Out tomorrow in theaters is Faces of Death, a meta-horror movie from director/co-writer Daniel Goldhaber and co-writer/producer Isa Mazzei that sees a sadistic killer recreating the deaths from the 1978 original mondo film.

Barbie Ferreira stars as Margot Romero, a content moderator for a major video platform who discovers the murder re-enactments. Margot breaks her own rules in keeping a distance from the disturbing videos that cross her computer screen, embroiling her in a nasty cat-and-mouse game.

While Ferreira doesn’t have any attachment to the original film, it was Margot’s complexity that really drew her to the project.

“When I got sent this, with Danny and Isa, when I read it, I was like, ‘Oh, this character is so outside of what people offer me.’ It was a fully fleshed out character,” Ferreira tells Bloody Disgusting. “It was my first time I was ever a lead in a movie. And so it was just incredible. I had incredible filmmakers. I love indie cinema. I love that Danny and Isa really are independent-minded. Something I always say is independent film-minded, where it’s all about the art and what it means instead of selling tickets or selling the Hollywood sheen of it all. All of it felt really relevant to what I wanted to do. It just felt like an incredible opportunity.”

Dacre Montgomery, who plays opposite Ferreira as the unsettling Arthur Spevak, echoes his co-star’s sentiments about the film.

Dacre Montgomery in Daniel Goldhaber’s FACES OF DEATH. Courtesy of Brian Roedel. An Independent Film Company and Shudder Release.

Montgomery says, “I said yes for a lot of the reasons Barbie said, you get sent scripts, and whatever you are identifying that you as an actor and as a human being want to find catharsis in your process and in the characters that you play, they often offset things that I’m feeling in my life as a human being. It was about a lot of topical stuff that I was interested in, sociopolitically in the zeitgeist at the moment, a lot of stuff that I felt that this film touched on that I really wanted to be a part of spreading that message and that awareness.”

The actor also reveals that he nearly collaborated with Goldhaber on a previous film. Montgomery explains, “I had watched How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Danny’s most recent film, and absolutely loved it. I thought it was awesome. I had watched Cam after I met with him. I had actually, funnily enough, met with Danny about How to Blow Up a Pipeline years beforehand, and we had chatted about one of the roles in that film back in pre-COVID. Then it didn’t come together for a bunch of reasons. And then Danny reached back out, and I had seen How to Blow Up a Pipeline by that point. And I was like, ‘This guy’s great.’ We got chatting. He’s super intense, super passionate, super knowledgeable. Here’s a guy who fights for his vision and his art.”

FACES OF DEATH, an Independent Film Company and Shudder release. Photo courtesy of Independent Film Company and Shudder.

While Ferreira and Montgomery lead the film, their characters don’t physically collide until well into the film, setting in motion an intense back half. When asked what it was like working together, given the narrative structure and their character arcs, Ferreira revealed how their director helped shape their dynamic on set.

“Danny was like, ‘Don’t talk to each other.’ So, Dacre and I only ever really got familiar after the movie. We finally got to chat normally, but in The Silence of the Lambs kind of vibe; it was like he wanted to keep us as separate as possible. I really, really, really appreciate that because for me, I love getting my honest reaction to things on camera. I didn’t want to see what was happening. I wanted to have that honest, real present reaction to it,” Ferreira says. “It was such an interesting dynamic because a lot of these movies that I’ve been in, it’s like you have to create a friendship that’s really strong, and it kind of forges this new connection. Dacre and I actually didn’t have to have the pleasantries of a typical actor relationship. If we were talking too much, Danny would be like, ‘Shh. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.’ So, it was fun to really get to know Dacre after our scenes.”

The dynamic and the character suited Montgomery’s method well. He explains, “I kind of work in a bubble, and that doesn’t work for everyone and every role as well. I was thankful that that process worked for Danny and worked for Barbie because I usually just, yeah, I’m very antisocial, probably can come across like a prick. But then after we finish, I’m like, ‘Hey, we’re all in. We did the thing.’ I’m only doing it because I’m super intensely passionate about it. So it worked perfectly because it’s this game of figuring out who each other is and not breaking that bubble creatively off camera really works.”

Barbie Ferreira in Daniel Goldhaber’s FACES OF DEATH. Courtesy of Brian Roedel. An Independent Film Company and Shudder Release.