ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Looking for a movie to see in Asheville this April? Learn what to see, stream or skip with our reviews of a cult horror reboot, a fresh spin on “Hamlet,” a documentary of epic length and a niche new vampire flick.

You should see…

(Courtesy: IFC/Shudder) Barbie Ferreira faces off against Dacre Montgomery in the new reboot of “Faces of Death.”

“FACES OF DEATH” (2026, 98 min., directed by Daniel Goldhaber)

When the original “Faces of Death” was released in 1978, it had an eerie anonymity to it. The faux-documentary, made up of various pieces of grisly footage purportedly  depicting actual deaths, was like a twisted “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” presented by an obscure pathologist named Francis B. Gröss. The film gained instant notoriety, lurking at the fringe of video stores and in the whispers of urban legend for decades. Today, however, most of the movie’s mystique has evaporated. The pseudonyms have been unmasked, the special effects work dissected and the Gröss character retired. “Faces of Death” has become a relic of the VHS era, crafted in obscurity and relegated to cult curiosity.

That is, until now. “Faces of Death” has been given a face lift with a fresh reboot.

In the new “Faces of Death,” the film turns its camera around on the audience. With the original, brave viewers watched the carnage from a horrified remove, huddling around their VCRs in the dark. The update, meanwhile, finds a society where violence, death and destruction is available online, ad nauseam, every single day. One Reddit forum or Twitter thread contains 10x the amount of suffering manufactured in the ’78 “Faces of Death,” a social shift the film eagerly interrogates.

Directed by Daniel Goldhaber, “Faces of Death” stars Barbie Ferreira as a young woman working as a content moderator for a TikTok-like social media platform. After a disturbing series of videos recreating scenes from the original “Faces of Death” cross her dashboard, she works to discover the killer content creator behind them, played in a delightfully disturbing register by “Stranger Things” star Dacre Montgomery.

I found the meta elements of the new movie pretty brilliant. The original is schlocky, rickety and was aging like milk, but Goldhaber’s “Faces of Death” has given it a new life. The film found a way to modernize the “Faces of Death” conceit by making the original part of the plot, while simultaneously shaking loose its forefather’s ickier, more exploitative aspects. Unlike the first film, the slasher sequences in the reboot could not be confused with the real thing, gory and brutal as they may be, and the movie is much more entertaining as a result.

Montgomery is a big part of what makes the movie so fun. His killer, a fussy, sociopathic Redditor, is as hilarious as he is scary. His victims, played by Josie Totah, Kurt Yue and Aaron Holliday, are also uncommonly good for what little they are tasked with doing. I was less keen on Ferreira’s performance, but I appreciated her commitment to portraying a morally grey hero.

I love that this remake of a cult movie, a film niche defined by rewatchability, has been tailor-made for the same treatment. The new “Faces of Death” is packed with small details perfect for repeat viewings, from shelves filled with other cult horror VHS tapes to file names and Reddit comments on Montgomery’s killer’s monitor. It may not become as notorious as the ’78 original, but I hope this one can linger in the culture a little longer than the average TikTok.

Rating: 3.5/5

“Faces of Death” is now playing in theaters nationwide.

“HAMLET” (2025, 113 min., directed by Aneil Karia)

(Courtesy: Focus Features) Riz Ahmed stars as the titular character in Aneil Karia’s modern riff on “Hamlet.”

Who doesn’t love a modern Shakespeare adaptation? The practice of reviving Shakespeare plays in a present day setting is an approach beloved by community theatres and film directors alike. Sometimes they’re great, sometimes they’re not, but for fans of the Bard, it is always fun to see what liberties are taken and what parts are preserved.

