Here’s something I never expected to be typing: Legendary Pictures has lined up Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber (who delivered the excellent Cam all the way back 2018) to write and direct a remake of Faces of Death, the notorious 1978 mondo horror film that purported to feature footage of actual deaths caught on film.
The truth about the original is a bit trickier than that (quite a bit more of Faces of Death was staged than its director, John Alan Schwartz, led audiences to believe), but the film’s notoriety and cult status have kept it in the horror conversation ever since its release.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Barbie Ferreira (HBO’s Euphoria) and Dacre Montgomery (Netflix’s Stranger Things) will star in the film, which is being pitched as a “reimagining” of the property. What’s that mean? Well, for starters, we imagine they won’t be pushing the “No, seriously, this is all real footage!” angle this time around.
For another, it sounds like this version will be taking a far more modern approach. Here’s what Mazzei and Goldhaber had to say in a joint statement:
“Faces of Death was one of the first viral video tapes, and we are so lucky to be able to use it as a jumping off point for this exploration of cycles of violence and the way they perpetuate themselves online.”
What will that look like in action? Here, via Bloody Disgusting, is an official plot synopsis:
“The new plot revolves around a female moderator of a YouTube-like website, whose job is to weed out offensive and violent content and who herself is recovering from a serious trauma, that stumbles across a group that is recreating the murders from the original film. But in the story primed for the digital age and age of online misinformation, the question faced is are the murders real or fake?”
Intriguing, indeed!
Nothing further to report on the new Faces of Death at this time, but rest assured that we are deeply curious to learn more, and that we’ll keep you informed as future updates roll in. Stay tuned, folks!
