Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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43 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not what you're thinking, June 26, 2003
Like many films that appeared in the early 70s and raised a stink for one reason or another - the publicity surrounding the Findlay's film Snuff is more interesting than the film itself. In fact, this film - which supposedly depicted the actual dismembering of a young girl - caused such a fuss when it played in New York that the mayor demanded that the perpetrators be captured and prosecuted. That is, of course, until the producers admitted that the film was a fraud and produced the dead actress for all to see. The thing is, Snuff films have always been the stuff of urban legends - and still are (that's probably a good thing). Clearly a reaction to the urban legend, this film is nothing more than a late 60s Hell's Angelsish biker movie with a tacked on ending in which the film's director disembowels a young blond girl. Not sexual, and hardly interesting - the snuff bit of the film is hardly impressive as far as either shock or special effects. Of course, you have to sit through a turgid tale of bikers and drug smuggling to even get to this bit - and it just isn't worth it. Maybe a movie to have in your collection as a conversation piece - but then you run the risk of a friend wanting to watch it, and you won't want to.
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25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Life is Cheap - but this DVD sure ain't...., July 29, 2003
SNUFF - The legendary 1977 grindhouse favorite! Remember that great marketing campaign? - "The movie they said no producer could make, no distributor would release, and no audience could stomach. This is the one and only original legendary atrocity shot by Monarch Films in South America and New York, where human life is cheap! The mystery and controversy surrounding this vicious and violent venture remains clouded to this day. Many of the actors and actresses who dedicated their lives to making this film were never seen or heard from again. SNUFF is the film that went too far - it contains scenes of sadism, bondage, bloodshed and mutilation too real to be simulated, too shocking to be ignored. Are the killings in this film real? You be the judge!" Hahhahahahahhaha!This classic 42nd Street favorite is anything but real (at least in my opinion - you be "the judge"), but whatever you decide, there is no denying that it is an HILARIOUSLY campy, ridiculously-dubbed south-of-the-border exploitation flick! If you don't know it's history, the producers had bought a bad, sleazy 1971 Argentinian revenge flick called "The Slaughter", cut off the ending, added a terribly fake newly shot unrelated "snuff" sequence at the end instead, changed the title to "Snuff" and released it to unsuspecting crowds in 1977. I'm sure it caused a few riots at the time. Is there any snuff in it? No. Is it even about snuff? No. But who cares, it's all in the marketing, right? This hilariously marketed "limited edition" disc from Blue Underground is as bare-bones as you can get. The keepcase is a replica of a crinkled paper bag. No mention of actors, cast, crew or Blue Underground. Just a UPC code and the limited edition # printed on the back. Insert the disc and the movie starts playing automatically - there's no menu screen at all and the movie is not divided into any chapter stops. Full frame presentation looks and sounds OK overall. Don't think there was much "remastering" done, but it's probably as good as it's ever going to look. There's also no mention of Blue Underground on the disc itself and no insert card. Makes you feel like you're really getting something "taboo" from the underground (blue?). Of course, once the movie actually starts and you hear the atrocious dubbing and see the ridiculous action, all that scary reality is blown out the window. This is anything but real. Since there are no extras and the movie itself seems to alienate most horror fans looking for gore or horrific thrills, this disc is really only for diehard exploitation fans especially considering it's high retail price. Life is cheap but this DVD ain't.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
"Forgive me for my ignorance, but I am fascinated by it....", May 6, 2005
When sitting down to review this film I was torn between whether it deserved one or five stars. I had known about "Snuff" for quite some time and was very excited when I found that it was availble on DVD. I originally read a great deal about the subject matter for a paper I did on horror movies reflecting cultural fears for a film class, but never got around seeing the film (it was not readily available at the time). This movie is so bad that it truly is a work of art.
"Snuff" was filmed in Argentina (apparently originally to be titled either "El Angel de la muerte" or "American Cannibale") in 1971 or 1972 with out sound and dubbed in America. The premise of this film is loosely based on the Manson murders, although the Manson character named Sataan looked more like a 70's teen hearthrob (like Bobby Sherman) with 5 o'clock shadow. There are plenty of attractive 70's women including a "Sharon Tate" type character who looks like a cross between Jane Birkin and Astrud Gilberto. Everything about this movie is truly wretched, with the exception the music which is in much the style of the Velvet Underground, Brainticket, Amon Duul II and Can playing sort of a "Born to be Wild" themed jam. The dialogue is quite humorous including the leading lady's excellent line, "Please forgive me of my ignorance, but I am facinated by it..." when speaking to her supposidely German (he looked latin, although you would think they could find some Germans somewhere in Argentina) lover's father about his weapon manufacturing business.
The original director (A.Bochin?!?) realized this film was too lousy to release, scraping it before it was complete, sitting on the shelf until 1976 when Michael Findlay added the "snuff" ending to it. Apparently this ending garnered the movie serious attention, although most of it started with a publicity stunt including fake police investigations, fake banning and "plants" in the audience to feign horror, fainting and sickness over the subject matter. In fact more was put into the overall publicity of this film, than in to film itself. It was truly a Warholian event.
The amusing thing about the movie is some people thought it was real. I have yet to see Tempura paint that actually looks like blood, although the reason for using orange-red Tempura in this film is beyond me. In some of the murder scenes, you can actually see the blood on the clothes before the stabbing takes place!! The attached "snuff" ending looks nothing like the original film. The original movie, as I mentioned was filmed in 1972 and the added bit at the end was filmed in 1975 or 1976 with no attempt to get an actress who looked anything like any of the actresses in the original movie or keep in mind that styles had changed in three years time. Also the apparent "snuffing" of the actress is absurdly fake, including cutting fingers off with a pair of wire cutters and cutting a whole hand off with a jigsaw (and these are clean cuts too!!!!). Those are pretty impressive wire cutters and a mean jigsaw if they can cut cleanly through skin, muscle and bone.
This movie has to be seen to be believed.
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