Aneil Karia directs Riz Ahmed in “Hamlet,” bringing the Prince of Denmark to modern day London. I enjoyed Ahmed’s twitchy, manic interpretation of the character, as well as the infusion of Hindu culture into the tale, but I was less keen on the cuts Michael Lesslie’s screenplay made to the story. This Hamlet exists in isolation, removing characters like Horatio, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz from the plot, as well as pivotal moments like Hamlet with the skull of Yorick. Karia’s “Hamlet” shares some DNA with Michael Almereyda’s “Hamlet 2000,” starring Ethan Hawke. Both films cast their characters as heirs to corporations as they roam big, neon-lit cities, and both movies choose to excoriate some of the weirder “Hamlet” stuff from their updates, to frustratingly sanitized effect. I would like to see a truly modernized version of “Hamlet” that does not shy away from the odder elements of the tragedy.

Nonetheless, Karia’s version features a few phantasmagoric treats. The accusatory play-within-a-play Hamlet concocts to goad his mother and uncle was morphed into a nightmarish Hindu dance routine, a sequence exultant and terrifying. Ahmed’s version of “To be or not to be” is also a lot of fun, spitting his lines in rageful mania behind the wheel of a speeding sports car.

To see or not to see? I give a soft recommendation.

Rating: 3/5

“Hamlet” is now playing in theaters nationwide.

You should stream…

“MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I – LAST AIR IN MOSCOW” (2024, 324 min., directed by Julia Loktev)

(Courtesy: Marminchilla) TV Rain journalist Anna Andreyevna Nemzer is a focal point of “My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow.”

The runtime of “My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow” is about as long as its title. The five-plus hour documentary is a mammoth undertaking, even broken into several chapters. If you decide to dive in, it is also likely to be one of the best movies you see this year.

Directed, shot, produced, written and edited by Julia Loktev, with production and editing support by Michael Taylor, “My Undesirable Friends” is an extraordinarily intimate look at the lives of several journalists working for the independent news channel TV Rain in the months leading up to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The film explores the consequences of being labeled a “foreign agent” by the Russian government, a social designation which limits rights to free speech and invites oppression like warrantless home searches.

Despite the bleak circumstances of what its subjects endure and its formidable length, “My Undesirable Friends” is incredibly watchable. Loktev’s companions are each smart, witty and warm personalities. To watch “My Undesirable Friends” is to befriend its subjects. The documentary brings the audience directly inside the homes of each of the journalists, eschewing “talking head” documentary style for vérité interview footage. Loktev asks the occasional question, but most of the film feels like taking part in an intelligent dinner party conversation.

The experience of “My Undesirable Friends” is cumulative. The movie is made up of little details and big ideas. The more time you spend with the subjects, the more of their world you might recognize in your own. It’s dark to consider, but comforting to have had these “undesirable friends” show a path through injustice. There is a lot of heroism to look up to in this film.

There’s more to come. “Last Air in Moscow” is just part one of Loktev’s opus: “My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile” is now in post-production. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and breathe in part one.

Rating: 5/5

“My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow” is now streaming on Mubi.

You can skip…

“VAMPIRES OF THE VELVET LOUNGE” (2026, 105 min., directed by Adam Sherman)

(Courtesy: Strand Releasing) India Eisling is one of the few highlights of “Vampires of the Velvet Lounge.”

“Vampires of the Velvet Lounge” is trash to the nth degree. It is to vampire movies what “Sharknado” was to “Jaws.” It was filmed in Savannah, Georgia, but looks like a gothic Lisa Frank sticker set. Its performances are pure camp, its visual effects are nauseating and its script is a rancid pile of noir cliché. For those looking for a polished piece of work, there is nothing to recommend the film. Tonally and technically, “Vampires of the Velvet Lounge” is a mess.

Even so, there are at least one or two things worth sinking your teeth into. India Eisley and Stephen Dorff are giving hilarious performances as unhinged vampires – the comedic power of Dorff screaming “I’m Ramsey the Devil!” has to be seen to be believed – and there is something novel about the film’s fixation on the myth of absinthe. In “Vampires of the Velvet Lounge,” the “green fairy” spirit causes its imbibers to see vampires as glowing emerald angels. The effect looks awful, but it’s kind of cool.

Ditto the project writ large. “Vampires of the Velvet Lounge” is terrible, I’d be hallucinating green fairies if I didn’t admit it’s at least a little bit of fun.

Rating: 1/5