FACES OF DEATH (2026)

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Spectre

We open up in the office of Kino App, where content moderator Margot Romero (Barbie Ferreira) is working at her desk. She is tasked with going through all submitted videos for approval, content warning some, and outright flagging others for removal for sexual content and violence. We see her flip through several, quickly approving and denying them.

Margot is approached by her boss Josh (Jermaine Fowler) who asks her for a favor; that she leads the orientation for the new hires. Margot agrees to do so, wanting to impress him and perhaps work towards a promotion. As she continues to look at videos, she comes across a video of a man narrating how public executions were used as a detriment for crime. Several mannequins surround a man bent over a table as one of the mannequins holds a large blade. A mechanism brings the blade down and the man is decapitated. Margot is shocked but ultimately lets the video through; though noting in comments it is probably fake.

Margot goes home where she lives with her roommate Ryan (Aaron Holliday) , a painter and lover of all things horror. Ryan tries to convince her to come to a small party with a mutual friend of theirs, Cassidy. Margot is hesitant, but Ryan convinces her, saying it would be good for her and he wants his best friend back. With some prodding, Margot agrees. Ryan shows her an art piece he created; a seemingly normal lipstick container that hides a sharp blade. He gives it to her. The two go to a nearby convenience store for drinks when Margot notices two girls chatting, seemingly about her. Margot notes this to Ryan.

“Aren’t you that girl from that train video?” One girl asks. Margot gets angry, saying she shouldn’t have bothered, and leaves the store. Ryan looks at the two girls, seething, and most likely curses them out off screen.

Margot goes home and pulls up voicemails from her sister and smiles. However, she also sees her sister crying out in fear in a terrible, dormant memory. It is clear something horrible happened and her sister is no longer alive.

The next morning, Margot directs the new hires about the duties of content moderation and how they have to compartmentalize their emotions in order to properly do their job. Flag what is necessary, and move on to the next video.

Going into the stairwell to eat her lunch, Margot hears some noise and looks down the stairs to see two people having sex. She then looks to the wall, where there is a cat poster literally warning people not to have sex in the stairwell. Disgusted, she goes up to the roof where she crosses paths with one of her co-workers Gabby (Charli XCX). While Margot is at times horrified with what she sees, Gabby is glib with the gig. When Margot asks why she likes the job, Gabby replies it is a thrill for her and the job “has dental.”

Back at her desk, Margot sees another execution video with similar narration this time of a man being electrocuted like a prisoner. As she continues to watch, she doesn’t know what to do. Pressing a button, she brings Josh over for a second opinion. Saying she has already seen a similar video, she is concerned that this video might actually be real. Josh dismisses her concerns saying it is more than likely fake, the people love entertainment and to pass the video. Still, Margot is deeply concerned, thinking there is more going on. As she looks at the video, she flashes back to her sister and has a panic attack. She goes to the bathroom to try and calm down.

The film cuts to the home of Arthur Spevak (Darce Montgomery) as he wakes up in the morning and eats breakfast. He is the creator of the videos Margot has seen. Throughout his day, he checks the Kino app for his video, not finding it. Seeing a local influencer Samantha (Josie Tatha), he realizes that if he uses her for one of his projects, he can get more algorithmic notice. Using his computer skills and the computers from his job as internet provider, Arthur tracks down Sam’s location using her metadata and IP address.

We cut to Samantha meeting up with a friend as they do a dance video for content. Later, when she is taking multiple photos in the bathroom, she notices something in one. She then is startled when she hears a phone begin playing one of her videos. Going to the showers, she finds a phone taped to the wall playing the video. Freaked out, Samantha goes to leave, only to find Arthur at the doorway with a faceless white mask on. Samantha tries to run but Arthur grabs her and injects her with something, making her weak. He then proceeds to choke her unconscious and drive off with her in the trunk of his car.

The next day, Margot finds another video, this time of a man being bashed in the head with sledgehammers before he is scalped and his brains are dug out. Margot immediately flags the video this time. At a company lunch at the beach, she tries to talk to Josh about the videos, but he is once again dismissive, and notes he took a risk hiring her given her past. Josh says they are not the police and they cannot fix everything.

