Faces of Death (2026)

Silence of the Lambs but for Kik streamers.

Been on a slow burn atmospheric horror kick for a while now and I have to say it was deeply refreshing to watch a horror movie where stuff just… happens. Like, a lot of stuff. Constantly. I love an A24 mood piece but sometimes you want a movie that’s actually moving.

This is a smart modern update of the Faces of Death conceit. I don’t think it has anything especially profound to say about content moderation, the people who do that job, or the absolute hellscape that is putting your face online for strangers, but it has enough on its mind to keep me engaged and that’s more than most horror movies are trying to do.

Barbie Ferreira is a great lead. She has the exact face for this. The Charli XCX cameo absolutely ripped while it was happening, and then the movie kept going for another hour and I realized she had basically nothing to do with the plot. Which, fine. Happy to see her pop up in anything she wants to pop up in. Queen behavior.

The real thing the movie gets right is the bit about fame and the lengths people will go for it. The dopamine loop of making content that hits, the way that high curdles, the people who will absolutely cook themselves alive for a number going up. It plays like Silence of the Lambs for Kick streamers and I mean that as a compliment.

Not the deepest movie ever made but it’s lean, mean, and it actually delivers on being a horror movie. I’ll take it.

Also on Letterboxd