Cam filmmakers Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber are writing and directing a brand new Faces of Death remake, and Deadline reports that Josie Totah (“Saved by the Bell”) will star.
Legendary Entertainment is behind the Faces of Death relaunch, and as we recently learned, Dacre Montgomery (“Stranger Things”) and Barbie Ferreira (“Euphoria”) also star.
The original Faces of Death, released in 1978, is one of the most infamous films of all time, allegedly showcasing real footage of real death. In actuality, of course, much of the horrifying footage seen in Faces of Death is staged, with gory special effects often being paired up with real footage to create the illusion of gruesome reality. Early found footage, in other words.
“Faces of Death was one of the first viral video tapes, and we are so lucky to be able to use it as a jumping off point for this exploration of cycles of violence and the way they perpetuate themselves online,” said Mazzei and Goldhaber in a statement.
“The new plot revolves around a female moderator of a YouTube-like website, whose job is to weed out offensive and violent content and who herself is recovering from a serious trauma, that stumbles across a group that is recreating the murders from the original film. But in the story primed for the digital age and age of online misinformation, the question faced is are the murders real or fake?”
The new story was conceived by Mazzei, Goldhaber, and Isabelle Link-Levy. Like the original film, Legendary is reportedly hoping the new one will spawn a multi-film franchise.
The original movie was written and directed by the late John Allan Schwartz.
Josie Totah in “Saved by the Bell”