We finally see what happened to Margot’s sister. The two were filming a dangerous dancing stunt near an incoming train. They tried to step away, but Margot’s sister tripped on the tracks and before she could do anything, the train ran through the area, dismembering her sister, which was caught on video, leading to Margot’s horrific infamy.

At her apartment, Margot refuses to give up. She goes to Reddit and creates a new topic thread, uploading the previous videos asking to see if anyone believes they are real. A few comment that they believe them to be real. One user even notes that the man in the electrocution video might be missing filmmaker Justin Prod.

Outside a grocery store, Arthur stalks a new victim, Neal (Kurt Yue) a local newscaster. Arthur follows him home and makes his move. Taking a knife, he cuts his hand open and opens his car door in a way that Neal notices him. Seeing he is hurt, Neal offers him help. Letting Arthur into his home, Neal gives him gauze to bandage his hand. Arthur gives him a fake name and says he was visiting his girlfriend up the street. When Neal offers him a beer, Arthur accepts it and steals Neal’s keys when he isn’t looking. Neal’s son Drew (Ash Maeda) comes into the kitchen and asks for his phone. Having gotten what he needed, Arthur thanks Neal for his help and leaves…for now.

Hours later, Neal is watching the broadcast of himself when the power goes out. He goes looking for his phone, which he had left to charge, only to find it gone; Arthur had taken it. Looking for a flashlight, Neal seemingly sees Arthur in the corner only to see that it is a coat on a rack. Neal calls out to his son, asking if he inadvertently shorted out the house by plugging his game console into the wrong outlet. Going to the fuse box, he notices that all the switches had been taped over. As he removes one piece of tape, Arthur, in his masked uniform, drops down from the attic, startling Neal. He struggles with Neal, stabbing him with his knockout substance. However, Drew hears his father’s struggle, and is also knocked out and taken by Arthur.

The next day, Margot goes to work and sees Gabby and several coworkers laughing over one of the snuff videos. Margot calls her out for her lack of empathy. Later that night, she checks the Reddit thread, and someone says the videos remind them of Faces of Death, the infamous purportedly real snuff horror film series. Looking it up, Margot realizes it is only on video. Looking at Ryan’s collection, she sees he has a copy. She puts the tape in and begins to fast forward through it, noticing that the three videos mirror three segments in the film. Ryan comes home and is surprised she is looking at the movie, and notes that it was perhaps the original “viral film” but was ultimately revealed to be faked. Margot tells him about the videos she has seen, and how Josh and Kino App are not taking the situation seriously. Margot tells him she is going to find out more.

Cutting out a section in her steel toe boots, Margot smuggles in a hard drive into the office. Bribing Josh with concert tickets and promising to take over night duties, Margot downloads all the information on the videos, so she can access the metadata and perhaps locate the killer.

Meanwhile at his home, Arthur pulls away a fake book case that leads down to his basement where he has Samantha, Neal, and Drew in cages. Samantha makes too much noise, so he shocks her cage with a stun gun. He then carefully opens the door and force feeds her pizza. He tells Samantha that people are talking about her. “What are they saying?” Samantha asks, momentarily lost in thinking about her following. Arthur tells her they are making the next generation of content and it is important that you “give the people what they want.” He then takes Neal out of his cage and gets him set up for his next video.

Recreating a violent standoff gone wrong, Neal is placed in front of a fake door surrounded by cop mannequins set up with guns. Arthur mockingly gives Neal a revolver with a single bullet and goads him to try and kill him. As he sets up, he tells Neal they have only “one shot” to get this, so he needs to get it right. Arthur watches as Neal struggles to load the single bullet with bloodied hands. Just as he gets it in, Arthur triggers the guns, never planning to give him a proper chance. Neal is shot multiple times and collapses to the floor dead. As Arthur films close-ups, a pool of Neal’s blood touches the cotton covers over his shoes, disgusting him. He then goes to the bathroom and viciously scrubs his fingernails. Despite enjoying the killing, Arthur ironically apparently has an aversion to actually touching blood and gore.

Arthur looks at the comments the videos are getting, excited. He is getting the attention he so craves.

