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.
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.
