Search - Snuff: a documentary about killing on camera. on DVD

Snuff Exists

SORE EYES | 08/28/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Snuff-a documentary about killing on film, is an interesting documentary, if a bit lacking in depth. Snuff dispels the myth that snuff films are a product of the porn industry and investigates how killing on film has evolved. Snuff makes the point that most actual snuff films are made for personal use and aren't widely circulated-hence it's easy to believe they are an urban myth-our psyche doesn't want to handle the fact that snuff films not only exist, but that people purchase and order them. In one scene a UK resident, taped by M5 during an investigation of a child pornography ring, tells a Russian mobster that he wants to see "the mother fu**** die". Such evidence is disturbing beyond belief considering the fact that we're talking about a child who has been lured by the mob to perform sex acts for as little as 5 pounds. Serial killers love to make films of their killings so that they can relive their crime-they can't go out and kill all the time. But during the fall of Nan King, the Japanese laboriously filmed and photographed torture and the same thing happened in Abu Ghraib-why? Were the American soldiers going to come home and relive those experiences? It's difficult to imagine their motivation for possession of a trophy usually found in the hands of a psychopath. I recently watched Funny Games (2008) Funny Games and after watching Snuff, I had to admit that what I had seen was a snuff film disturbingly similar to the murder and torture films made by serial killers Charles Ng and Leonard Lake [[ASIN:0786011076 Die for Me: The Terrifying True Story of the Charles Ng & Leonard Lake Torture Murders].
Snuff lacks the investigative depth I like to see in documentary films, but it was still interesting, if disturbing. Worth watching and thinking about. If we keep pretending snuff films don't exist in a world where the traffic of human beings is prolific, the selling of children into pornography and sex rings is rampant, we're fooling ourselves. You may not have seen one or know anyone has seen one, but apparently snuff films do exist."

No Exploitation Here

Jesse A. Corder | 09/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Being somewhat of a horror film fan, I was in the mood for some nice splatter and fun gore. However, I found, to my pleasant surprise, this film doesn't have any of those things. Why that is so pleasant is because what it did deliver was a disturbing view on the human psyche. It goes all over the map in terms of range of films covered, from early seventies "real snuff" to war footage. If any one is interested in an intense psychological look into the darkness that is the human experience, this is never to be looked over. Watch it."