Snuff is one of the infamous “Video Nasties” that was
banned in the U.K. during a bizarre moral panic in the 1980s. Its reputation is
extreme and for years it was nearly impossible to track down a copy. That is no
longer the case. It has been released on Bluray by Blue Underground and is available
at major retailers.
The
movie started life as a sleazy little grindhouse affair called Slaughter. It
was directed on the cheap by husband and wife team Michael and Roberta Findlay
(known for such outings as (The
Curse of Her Flesh). It was an attempt to cash in on the hysteria surrounding
the Manson Family murders of Sharon Tate and others.
The plot involves an
Actress named Terry London who has travelled to South America (“where life is
cheap”, as the tag line informs us) along with her producer, Max. They are in
an unnamed country to make a film. There is a bit of a subplot about Terry’s
boyfriend wanting her to shift to more mainstream roles, rather than the nudity
and sex scenes she is known for.
The audience is
introduced to an all-girl biker gang reminiscent of the Manson girls
(naturally) and their charismatic leader Satán. You can guess upon whom he is modelled.
We see the gang get up to some sex and murder, but mostly
they stalk Terry. Terry, by the way is pregnant, just like Sharon Tate at the
time of her murder. The film culminates with the slaughter of the pretty,
young, pregnant movie star. And that should be the end of it. Slaughter was
just a cynical cash grab in a sea of cynical cash grabs. It should have spent a
brief time on the grindhouse / drive-in circuit and then fallen into the memory
hole never to be seen again. And it would have, were it not for Allan
Shackleton.
Shackleton shelved the movie rather than releasing it. However,
four years later he read an article about the rumors of snuff films. This gave
him an idea.
Working in a porn studio, he shot a new ending. After the
muder of Terry London, there is a rough cut and we see the film crew
(presumably the crew that shot the film we have been watching) wrapping up the
final shot. We get a little banter, then an unnamed crew member suggests that
he has an idea for a great scene. He escorts a young lady to the bed in the
room in what seems like an overture to sex. He then attacks her. Several
members of the crew join in and slaying the young woman gruesomely. This final
scene is shot cinema verite style,
giving it a truthful feel that the rest of the movie lacks.
Shackleton changed the title to Snuff and removed the
credits to give a greater air of mystery. The real genius came in marketing
that hinted that this was in fact a real snuff film with a real murder on screen.
The grimy nature
of the movie actually helps to sell this. The film was shot without
sound, and dubbed, poorly, in post. The lighting is amateurish. The staging is
bad. The acting, such as it is, is baroque at best. All of this lends to the
feeling that what happens in the final scene could be real. And that is what
created the legend that this movie became.
Is
Snuff a good film? No. Not by any measure. Is it one that you should see? Oh
hell yeas!
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