Faces of Death hit theaters in April, just a month before Obsession arrived and reminded audiences how much fun could be had watching an indie horror movie that’s equal parts clever and cruel. Faces wasn’t a major box-office hit, but its release on Shudder this week presents the ideal way to watch it: on the small screen, with the original Faces of Death—the 1978 film that exists within the 2026 film’s universe and inspires many of its events—already available on the same streamer. We openly disdained remaking Faces of Death the moment it was announced. It seemed so pointless. The cult classic’s entire gimmick is making the viewer question if what they’re watching is “real” or not; it’s positioned as a documentary stuffed with footage designed to make your stomach lurch. The animal deaths it depicts, as in a slaughterhouse sequence or when we see a farmer chop the head off a chicken, seem authentic. The autopsy scenes also look believable. © Independent Film Company/Shudder But a lot of Faces of Death consists of sequences that are either obviously fake or edited in such a way that they feel repurposed and retooled for maximum shock value. It’s all framed as a peek into images collected by one Dr. Frances B. Gröss (played by actor Michael Carr), a pathologist whose worldwide travels, camera in hand, helped him build up this macabre library he’s disclosing with the viewer now, complete with his narration.