8MM

Description

Academy Award® winner Nicolas Cage stars with Joaquin Phoenix and Catherine Keener in an electrifying thriller from the writer of Seven. Directed by Joel Schumacher (The Client, Batman Forever, A Time to Kill), this dramatic story follows one man's obsessive search for the truth about a six-year-old crime and his ultimate discovery of the truth about himself.

Customer Reviews:

I liked it.......2007-09-05

As always, I think in my own personal opinion that Nicholas Cage is an awesome actor. People may disagree, but that is why this is the Great USA...everyone is allowed to have an opinion.
As for the movie, when I first watched it, it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. It was dark, and dealt with very sensitive subjects. I really liked it, all the same, and I would recommend this movie to anyone who has a strong stomach.

A Great Moral, Perhaps Not the Best Delivery.......2007-08-26

One of the criticisms leveled against the film industry today is that its movies are full of immorality. Comedic films are full of crude sexual references and unnecessary nudity. Films that may well have a great moral to them, such as the Wedding Crashers, which leaves Owen Wilson happier having found everlasting love with a wonderful woman, rather than continuing his life of meaningless and unfulfilling sexual encounters, are marred by the use of sexual humor and nudity.
8MM, like many films has a great moral to it, AVOID PORNOGRAPHY! Each of the characters involved in the murder of the girl are led to their crime by pornography. Likewise, each character involved dies in some way surrounded by their pornographic material. As Cage and Phoenix visit both the legal and illegal side of the vile business, consumers of the material are shown to be captivated by their desires, practicing both day and night. Similarly, this movie challenges the argument that pornography is a victimless crime, for each woman involved with pornography in the film is demonstrated as exploited and abused.
That being said and returning to the film industry's use of sexual humor and nudity, this film's exploration and revelation of the porn industry is very graphic and makes one wonder if it is not over the top. However, this graphic quality may help to hammer home the moral, leaving the audience with a firm determination to avoid pornographic material. Hopefully, one will not walk away from this film thinking either certain actors did not perform well or that this was a great thriller, the most important thing one can walk away with is the moral.

Disturbing beyond belief but well worth the feeling..........2007-08-15

I have never nor ever will I be a fan of Nicholas Cage. That aside, `8MM' is a film that I can get behind. It's dark, disturbing and intriguing despite the fact that Cage couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. His lack of emotional range disgust me, but regardless, `8MM' is a worthwhile cinematic experience. The subject matter is far from light fare. It delves into the perverse and downright despicable and hits a nerve with its audience. There are scenes within `8MM' where my gut is in knots, my heart racing and it's not necessarily out of fear (while there are some downright creepy moments) but more out of pure anger and frustration and deepened sadness. For a thriller it has a heart of emotional gold because it is able to attach the audience to a character they never meet and bleat for her vindication.

Nicholas Cage plays Tom Welles, a Private Investigator who meets an elderly widow distraught over a film she found hidden away within her late husbands belongings. This very rich man had purchased a pornographic film in which a young woman is brutally murdered. The first inclination of everyone involved is that it's a fake, a sick joke at that, but the widow insists that Tom investigate so that she can be sure. It's within this investigation that the audience's emotions are exposed and played with harshly. Welles delves deep into the world of pornography, legal and illegal, and uncovers things he wished he never had to witness.

Cage is nothing but boring here. His emotionless line readings get overly ridiculous, especially in a film like this where emotion is demanded of the audience. I felt as if I was affected more than Cage, and he was the man experiencing the horrors. I guess I just couldn't believe him. Joaquin Phoenix on the other hand was fantastic. He proved here that he is deserving of any and all praise that has been heaped upon him. A relative unknown at the time he was able to upstage his more famous costar with his ability to remain natural and relaxed and convey so much relatable emotion. Catherine Keener is decent as Cage's wife, but her performance is short and sweet, not much too really judge on. Another plus to this film is James Gandolfini who plays the porno slime ball so incredible convincingly. I loved to loathe him, he was that fantastic.

