The Video Age was an amazing boost to the film industry. Not only did it open up a whole new marketplace for studios to sell successful films too, it also became a secondary outlet to eventually recoup losses if a film performed poorly in theaters. It even opened up some films to a wider audience.Most Mom and Pop stores didn’t care that you weren’t seventeen and would rent you anything on their shelves, outside of those tapes behind the saloon doors in the back corner (from an industry that, let’s face it, probably profited more than any others since you no longer had to go to a gross and grimy theater), because every rental simply meant profit.This era also expanded an already moderately active subculture: The Cult Film. Some of those movies that didn’t do well in the theaters caught on with the rental audiences, and so did some that you might not have heard about until you stepped into the store that day. Video also helped bring into your home those movies you only heard about as being shown in midnight screenings in larger cities.There were also those that somehow became legendary through rumor. Movies whispered about in school halls or at recess. Movies that someone’s brother/cousin/friend-of-a-friend had seen at a sleepover. Movies so taboo that you’d be grounded for life if your parents found out you’d watched them. One of the most legendary of these was Faces of Death.A documentary supposedly featuring footage of real deaths, it was the king of the no-no videos, going well beyond anything else on the Video Nasties list. Though later debunked as containing faked scenes, it still holds a solid spot in the pantheon of Cult Cinema. This being the 21st century, where any past property is fair game, we of course now have a meta-reimagining also titled Faces of Death.Margot (Barbie Ferreira) works for Kino, an app similar to TikTok, as a content moderator. Every day she sits at her computer, watches the first moments of a video submitted for review and decides if it violates company standards or can stay on the platform.Margot has personal reasons for doing this, having gone horribly viral in a video, and she wants to make sure the internet is a safer place. When a series of videos come across her desk featuring deaths that look too real, she tries to get her boss, Josh (Jermaine Fowler), to go further than simply banning them, but he refuses. Since no one will listen to her, she violates the terms of the company’s NDA and begins investigating them in her free time.During her investigation, she discovers the existence of a movie called Faces of Death, and her horror-loving roommate, Ryan (Aaron Holliday), happens to have a copy. It turns out that someone is recreating scenes from the video, using the voiceover from the movie and possibly performing actual murders. That someone is Arthur (Dacre Montgomery), and Margot’s investigating puts her directly in his crosshairs.If you’re going to do anything modern with the rights to the original Faces of Death, this is definitely the direction to go. The film is a creative look into the desensitized modern screen culture and the Insta-fame of influencers. Director Daniel Goldhaber and his co-writer Isa Mazzei, who together in the same capacities brought us the excellent Netflix film Cam, have created an interesting and surprisingly entertaining treatise on the extremes that current society can make a person go to, similar to the message behind their other film How to Blow Up a Pipeline.While based on such a grotesquery as Faces of Death, Goldhaber has decided to hold back on the gore created for this version. There’s still a good amount of blood, but not as much as you might expect from something carrying this brand.Instead, the film’s more of a psychological cat-and-mouse thriller, where the emphasis is put on Margot’s investigation. Yes, through that we get to see not only Arthur’s recreations but also clips from the original video, but the filmmakers graciously curb the content shown. Plus, the slightly grainy look and the subdued lighting the Goldhaber gives to the film helps make it feel like a videotape from the 1980s, dipping us deeper into the intended effect I believe he is going for, here.Ferreira makes for an interesting choice for a Final Girl. While she’s a beautiful woman, she’s not the person would typically get hired for this role being that she’s also plus sized. This makes her more relatable than your usual Hollywood beauty. She’s not Jamie Lee or Neve, she’s you and me, and that makes the situation she finds herself in even more frightening.Montgomery is well cast as Arthur, too. He has the ability to put on this nerdy kind of public face, but his private persona is much more dangerous and off kilter. I look forward to viewing this where I can pause and see what videotape titles the filmmakers decided to put on the bookcase/door to his secret studio to see if that gives even more insight into Arthur’s mental state.While it didn’t blow me away, I really had no idea what to expect from Faces of Death. So, therefore, I can honestly say that my expectations were exceeded.
