A sharp, nasty meta-horror about online violence, content moderation, and our appetite for watching terrible things. It sounds more inventive than scary, with enough satirical bite and crowd-pleasing chaos to work for viewers who like their horror self-aware and media-savvy.
A woman, employed as a website content moderator, comes across a series of violent videos reproducing death scenes from a film.
Director
Daniel Goldhaber
Production
Legendary Pictures, Angry Films, Divide / Conquer
Cast
Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Josie Totah, Aaron Holliday, Jermaine Fowler, Charli xcx, Kurt Yue, Ash Maeda, Sam Malone, Tiffany Colin, Tadasay Young, Jared Bankens, Betsy Borrego, Jonathan Shores, Matt Story, Casey Ferrand, Paris Peterson, Isa Mazzei, Kyle Nordby, Nathaniel Woolsey
Where to watch
Philo, Shudder
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, nasty meta-horror about online violence, content moderation, and our appetite for watching terrible things. It sounds more inventive than scary, with enough satirical bite and crowd-pleasing chaos to work for viewers who like their horror self-aware and media-savvy.
Best for
fans of meta-horror and satire
viewers interested in internet-age anxiety
people who like gnarly, high-energy genre films
audiences open to social commentary with their scares
Skip if
you want straight, serious horror
you dislike self-referential or ironic genre play
you are sensitive to graphic violence and exploitative imagery
you prefer slow-burn atmosphere over loud, confrontational filmmaking
Overview
Faces of Death updates a notorious title into a very modern nightmare: the horror of moderation queues, viral violence, and the numbing force of endless feeds. The setup is simple but potent, and the film seems to understand how online spectatorship turns cruelty into content almost instantly.
Worth noting
What makes it appealing is the mix of satire and splatter. The best read on the film is as a nasty joke about how we consume shock, packaged with enough momentum and style to keep the premise from feeling academic. It’s less interested in subtle dread than in pushing buttons and exposing how quickly outrage becomes entertainment.
Bottom line
That also means the movie may land unevenly. If you want a clean, elegant horror experience, this probably won’t be your thing. But if you like your genre films loud, pointed, and a little mean, it looks like a smart riff on modern digital disgust.
Top Letterboxd reviews
-ˏˋ mak ˊˎ- (2★) · 3146 likes
it’s okay charli xcx do whatever accent you want baby
mck (3★) · 2695 likes
boldly asks what if jigsaw had tiktok
hugeasmammoth (4★) · 2132 likes
the gay roommate just getting dragged into her mess… kinda felt bad
Karsten (4★) · 1725 likes
Loud + gnarly + smart + so fun. This guy would be one of our greatest Kick streamers
daniel goldhaber · 1485 likes
Incredible to see this with an audience after all these years. Most importantly finally got to show it to my mom and dad. Hope everyone enjoys it. Give the people what they want :)
1999 · Horror, Mystery · 1h 21m · R · Where to watch: Max
A landmark in how fear spreads through mediated images and audience belief.
Themes
media consumption, online violence, content moderation, viral culture, desensitization, meta-horror, social satire, identity under pressure
Topics
meta-horror, internet culture, social satire, graphic violence, viral media, digital anxiety, dark comedy, body horror, screenlife-adjacent, millennial/Gen Z