\n\tIn the publicity for their movie, the creators of the new Faces of Death make all sorts of claims about how their film explores such things as our growing desensitization to violence, whether or not watching violent imagery makes us complicit, and our seemingly ravenous appetite for real-life carnage. They say that they wanted to \u201chold a mirror up to the toxic media ecosystem we live inside of.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIt all sounds very impressive and very thoughtful. But they give the game away when they describe the film this way: \u201cIt is an exploitation of an iconic exploitation film.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tFaces of Death\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Bottom Line<\/p>\n
\tNot nearly as thoughtful as it thinks it is.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelease date: Friday, April 10
Cast: Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Josie Totah, Aaron Holliday, Jermaine Fowler, Charlie XCX, Kurt Yue, Ash Maeda, Sam Malone, Tiffany Colin, Tadasy Young, Jared Bankens
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Screenwriters: Daniel Goldhaber, Isa Mazzei
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRated R,
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 hour 38 minutes\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tIn case you\u2019ve forgotten or are too young to remember, the original Faces of Death, released in 1978, is a prime example of the so-called \u201cmondo horror\u201d genre (the term emanates from the granddaddy of the form, 1962\u2019s Mondo Cane). The faux documentary featured \u201cpathologist Frances B. Gross\u201d (gotta love the name) regaling viewers with graphic footage of various deaths of the supremely unpleasant variety. Although the majority of the footage was indeed real, a significant portion was composed of varyingly convincing fakes.<\/p>\n
\n\tNeedless to say, the low-budget effort was extremely profitable and went on to become a cult film, garnering legions of fans with its release on VHS. It also spawned numerous direct-to-video sequels and spin-offs, official and otherwise, becoming a veritable cottage industry of morbidity.<\/p>\n
\n\tNow comes this reboot, no, remake, no, \u201cexploration,\u201d directed by Daniel Goldhaber (Cam<\/a>, How to Blow Up a Pipeline<\/a>) and co-scripted by him and Isa Mazzei. Very much of the moment, the story revolves around Margo (Barbie Ferreria, Euphoria<\/a>), a content moderator at a YouTube-like video-sharing website named Kino (which probably won\u2019t please the indie film distributor of the same name). Margo, who has a tragic backstory involving her own brush with internet notoriety, spends her days monitoring the often objectionable uploads to the site, having to make instant decisions as to whether or not to keep them up.<\/p>\n \n\tMargo\u2019s supervisor (Jermaine Fowler, Coming 2 America<\/a>) isn\u2019t as concerned as she is about such videos as a man being graphically put to death by electrocution or a dinner party in which the participants eat the brains of a man whose head they\u2019ve just bashed in.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cGive the people what they want!\u201d he advises her.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s when Margo recognizes several of the videos as being nearly identical to ones in the original Faces of Death that she begins to suspect that they\u2019re actually real. (One tip-off comes when a commentator posts, \u201cThis reminds me of Faces of Death\u201d). She finds a VHS tape of the film in the particularly well-stocked office library and starts making the gruesome comparisons (thus providing the opportunity to feature plenty of clips from the original).<\/p>\n \n\tIt turns out that the videos are the work of, you guessed it, a serial killer, Arthur (Dacre Montgomery<\/a>, Stranger Things<\/a>), shown gleefully pursuing his avocation in a series of ultra-violent scenes. Prone to wearing red contact lenses that make him look demonic and disguising his features with a mask and stocking, he also keeps several people imprisoned in cages in his basement. And when he figures out that Margot is getting wise to his modus operandi, he decides that she needs to be taken care of.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen they eventually meet, not under the best of circumstances, Arthur proves eager to bask in the attention. \u201cAre you a fan of my work?\u201d he inquires. He\u2019s also chatty in that way in which screen villains make clear their movies\u2019 themes.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the attention economy,\u201d he boasts. \u201cAnd baby, business is booming!\u201d<\/p>\n