The film does in the end get a little extreme as Welles takes a personal approach to the horrors he uncovers. But, within all its unrealistic moments it still manages to keep the audience held tightly. This is one of those cases where the film far outshines its main character, or more so main actor since the character himself could have been much better had a more polished actor been given the role. The film is one that I would highly recommend with reservations. As I mentioned, and many others have as well, it's a very dark and disturbing creation with plenty of scenes that will bother you, mentally bother you. The subject matter is above and beyond horrendous, and it's approached in a very gritty and dark manor. You're skin will crawl and your stomach will turn long after the credits have rolled, but it's a satisfying feeling knowing that a film has been able to have such a strong impact.

8MM.......2007-08-09

This it not a film for the squemish i assure you, be forewarned it is dark and disturbing. If you liked Seven or the Silence of the Lambs then you will like this: it's in that vain. I found the story reviting and Cage is very good in this sort of role. It really goes into the underbelly of L.A. and you may want to take a long bath after the journey, it's really unnerving, ive never really seen anything like it. The ending stays with you.

Disturbing Subject, Routine Treatment.......2007-07-05

There was a good movie here...but this ain't it.

"8mm" could have been a shocking film about one of the darkest aspects of our mass media, but instead it's just a deflated whodunnit almost completely populated with evil, ugly men. Nicolas Cage does so much mugging throughout this film--it's ridiculous that anyone buys his "undercover" routine--that I wondered if his face was sore upon the film's completion. Jim Carey could've played this part.

The underworld in this movie is so repellent and vile that you should probably shower off after watching this. It's so over-the-top that I wondered if this was the "Reefer Madness" of porn films.

There is such a huge gulf between the squeaky-clean family dude (Cage) and the slimy perverts (just about everyone else) that any opportunity for dramatic tension or insight is lost. Sorry, I forgot: Cage smokes cigarettes, so he's not perfect. (A much more interesting take on controversial practices was seen in "Tightrope," a movie where the lead character, played by Clint Eastwood, is so drawn into a series of murders that you wonder if the killer is the hero!)

I think all the good reviews are people intrigued by the premise of the film...but the film doesn't deliver.

Masters of Horror - John Carpenter - Cigarette Burns

Average customer rating:

An extraordinary film about an extraordinary film? Not quite.
A genius of a film, but so violent it's not something for everyone
The best MOH story!
Please enter a title for your review
For Horror Fans, not the General Public

Masters of Horror - John Carpenter - Cigarette Burns
Starring: Gary Hetherington , Udo Kier , and Norman Reedus
Director: John Carpenter
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000E5KUME
Release Date: 2006-03-28

Product Description

In this episode Jimmy Sweetman ventures out to locate a rare film print called Le Fin Du Monde . The film once shown has been known to drive its audience into a crazed frenzy before the theatre goes up in flames. He finally discovers that the film does live up to it s reputation on the results are quite shocking.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

John Carpenter's installment in the Masters of Horror cable-TV anthology series looks at the ominous, underground mystique surrounding a notorious 1970s horror classic (now there's something Carpenter should know about). Cigarette Burns tracks the search for said opus, Le Fin Absolue du Monde, by the owner of a repertory theater (Norman Reedus) on behalf of a highly decadent millionaire collector (a role made for Udo Kier). The film, supposedly destroyed after it caused a riot at its only screening, causes viewers to turn into homicidal, cannibalistic maniacs. Even as Reedus gets on the trail of the lone existing print--listening to an interview with the director, looking at production stills--he begins to fall under its supernatural sway. Alas, the same can't be said for Cigarette Burns itself; the stuff about horror aficionados is good, but the production is slapdash, the dialogue stiff, and Reedus's performance incompetent. The basic idea, while a little film-schoolish, has some intrigue, and the notion of a film critic (supposedly a follower of Pauline Kael, no less) driven to write millions of words about this one barely-seen movie is amusingly sinister. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

An extraordinary film about an extraordinary film? Not quite........2007-09-03

Film connoisseur Kirby Sweetman (Reedus) is hired by creepy millionaire Mr. Bellinger (Kier) to find an incredibly rare print of a film called Le Fin Absolue du Monde (The Absolute End of the World). It only played once at an international film festival, and when it did, it apparently caused violence to erupt in the theater. When the director, Hans Backovic, tried to get it out of the country, the government seized it and destroyed it. Alas, it was a work in progress, so it was his only print.

