Hey, a plus-size heroine! When is the last time you’ve seen one of those, huh? Outside a Melissa McCarthy film, I am pressed to name others. Outside romance and McCarthy? I’m not sure there is one now that Rebel Wilson has slimmed down. Until now. Kudos to you, writer/director Daniel Goldhaber (as I’m sure you had a hand in the casting). And if you didn’t, kudos to whomever cast this film.
Is Barbie Ferreira destined to become another Melissa McCarthy?
No.
But I’ll root for her all the same.
Faces of Death is a horror movie owing a great deal to its cult namesake of1978. To understand the 2026 version, you have to understand a bit about the 1978 edition, which was a death-montage horror film presented as a snuff-film documentary. The filmmaker collected footage of actual deaths, and added a few of his own, although -apparently- the latter were staged. The verisimilitude of authentic death is what made Faces of Death a cult classic.
Fastforward to 2026: Margot (Ferreira) is a woman with demons. Her recent past includes getting her sister killed while making a train-dodge dance video. Margot didn’t plan for that to happen, nor did she want that outcome, but her video went viral (Wait. Why did you upload it? Please tell me someone else filmed your stupid video) and Margot hence became known facetiously as “Train Girl.”
Trying to play down her past, Margot gets a job screening content at a video-sharing app company. This is her atonement, her therapy. Such only goes so far, of course, because people will put videos of anything on the internet these days. Before long, Margot finds herself flagging a series of disturbing videos that look like real life executions.
They are, in fact, real-life executions, of course. And the executions deliberately mimic similar ones from the original Faces of Death. I’m not sure that detail is important, other than it lends itself to a film title, if nothing else. Point is, Margot starts investigating the videos, which belong to a slimy li’l psychopath, Arthur (Dacre Montgomery). Mr. FoD, it turns out, enjoys trapping, drugging, collecting, and killing video content creators, which, honestly, isn’t the worst reason a person has ever had for going on a killing spree.
Train Girl is Arthur’s magnum opus. He can probably retire from the killing game once he gets that snuff film out in public.
I was a much bigger fan of the heroine casting than the villain casting, but -tbh- I can’t say I was wild about either. With its non-name cast, budget sets, and several scenes in need of a reshoot, Faces of Death screams “student film.” Faces wasn’t without its charms. The premise, while not terribly clever, should catch some attention, and some of the touches in the film were nice. When Margot is having a tough time at work, she goes into a stairwell for some privacy, only to find two co-workers fucking a level below. The camera pans to a poster specifically stating, “No fucking in stairwell” and then cuts to Margot’s frustration.
Faces of Death was sloppy and amateurish, but much better than the average student film. After all, this one kept my attention at least until the part where I realized the captives could escape their cages simply by lifting them up. Meh. Whatchagonnado? For one, I won’t recommend this … but I’m curious to see if the names Daniel Goldhaber or Barbie Ferreira ever make this blog again. I’m betting “no.”
There was once an influencer named Margot
Who rued her last vid, doncha know?
She atoned at her work
For each deadly twerk
Until a psycho gave her a real show
Rated R, 97 Minutes
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Writer: Daniel Goldhaber, Isa Mazzei
Genre: Well-made student films
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Splatterwonks
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Ewwwww … gross!”