DES MOINES, Iowa —
The Video Age was an amazing boost to the film industry. Not only did it open up a whole new marketplace for studios to sell successful films too, it also became a secondary outlet to eventually recoup losses if a film performed poorly in theaters. It even opened up some films to a wider audience.
Most Mom and Pop stores didn’t care that you weren’t seventeen and would rent you anything on their shelves, outside of those tapes behind the saloon doors in the back corner (from an industry that, let’s face it, probably profited more than any others since you no longer had to go to a gross and grimy theater), because every rental simply meant profit.
This era also expanded an already moderately active subculture: The Cult Film. Some of those movies that didn’t do well in the theaters caught on with the rental audiences, and so did some that you might not have heard about until you stepped into the store that day. Video also helped bring into your home those movies you only heard about as being shown in midnight screenings in larger cities.
There were also those that somehow became legendary through rumor. Movies whispered about in school halls or at recess. Movies that someone’s brother/cousin/friend-of-a-friend had seen at a sleepover. Movies so taboo that you’d be grounded for life if your parents found out you’d watched them. One of the most legendary of these was Faces of Death.
A documentary supposedly featuring footage of real deaths, it was the king of the no-no videos, going well beyond anything else on the Video Nasties list. Though later debunked as containing faked scenes, it still holds a solid spot in the pantheon of Cult Cinema. This being the 21st century, where any past property is fair game, we of course now have a meta-reimagining also titled Faces of Death.
Margot (Barbie Ferreira) works for Kino, an app similar to TikTok, as a content moderator. Every day she sits at her computer, watches the first moments of a video submitted for review and decides if it violates company standards or can stay on the platform.
Margot has personal reasons for doing this, having gone horribly viral in a video, and she wants to make sure the internet is a safer place. When a series of videos come across her desk featuring deaths that look too real, she tries to get her boss, Josh (Jermaine Fowler), to go further than simply banning them, but he refuses. Since no one will listen to her, she violates the terms of the company’s NDA and begins investigating them in her free time.
During her investigation, she discovers the existence of a movie called Faces of Death, and her horror-loving roommate, Ryan (Aaron Holliday), happens to have a copy. It turns out that someone is recreating scenes from the video, using the voiceover from the movie and possibly performing actual murders. That someone is Arthur (Dacre Montgomery), and Margot’s investigating puts her directly in his crosshairs.
If you’re going to do anything modern with the rights to the original Faces of Death, this is definitely the direction to go. The film is a creative look into the desensitized modern screen culture and the Insta-fame of influencers. Director Daniel Goldhaber and his co-writer Isa Mazzei, who together in the same capacities brought us the excellent Netflix film Cam, have created an interesting and surprisingly entertaining treatise on the extremes that current society can make a person go to, similar to the message behind their other film How to Blow Up a Pipeline.
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While based on such a grotesquery as Faces of Death, Goldhaber has decided to hold back on the gore created for this version. There’s still a good amount of blood, but not as much as you might expect from something carrying this brand.
Instead, the film’s more of a psychological cat-and-mouse thriller, where the emphasis is put on Margot’s investigation. Yes, through that we get to see not only Arthur’s recreations but also clips from the original video, but the filmmakers graciously curb the content shown. Plus, the slightly grainy look and the subdued lighting the Goldhaber gives to the film helps make it feel like a videotape from the 1980s, dipping us deeper into the intended effect I believe he is going for, here.
Ferreira makes for an interesting choice for a Final Girl. While she’s a beautiful woman, she’s not the person would typically get hired for this role being that she’s also plus sized. This makes her more relatable than your usual Hollywood beauty. She’s not Jamie Lee or Neve, she’s you and me, and that makes the situation she finds herself in even more frightening.
Montgomery is well cast as Arthur, too. He has the ability to put on this nerdy kind of public face, but his private persona is much more dangerous and off kilter. I look forward to viewing this where I can pause and see what videotape titles the filmmakers decided to put on the bookcase/door to his secret studio to see if that gives even more insight into Arthur’s mental state.
While it didn’t blow me away, I really had no idea what to expect from Faces of Death. So, therefore, I can honestly say that my expectations were exceeded.
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics
