of Death was. The VHS tape, available in the horror section of many video stores, purported to show actual animal and human deaths. (Those claims were later proven largely untrue.) It became that era’s equivalent of a viral sensation, with people daring themselves - and each other - to watch it. I was too scared at the time, despite some of my high school friends taking the plunge. When I finally gave it a shot about a year ago, I turned the darn thing off after 35 minutes, not because it was upsetting but because it was boring. Long removed from the controversy, the movie looks like the fakey schlock it always was.

At least one good thing came from that notorious freak show: it inspired the nerve-rattling new horror film also called Faces of Death.

Barbie Ferreria (Bob Trevino Likes It) plays Margot, a content moderator at a TikTok-like social media company. She’s used to seeing all variety of bizarre clips, but a series of videos, uploaded by the same user, seems a little too convincing. The videos show people being brutally killed by a white-masked figure. Against regulations, Margot starts investigating, coming to determine that a serial killer (Dacre Montgomery) is committing murders inspired by specific scenes from Faces of Death. This discovery proves to be the start of a harrowing nightmare for her.

You needn’t see the original to be disturbed by what takes place here, although the more familiar you are, the more rewarding it is. Director Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) and writer Isa Mazzei (Cam) cleverly weave footage from the old Faces of Death into their movie. The clear implication is that FOD was the progenitor to the most troubling parts of today’s online culture, namely YouTube/TikTok videos of fights and violent acts that are presented as entertainment. Our thirst for taboo sights has grown as access to it has become easier.

That’s a provocative, relevant idea. Goldfaber and Mazzei always feel on the verge of saying something profound about it, without quite getting there. “Give the people what they want,” a repeated phrase in the film, is as deep as things get. Even if they don’t go beyond that, the mere connection of the dots is enough to make us realize that we’re a contributor to the problem. Who among us hasn’t watched and/or shared a salacious video at some point? The picture’s biggest scare is the realization that we are all enablers of bad behavior, allowing clicks and likes to serve as reinforcement for people who crave negative attention.

Thrills are present on a more visceral level, too. Montgomery is legitimately menacing as the madman, whether he’s wearing the mask or not. As Margot gets closer to him, the shocks grow larger. Early scenes generate horror by showing the killer’s FOD recreations, whereas later ones put Margot and a couple other characters in gruesome peril. Because authorities don’t believe her, Margot takes the initiative to investigate on her own. Casting Barbie Ferreira was an ingenious idea. Aside from projecting immense likability, she doesn’t fit the tired “Final Girl” stereotype, making the character’s fate less certain. The actress gives a very good, substantive performance.

Appropriately, Faces of Death can be viciously unsettling at times. The film has an unsparing quality that’s perfectly in line with its inspiration. Plenty of jolts are packed into 98 minutes, the biggest of which is the recognition that the stuff we watch currently will someday come to seem as tame as the original FOD does now.

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