R-Rated Reboot of ’70s Cult Classic Getting New Release

While the age of streaming means that audiences have a wealth of entertainment immediately available to them, it also means that the entire experience of browsing a video store is lost on a generation. There are still some brick-and-mortar locations where we can roam through aisles and shelves full of both well-known and obscure titles, yet there are only a fraction of such stores still standing compared to the ’80s and ’90s. This also means that burgeoning cinephiles don’t have the chance to see VHS covers that, based on the artwork alone, create nightmares for generations.

Towards the end of Blockbuster and other video stores’ lives, most customers would see dozens of copies of the most popular new releases, preventing lesser-known titles from taking up much real estate. Previously, though, all it would take would be one glimpse at the covers of VHS tapes like Creepshow, Sleepaway Camp, Ghoulies, or Zombie to be shaken to your core. If you were brave enough to pick up the box, your intrigue could either grow or dissipate, or, in the case of 1978’s Faces of Death, cause you to question everything you thought you knew about horror movies.

The cult-classic horror movie billed itself as an actual collection of human deaths, and while genuine footage of real-world trauma was included on the tape, many of the deaths were fake. This year saw the release of the Faces of Death reboot, which leaned more into the nature of social media and digital trickery to explore similar concepts. The reboot is set to get a home video release on Sep. 22.

This reboot took a metatextual approach to the original movie, as Barbie Ferreira played a social media content moderator tasked with removing explicit content. When she comes across footage of what appears to be a murder with hashtags implying a “real” Faces of Death, she investigates the source. Dacre Montgomery plays the supposed murderer who is trying to shine a light on how desensitized the world has become to violence.

The new take on the material, directed by Daniel Goldhaber from a script he co-wrote with Isa Mazzei, performed relatively well with critics, sitting at 69% positive reviews, which is much stronger than the original movie’s 21% positive. The movie is currently available to stream, but physical media devotees will likely want to add this interesting piece of horror history to their collections. While there isn’t a vast number of special features, this release does come with an alternative opening scene, extended scenes, compilations of death scenes, and a filmmaker commentary.

Given the legacy of the original movie, this could also be just the first home video release and, if this Faces of Death reboot develops a cult following of its own, we could get a more expanded 4K upgrade further down the line. The Faces of Death reboot Blu-ray is available now for preorder.