Nothing made quite the same statement as a large VHS cover box.
In the streaming age, it's not remotely the same experience as when you had to seek out movies and siscover them by browsing video store shelves. While we've expanded our knowledge with the invention of the internet, we've also become extremely spoiled.
I don't intend for this entire review to be variations on the theme of "Old Man Yells at Clouds", but it's true. And it's also not going to be "kids have it so easy nowadays" but there is some truth in it. Half the adventure was the chase. If Long John Silver clickety-clacked "buried treasure" into an Amazon search bar so he could have it delivered to his home via two-day shipping, I doubt there'd be much of a legend.
Our local video store was called Red's. It smelled like a leaky toilet. I was told this was due to the apartment above the store having a leaky toilet. Everything was vaguely organized into genres. They had a section of, like, self-help videos. I don't remember what they called it, but it was right near the adult movie section. When I was with my parents, they would shoo me away from there.
So, I went to Red's by myself one day. It didn't make sense, but Faces of Death was in this section. It was a huge box with a scary looking skull on the front. The box proclaimed there were scenes of actual death. The mere idea scared me. I've always scared easily but this was serious. These were real deaths.
I put the box down and scotted out. I wasn't sure if the guy working at Red's knew my parents and would tell. I didn't trust his beard. I went home and fired up GoldenEye on my Nintendo 64. My father was in the room, reading the newspaper. I needed to know more about this tape. The only real source of information I had was my father.
The problem was if I asked him, he'd know I sneaked down to Red's and looked. Or, maybe he wouldn't. I had to be cool. Casual. Like James Bond ordering a martini.
"Dad, what do you know about Faces of Death?"
I didn't make eye contact with him because I thought doing so would make it more obvious that I was trying to be sly. I heard the crinkling of his newspaper. He was looking at me. I had to project confidence.
He doesn't know anything. James Bond all the way.
"You went to that section in Red's you weren't supposed to, didn't you?"
Nailed it.
What followed was a wide-ranging conversation about trust and consequences. Sentences beginning with "You knew..." were abundant. After I waa adequately admonished, my father sighed, shaking his head.
"You have to stay away from that dreck, Adam. It does no one any good," he said.
"Is it real?"
"Does it matter? That's not entertainment. That's sitting in someone's suffering. You don't want that. You watch that kinda crap and it'll change you."
It was an oddly profound sentiment coming from a guy who would watch war movies and westerns all the time. Profound though it was, it didn't stop me from looking into the film and asking around about it.
Years pass. A guy I went to college with was well-versed in the big box VHS horror movies of the time. He made a habit of renting one a week. He told me about Faces of Death and how it was fake and lame and not to bother watching it. Even the mere mention of the movie bothered me. Years later, it still felt forbidden.
I heard about the remake last year and wasn't really sure how they would do it. I also thought that, if I was going to see the remake, I should see the original. I tried to track it down and found out there were several Faces of Death movies. Should I watch them all? Would I even be able to handle it?
A few months back (I'm writing this in July of 2026), Vinegar Syndrome announced they were doing a complete remastering of the original film. I buy a lot of stuff from Vinegar Syndrome, enough that I should own stock. This seemed like a sign. A sign from who, I'm not sure. I placed my order.
It arrived a few weeks later and I was half-convinced some sort of demon was going to pop out of it. Here it was, so many years after the conversation I had with my father. I had to talk myself into it.
You're not some kid. You can watch this. By all accounts, the majority of what they show in it is fake. You're fine. You've seen stuff like this before.
I stood in my living room for at least five minutes, looking at the disc. I finally threw caution to the wind and placed the disc in the player. The disc booted, I sat down and hit "Play".
All those years. All that build-up and tension. For nothing. The film itself, I guess, isn't awful for what it is. But what is it? It never really chooses. Instead we get a bunch of footage, some of which is clearly poorly staged and some that is news footage. There's a narrator who claims to be a doctor, but he's just an actor. It all feels kinda silly.
After seeing the original, watching the remake seemed like more of a task, but the description was intriguing on its own. A serial killer (Montgomery) is using the template of the original Faces of Death film to create his own "remake", posting the videos online and hoping to go viral.
The film has a lot it wants to say about the current state of society. People gain notoriety in a multitude of ways. Some people hold up a bottle of mustard, put it on a chocolate freeze pop and eat it. It gets multiple views and then the popsicle eater becomes Mustard Guy. Mustard Guy gets famous for a couple of months and starts dating a Kardashian. Then they're set for life.
That's a more innocuous example. The only person being harmed in Mustard Guy's case is Mustard Guy and his digestive tract. What if someone decided to film them hurting other people? Who would stop them?
The film also deals with how viewing violence affects people. For years, I've always believed things don't work like that. I've never been a violent person and I've consumed a lot of content. I'm not saying that as a badge of honor, but if it was going to make anyone into a raving lunatic, I'd be top of the list. But then you start talking about how people were brought up. Maybe the stupid horror movie that you laughed at deeply traumatizes someone else. Maybe me (figuratively) being afraid of my own shadow is because of all the scary nonsense I've expoosed myself to over the years. Who truly knows?
Faces of Death asks a lot of questions but there aren't a lot of clear answers. Maybe the simple fact that the film asks these questions is enough. Art should be challenging, especially when the subjects are muddy. That's not to say the film is some sort of assignment that we have to endure. At its heart, it's a pretty straightforward slasher film. It has elements of The Silence of the Lambs and Seven to it. If they were to remake the original, this would be the way to do it.
I guess the question is do you need to see the original to appreciate the remake? Absolutely not. The remake does a good job giving the information we need to understand it without knowledge of the original. The remake isn't nearly as graphic or disturbing as the original, but it doesn't have to be to be effective. Standing on its own two feet, it's a perfectly servicable slasher.
2026 has been a landmark year for horror films. Years from now, Faces of Death (2026) probably won't be remembered the same way as films like Send Help, Obsession or Backrooms, but it still gets the job done.
Maybe there's a middle-schooler that is browsing through a streaming service as I write this and as you read this, landing on Faces of Death (2026) and getting scared. Maybe like me, he'll build it up for decades only to ultimately be disappointed in it.
If only the remake was displayed in an oversized VHS box. Maybe it would make more of an impression.
Faces of Death (2026)
Directed by Daniel Goldhaber
Cast: Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Aaron Holliday
Runtime: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R (for strong bloody violence and gore, sexual content, nudity, language and drug use)
Faces of Death (1978) rating (out of ****): *
Faces of Death (1978) is available to purchase via phsyical media. It is streaming on Shudder with a subscription as well as for free on Tubi.
Faces of Death (2026) rating (out of ****): **1/2
Faces of Death (2026) is available for rent or buy on all streaming platforms and streams on Shudder with a subscription.