Margot looks at the data she took, and finds the original videos Arthur made. She creates a new Reddit thread theorizing that someone is recreating the killings of Faces of Death. Arthur, who has been monitoring the threads, sees her, and using a throwaway account, sends her a malicious link talking about Samantha’s disappearance. Unaware, Arthur tracks Margot down, finding out where she works, lives, and her tragic past.

Margot goes to the police with what she has, but the detective doesn’t believe her and brings up her sister’s accident. Going back to work, she realizes her key card doesn’t work anymore. Josh comes out with her stuff in a box; she has been fired. Not because he found out she stole data, but because she accidentally left behind stimulant pills in his office. Margot tries one last time to convince him that something is really wrong, but he once again refuses to believe her and says she needs help. Taking her stuff, Margot cusses him out, and tells him he will realize one day she was right.

At home, Margot sees the new video of Neal’s death. She talks to Ryan about how her sister’s death impacted her and how she is disgusted with how people’s misery, heartbreak, and literal pain and death are monetized and thought of as entertainment. She wants to find this guy and bring him to justice so her sister’s death wasn’t for nothing and she can reclaim her identity beyond being the “train girl.” Ryan tells her to be careful.

As she gets ready for bed, Margot is unaware that Arthur has traveled to find her. Arthur gets into her building and breaks into her apartment. Hiding in the corner as Ryan comes into the kitchen, Arthur attacks him. Ryan tries to fight back but is eventually overpowered, but not before calling out for Margot. Margot hears him and comes down the hallway only to be attacked by Arthur who jabs her with his knockout drug. As she collapses to the ground, she sees Ryan with his throat cut, bleeding out.

Arthur drives her back to his house and changes her clothes. When Margot comes to, she is in the cage Neal previously was in. She sees Samantha and Drew. Looking to a nearby chair, she realizes Arthur has put the video of her sister’s death on a loop to taunt her. Realizing he brought her coat, Margot is able to pull the chair which has it closer to her, and retrieve the lipstick knife. She cuts through her restraints and is able to remove a section of the fencing to get free.

Arthur, not knowing this is going on, is setting up another tableau, this time a murdered family in the kitchen. In a plastic container, he liquefies Ryan’s dismembered corpse with acid and films it live.

Margot is able to get the keys to free Samantha but cannot find the ones for Drew. Needing to get help, she promises to come back for him. Looking for a way out, Samantha wants to flee, but Margot says they need proof of Arthur’s actions. In the garage, Margot finds his computer with a hard drive of raw footage of all his victims. An impatient Samantha decides to flee, smashing a glass door, which Arthur hears. Samantha finds herself in a backyard, fenced in. Finding a crate, she jumps the fence. Arthur grabs a rifle and screams at her to zig and zag. Eventually he is able to wound her, causing her to crawl on the ground.

Margot takes the hard drive and Arthur’s cell phone, and takes the same path Samantha went to try and help her only to be cornered by Arthur. He shoots at her but misses and runs out of ammo. Margot finds a parking lot and a family about to leave and screams for help but the mother panics and drives off. Finally able to get a signal for 911, she tells the police what happened. However, Arthur has done the same and begins to craft a narrative. To make things worse, Margot realizes that one of the bullets Arthur shot at her destroyed the hard drive, making the evidence useless.

Driven back to his house, she tries to tell the cops what happened, only to have Arthur’s call about a trespasser matching Margot’s description go over the radio. As they knock on his door, he preps the wounded Samantha in the kitchen, her wrapped in plastic. Arthur goes to the door and makes up a story about Margot being a stalker and Margot having little luck in convincing them to check the property. Though Samantha tries to break free and scream she is unable to. Arthur manipulates the situation, bringing up the death of Margot’s sister to antagonize her in front of the cops so they will arrest her. Arthur goes back to Samantha and tells her she inspired him, that she has “freed” him.

Margot is brought to the hospital and the nurse asks what happened. “I was running from a serial killer,” Margot tells her. The nurse does not believe her, telling Margot they found Fentanyl in her system (which explains how Arthur was able to drug his victims so easily). Margot gets a text from Arthur, saying she has one hour to return his hard drive or he will kill Samantha and Drew. As she breaks down sobbing, the nurse, still believing her to be a drug addict, asks if she has ever used Narcan before. Margot calms down, realizing she has one chance to get proof and perhaps save two lives. As she walks out of the hospital, she sees the lobby staff laugh at the latest video of Arthur’s and is disgusted with how they find joy and humor in what she knows now is real, confirmed, pain and death.

