K Pendo
...But to all of you doubters out there regarding the authenticity of the pedophile 'snuff' movies, it is hard to argue that the events didn't happen. A couple of reviewers even cite the articles as being referenced by an obscure source. The source is "The Observer". I don't know how to say this delicately but..."The Observer" is the UK's "New York Times". It is one of the most reputable sources in England. As for the reviewer that mentions crop circles...what are you talking about? Are you claiming that "The Observer" is printing the article as a matter of conspiracy? You do know that you can't just throw someone's name out there and associate him with a pedophile ring if it's not true right...? That would be libelous and would cost the newspaper hundreds of thousands of dollars if it was proved to be untrue. I know none of us want to admit that these types of horrific occurrences could happen in the world, but it's another thing to dismiss it entirely. I'm not saying that they do. And, I'm not saying that they don't.
Corpus_Vile
Snuff films.The very term conjures up dark images of a shadowy cabal of depraved human beings, who torture, rape and murder on camera, purely for profit, to sell to a secret and presumably rich clientèle worldwide. A fascinating urban myth, any documentary on the topic is guaranteed my personal attention.The problem with Snuff: A Documentary About Killing On Camera, is that it isn't particularly informative, credible or ultimately very interesting. It covers a number of aspects of the Snuff mythology, from war (as in people getting killed for real, internet be headings, sniper attacks filmed etc), to horror films- yes, the director of Cannibal Holocaust was at one point arrested over fears he'd murdered his actors, and yes, people picketed the film Snuff back in the day, which was itself a cheap gimmick, and yes, every self respecting horror fan knows this anyway- to serial killers, such as Charles Ng and Leonard Lake; two survivalist degenerates who wished for sex slaves, and murdered whole families, tortured and raped the women, and filmed some of it (but not the actual killings) for their gratification.Only thing is... none of these things actually qualify as a bona fide snuff film. In fact, the people interviewed for this documentary- basically directors and "cinephiles" I've never heard of- seem to have an extremely broad generalized view on what precisely a snuff film is, and none of them are really correct in their views.Lake and Ng for example never attempted to sell their films, and didn't murder on camera anyway. An internet beheading is done for political reasons, repugnant as they may be, as are acts of war. Some producer cobbling all these images together for a DVD may be unscrupulous, or even morally dubious, but hardly a snuff film maker. One of the interviewed cinephiles, even tries to make out that Bowling For Columbine is a quasi snuff film, due to its decision to include CCTV footage of the Colombine shootings, which is a severe stretch to say the very least.As for so called "real" bona fide cases, we're treated to a rather dodgy story regarding a Russian Snuff paedophile ring, who supposedly killed kids on camera, only... nothing more is made of this, and from googling the incident, it seems pretty dubious to me.We're then treated to a producer in the adult film industry, who emotively tells of the time he really did see an honest to god snuff film in the bad old '70s, via some shadowy Fillipino distributors. Of course, nobody else was there with him when he saw it, the Fillipinos disappeared, and we only have his word that such an incident ever took place. Hearsay, in short- the backbone of the entire myth of the Snuff film.Then, after one of its interviewees trying to make out Bowling For Columbine is at least quasi snuff, the documentary goes the completely exploitative and absolutely tasteless route in showing some real internet be headings, which I personally found pretty contemptible.So overall, what do we make of this documentary about killing on camera?Eh, it's watchable, but doesn't give any particular useful or new insights into the Snuff legend, particularly to those interested or half-way knowledgeable on the topic.A generous 5/10, mainly for showing clips from Snuff, Cannibal Holocaust and Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, but overall, there's nothing new or particularly insightful to see or learn here at all.
markusmcilwraith
rosen, who probably was in charge of coffee runs on several film sets, reads a news article and describes something that probably never happened.they include a crime-scene photo of sharon tate and jay sebring. i can understand why- the whole myth of manson family movies.video store clerks as experts and old A&E American justice footage doesn't make this a documentary.it is an interesting movie though.work harder next time.also, when someone proclaims that hard that something really happened, it probably didn't happen.
Jeff Chitty
This film is absolutely fantastic! For a fan of shocking and subversive cinema, this is as good as a documentary can get!From the opening explanations of what exactly a "snuff film" is by definition, to the de-bunking of urban myths associated with films many of us grew up watching (such as FACES OF DEATH, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and SNUFF), to real life footage of Leonard Lake and Charles Ng as well as the "Juba Sniper" and other Iraq footage, this doc is a no holds barred look at the grim realities of death recorded on film.Filmmaker Paul Von Stoetzel does a wonderful job indulging us in just enough of the underbelly of the independent film world to perhaps satisfy our curiosity about the existence of snuff films. I believe most people have a healthy (or maybe unhealthy depending on how one looks at it) curiosity when it comes to the morbid. How many people slow down and look when there is a massive car crash on the side of the highway? This entire film feeds into that curious side of the human mind without taking it too far over the top and verging into pure gratuitous shock value.There are moments of humor while films such as FACES OF DEATH and SNUFF, once believed to contain real footage of death are proved to be mostly if not completely fabricated.There are also sobering moments when cases are presented (along with real video footage) in which the deaths of human beings were indeed filmed.I dare you to sit through the last 10 minutes of this film and come away feeling fine. If you can, then you are most certainly a sociopath! That said, I feel that a film (particularly a documentary) should leave the viewer feeling something, and this film should not disappoint. It is an emotional roller coaster that may leave you feeling dirty and send you to church afterward, but it will not leave you unaffected!This film hits DVD August 26th. If you have a taste for films that are all at once thought provoking, shocking, disturbing and REAL, do yourself a favor and buy this film! -Jeff Chitty
