Faces of Death (2026 film)

Margot Romero, a content moderator for Kino, a TikTok-like platform, is responsible for filtering out any content that is offensive or violent. During her shift, she comes across an eerily real decapitation execution video on the site. Although she initially disregards them as staged with potentially hyper-realistic practical effects, her concerns grow when another video depicting death via electric chair pops up on the site. She reaches out for second opinions, but is quickly dismissed, which is seemingly attributed to her past involvement in a trend that accidentally resulted in the brutal death of her sister on a train track. At home, Margot's roommate Ryan gives her a lipstick knife.

Arthur Spevak tracks down influencer Samantha Gravinsky, injects her with fentanyl, and kidnaps her. Margot is increasingly alarmed by the appearance of another graphic video involving a gruesome scalping, but she is shut down once more. Meanwhile, Arthur kidnaps a local news anchor and his teenage son. Margot turns to Reddit to determine whether the murders are real or staged. The videos she posts on Reddit quickly skyrocket in popularity.

Arthur kills the news anchor in a shoot-out setup. On Reddit, Margot discovers the original Faces of Death film and notices similarities to the murder videos posted on Kino. Ryan explains the film's purported infamy as a "real" array of snuff deaths, yet reveals that it was all fake, which may coincide with the modern renditions being uploaded. Disturbed and wanting clearer proof, she gives her boss Josh concert tickets and offers to take his shift so she can download the available raw footage onto her hard drive, view the uploader's metadata, and upload it to Reddit. Under a throwaway account, Arthur replies with a malicious link to Margot's post and acquires her IP address.

The next day, Margot is fired by Kino for breaking company policy after accidentally leaving a bag of stimulants on Josh's desk. Despite constant resistance, she continues her pursuit in hopes of avenging her sister's death and restoring her own public status. Later, Arthur breaks into their apartment, kills Ryan, then drugs and kidnaps Margot.

Margot awakes in a caged basement and frees herself with the lipstick knife she left in her coat pocket. She saves Samantha, who urges her to leave the property immediately, but Margot stays behind to steal Arthur's hard drive for the raw footage, which shows him unmasked. Samantha breaks free but is shot by Arthur with a scoped rifle. Margot flees into the woods and returns with a police escort in hopes of saving Samantha, but Arthur manipulates them into believing she trespassed on his property, and she is detained.

At a hospital, Margot receives Narcan and is sent a text demanding she return with the drive or Samantha and the other boy will be murdered. At his place, Arthur holds Margot at gunpoint, explaining the world's desensitization to violence alongside the attentive desire for remade content in a newer age, which spurred his murder spree. In the garage, Arthur reveals the severed heads of the two victims strewn atop mannequins and orders Margot to inject herself with fentanyl. Shortly afterwards, Margot repeatedly stabs Arthur with her lipstick knife, and a lengthy, bloody scuffle ensues between the two. Margot survives, having recorded the entire confrontation on a hidden body camera. Arthur watches the last lines of Faces of Death as he bleeds out. On his computer, Margot uploads the footage to Kino and laughs in celebratory victory as it passes through the site's moderation, though finds herself disturbed that the comments on the video are callous and glib, not taking the situation seriously.

• Barbie Ferreira as Margot Romero, a content moderator for Kino
• Dacre Montgomery as Arthur Spevak, a serial killer recreating deaths from the original Faces of Death
• Josie Totah as Samantha Gravinsky, an influencer and one of Arthur's victims
• Aaron Holliday as Ryan, Margot's roommate
• Jermaine Fowler as Josh, Margot's boss
• Charli XCX as Gabby, one of Margot's co-workers
• Kurt Yue as Neal, a local news anchor and one of Arthur's victims
• Isa Mazzei as a woman talking about Narcan on a Kino video

In October 2006, Rogue Pictures was in talks to produce a remake of the 1978 horror film Faces of Death with J. T. Petty attached to direct with producers citing a desire to tap into audiences' appetites for gory horror films citing the success of The Grudge and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.^[6] The rights were reported in May 2021 to have been acquired by Legendary Entertainment. The writing team Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei were hired, with Goldhaber set as director.^[7] Susan Montford and Don Murphy produced under Angry Films, while Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath under their Divide/Conquer banner.^[8]

In April and May 2023, Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Josie Totah, Charli XCX and Jermaine Fowler were announced as the lead cast.^[8][9][10] On a production budget of $7.4 million (before tax incentives),^[11] principal photography began in New Orleans on April 10, 2023, under the working title Home Movies, and wrapped on May 12, 2023.^[12][8][13] While principal shooting was completed in 2023, pick-up shots were finished in March 2024.^[14]

North American distribution rights to the film were acquired by Independent Film Company and Shudder, with a release date set for April 10, 2026. The film marks IFC's widest release to date.^[15] The film premiered at the Beyond Fest Chicago as a 35mm screening on April 5, 2026.^[16][17] It also screened at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles on April 7,^[18] and at the 2026 Overlook Film Festival on April 9.^[19][20]