Driving in a cab back to Arthur’s house, Margot snorts all the Narcan. The cab driver recognizes her as the “train girl” and Margot confirms it, but for once gets sympathy and not derision or mockery.

At his front door, Margot is met by Arthur with an assault rifle pointed at her head. He asks for the hard drive and she bluffs saying she will only turn over the location until Samantha and Drew are safe. Arthur orders her to empty her pockets only finding her fake lipstick.

“Gotta look sharp,” he notes, not knowing how ironic the statement is.

Going into the kitchen, Margot asks him why he is doing this. Arthur begins to explain that the world has become desensitized to suffering and will consume anything. Through his content he finds acceptance; people, government, the gun industry etc., love him. “It is the attention economy and business is booming,” Arthur says. Margot asks him why he used Faces of Death. Arthur notes that people love remakes, and under the guise of one, “you can get away with murder.”

Having enough, Margot tells him that she is only here to save Samantha and Drew. Arthur directs her to the garage which is bathed in a red light. When Arthur turns on the lights Margot sees the horrifying truth. Arthur had already killed Samantha and Drew, dismembering them and placed their faces on two mannequins. Arthur forces Margot to inject fentanyl and she seemingly passes out. Placing his gun down, Arthur begins to pose Margot for his next tableau. He notes that Margot’s sister was “the real face of death” and Margot’s death will make it a family business.

Suddenly, Margot comes to and stabs Arthur several times in the ankle with the lipstick knife. He falls back and begins to scream, not only from the pain, but being in contact with blood, his own. Margot stabs him in the chest, but he throws her at several mannequins, bashing her skull with one of the heads. Grabbing a piece of plastic, Arthur begins to suffocate Margot. Looking for something, Margot finds a spike in which the mannequins were placed in and stabs Arthur in the leg, freeing herself. She then stabs him several times in the chest, fatally wounding him.

As he bleeds out, she opens her shirt, revealing that not only she counteracted the fentanyl with Narcan, but she also recorded his entire confession, audio and video on a body cam. Going to his computer, she uploads the file to Kino App.

As it downloads, Margot begins to cry in a mixture of laughter and terror. Arthur watches the final scene of Faces of Death on his phone until Margot, who has had enough of him, destroys it. The upload finishes and the moderators let the video through to her happy relief. However, she is also struck by the initial comments that are alternately humorous, callous, and glib, basically proving Arthur’s point that even when the horror is real, no one takes it seriously.

Margot (Barbie Ferreira) is a contact moderator for a video app company whose life has been in shambles ever since her sister was killed by a train during a dance stunt gone wrong. After coming across a series of videos that seemingly show real murder, she becomes obsessed with finding out the truth, even though her search eventually costs Margot her job.

Arthur Spevak (Darce Montgomery) is the person responsible and the killings are real. Discovering that Margot is looking for him, Arthur tracks her down, kidnapping her and killing her roommate, Ryan. Margot is able to get free and help another survivor, Samantha (Josie Tathra) escape, though Samantha is recaptured. With little evidence, Margot is unable to convince the police, and Arthur portrays her as a stalker.

After learning she was drugged with fentanyl, Arthur contacts her and tells her that unless she returns his stolen hard drive, he will kill Samantha and Drew, another hostage whose father Neal he had already murdered. Dosing herself with Narcan, Margot meets with Arthur who explains he recreated the murders of Faces of Death to get the adulation he desired, pointing out society is desensitized to violence. He then reveals that he killed Samantha and Drew already and had no intention of letting anyone leave alive. After seemingly dosing herself with fentanyl at his direction, Margot attacks Arthur and ultimately stabs him multiple times, fatally wounding him.

As he bleeds out, Margot reveals she recorded his entire confession. Margot uploads it to her former employer's video app which easily gets approved to her relief. However, she finds herself disturbed that the comments on the video are callous and glib, proving Arthur's point that even when the horrific actions are real, no one takes it seriously.