First Look at 2026’s R-Rated Remake of Banned Horror Confirms Release Date

It’s uncommon in the modern era for horror movies to actually cause controversy. Part of that is that the boundaries have been so thoroughly pushed by what preceded them that a violent movie like Terrifier 3 can actually just become a box office success story that causes no stir with groups that might have picketed it back in the 1970s and 1980s. That era defined the horror genre thanks to the explosion of the slasher movie subgenre, and violent films that were quick to clean up at the box office while also courting headlines about their grotesque displays.

One of the most iconic movies of that era, which was also one of its most controversial, was the 1978 horror film Faces of Death, a movie that was reported to show actual death on screen, along with mutilations and other violent acts that were sold as “real” and not Hollywood special effects. This caused the film to be banned in a numbr of places (famously billing itself as “banned in 46 countries”) but also to become a major box office success, grossing over $35 million at the time (equivalent to making $170 million in 2026) on a reported budget of just $67k. It’s been almost five years since news of a Faces of Death reboot was first confirmed, and now we finally have a first look and a release date.

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Faces of Death Reboot Finally Reveals First Trailer

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Back in 2021, it was revealed that Legendary had acquired the rights to Faces of Death to deliver a brand new, modern reboot of the series. Despite the years since the original film’s release largely discrediting most of the footage as faked, though it did use archival footage from surgeries and morgues to sell the illusion, the studio intended to make that part of their redo. The first trailer confirms that this is part of the film’s twist on the material, including not only the iconic narration from the original film but teasing some of the brand-new “deaths” that will be on display, confirming an April 10 release date for the upcoming film.

The new Faces of Death film has Daniel Goldhaber of Cam and How to Blow Up a Pipeline directing, and unlike other horror reboots of the past 15 years, will acknowledge the fact that the movie it’s rebooting was, in fact, a movie. The meta-quality in the new Faces of Death seems to be rivaled only by the new Scream movies. Previous reports on the film noted that it would follow a moderator of an online video platform who has to look for “offensive and violent content,” only to find a group recreating the deaths seen in the original Faces of Death. It will seemingly present a hyper-relevant question for the era, forcing the character and the audience to ponder if what they’re seeing is real or fake.The cast for the new film includes Barbie Ferreira (Euphoria), Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things), Josie Totah (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Jermaine Fowler (Coming 2 America), and Charli XCX.