From Jeff Nelson

Faceless After Dark has the violence and the stalking of a slasher flick supplemented with social commentary on Hollywood obstacles and toxic fandom but not quite how you’re expecting. Actor and co-writer Jenna Kanell approaches the material with some truth to her life experiences after starring in the killer clown Terrifier movies. The screenplay she wrote alongside Todd Jacobs raises valid points, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into a cohesive revenge flick.

Bowie (Kanell) struggles to take her career to the next level after she earned breakout success from her leading role in a killer clown horror movie. She’s bitter as her peers chase their dreams in a seemingly impossible industry. A demented fan devises a plan to recreate the plot of Bowie’s horror movie in real life, inadvertently setting her down a path of revenge against those who seek to objectify her.

Faceless After Dark follows Bowie as her anger continues to mount. She attends a horror fan convention with frustratingly unequal terms. Her current state doesn’t hold up to her expectations for herself, sending her into a daze of madness and resentment. The narrative takes an innovative turn after Bowie discovers how she can take revenge on toxic fans and become a famous figure in the world of entertainment at the same time — turn her social media inbox into a hunting ground to mutilate despicable human beings and make a film in the process.

Bowie moves from one victim to the next, exposing their shame and crimes along the way. It’s an intermittently satisfying cat-and-mouse game where each encounter feels like its own vignette. The murder methods occasionally change, yet the chase becomes repetitive. There is a strobe warning in the film’s opening moments for good reason, often using a frenetic direction that actually works rather well. Unfortunately, the kills aren’t particularly creative or graphic enough to compensate for the story’s shortcomings.

Director Raymond Wood doesn’t play it straight, melding the violent revenge story with dark comedy. The social commentary has its heart in the right place, touching on the industry and fandom’s exploitation. It’s supremely heavy-handed, but there are a few chuckle-worthy quips in there. Even if Faceless After Dark has hollow social commentary, it’s encouraging to see it have a perspective and identity, even if it strangely weighs the varying social media users’ crimes as equal – they certainly are not.

Faceless After Dark is a subpar slasher that clumsily wields social commentary within the world of a murky lead character. Bowie’s descent into madness comes in the blink of an eye, taking the surface-level character with sensible frustrations and fears into one that’s difficult to root for. There’s something to be said about the film’s message on toxic fandom and its relationship to the Hollywood machine but this poor satire falls short of its intentions.

Rating: 2/5

Faceless After Dark played Salem Horror Fest 2024 on April 27th, 2024.

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