A reboot of a controversial 70s horror film that was banned after disturbing audiences with footage of real-life deaths is finally getting a UK release.
Notorious mondo shockumentary Faces of Death was released in 1978 and was presented as if it were a real documentary centring on pathologist Francis B. Gröss (Michael Carr) who shows viewers footage of deaths.
Despite several viewers being convinced that the entire film was real, many of the gruesome deaths were faked, while Faces of Death also included pre-existing video footage of real deaths and their aftermath.
Because of this, Faces of Death caused an intense and controversial moral panic which saw it banned in several countries, including the UK, as well as being heavily censored in others.
The film was prosecuted and added to the Video Nasty list, as it was deemed to violate the Obscene Publications Act 1959.
Earlier this year, Daniel Goldhaber reimagined the notorious film for a modern audience, taking Faces of Death into the modern streaming and social media age.
The reboot follows Margot (Barbie Ferreira), a content moderator for a TikTok-like social media platform that sees her assess flagged videos to determine whether they are suitable for the site.
She comes across videos that appear to be recreating murders from the original 1970s Faces of Death, and inadvertently gets pulled into a cat-and-mouse game with the killer, Arthur Spevak (Dacre Montgomery),a phone salesman and amateur filmmaker who recreates the death scenes in an attempt to go viral.
After first premiering at Beyond Fest Chicago in April, Faces of Death will be available to rent or buy on digital platforms from Monday (September 7).
The film recently enjoyed its UK premiere at FrightFest in London, where it screened alongside the likes of Colony, The Last Temptation of Becky, Ghost in the Cell, and Cannes hit Species.
Faces of Death has been well received by critics, currently holding an impressive 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The critics’ consensus reads: ‘A fiercely transgressive, self-aware reimagining that occasionally gives way to conventional genre exploitation, Faces of Death interrogates the morbid spectacle of violence with striking brutality and intelligence.’
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In their review, the Los Angeles Times wrote: ‘As ever, the most terrifying element in a web-based thriller isn’t the people onscreen. It’s the desensitized, anonymous messages in the chat box devouring the carnage.’
Inverse thought: ‘Although it’s not completely free from franchise rot, Faces of Death is still an impressively nasty piece of work.’
The Wrap said: ‘On one hand, Goldhaber’s film is a terrifying, stark, oppressive horror film that outscares the other modern slashers. On the other it’s an intelligent treatise on the grim obsession we have with being obsessively grim.’
Meanwhile, Vulture surmised that Faces of Death as ‘a clever, nastily contemporary riff on what the original represents.’
Faces of Death is available to rent or buy on digital platforms from Monday, September 7.
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