Or so the story goes. Apparently it was not destroyed, and Bellinger wants it. Kirby doesn't believe it's really out there, but Bellinger has an "unimpeachable" source, which, apparently, he keeps chained and shackled in a room adjacent to his study.

Bellinger, in one of the early film's missteps, shows his source to Kirby; it's an angel, it's wings brutally hacked off-wings, I might add, that we saw hanging on the wall of Bellinger's study (a prop from the movie, he'd explained). The angel stands, morosely, spinning on a rotating pedestal, while bound to chains its frail body has no chance of escaping. Bellinger commands it tell Kirby what it told him, namely that it (and others like it) were "bound to the negative like soul to flesh," so he would know if it had been destroyed.

So Kirby takes the case. His first step is to track down and speak with a film critic A.K. Meyers, who is one of the only survivors to have seen the film. He's been living as a recluse in upstate New York (in director John Carpenter's hometown of Carthage, as it happens). In a review, Meyers says "Le Fin Absolue du Monde is not a movie but is more like a bullet fired directly into the collective brainpan of all those assembled and the only rational response is violence." He goes on to tell Kirby that "Backovic was a terrorist. He abused that trust we place in filmmakers. He didn't want to hurt his audience. He wanted to destroy them completely."

Meyers gives Kirby a recorded interview Meyers did with Backovic at the festival prior to the screening. Kirby listens to the tapes, and as he does so, he starts to experience strange visions-haunting visages of his dead girlfriend punctuated by jarring circular images, not unlike those in the film The Ring. They're called cigarette burns, we learn, and people who have pursued or seen the film all report the phenomenon. They're called this because they resemble the "cigarette burns" that appear in the top corner of film reels, which serve as notification to the reel attendant that he needs to change reels.

Undeterred, not only because of his suddenly strong desire to see the film, but also because of his urgent need of the load of cash Bellinger is offering, Kirby goes to Paris to see what else he can learn there. There, Kirby follows some other leads, which put him in grave peril, but eventually leads him to the film.

He brings it to Bellinger...and bad things happen.

Cigarette Burns is actually quite scary at times, with some indisputably horrific scenes. However, like the previous episode in the series, Dreams in the Witch-House, it also aims high and falls short (though not quite as short) of the mark.

The acting is pretty solid; Reedus (Kirby) has an affable blandness about him, yet he manages to get the job done. He doesn't show a lot of emotion despite the inexplicable weirdness surrounding him, but his character is interesting, and while his performance doesn't raise the bar, it reaches it at the very least. Kier (Bellinger), however, is way, way, way over the top in his performance. I think he's kind of doomed to always be typecast as a somewhat creepy old guy in movies, but in this case he lays it on a bit too thick.

Above, I made reference to one of the film's missteps--when Bellinger shows the angel to Kirby. If this were a novel or short story, any good editor would have killed that scene; it was completely unnecessary and only serves to dumb-down the plot. Why should Kirby need the proof of an angel to go on this filmic treasure hunt? Bellinger offers to pay all his expenses and throws in $200,000 on top of all that. Seems to me, Kirby had 200,000 reasons to say yes, especially since he needs that money to repay a debt. And wouldn't the angel being revealed at the end have made it a much cooler plot point?

Carpenter (and/or the screenwriters) made several other questionable choices throughout the film. One is a diversion to a maniac film collector's home, which seems to be nothing more than an excuse for grotesque bloodshed. Another is the cigarette burns themselves-the phenomenon that pursuers of the film begin experiencing. It doesn't really make any sense and seems to be thrown in only for the visual effect.

Yet another misstep is when Bellinger's Asian butler thrusts a four or five inch blade into one eye, then the other. This strikes me as somewhat impossible-wouldn't the knife have gone into his brain with the first stab? If that didn't kill him instantly, would he have still be coordinated enough afterward to stab out his other eye? And then stick around long enough to assist in a critical plot point?

Not to mention the fact that Kirby ends up finding the film in the possession of Backovic's widow. If you were looking for a rare film, don't you think the filmmaker's widow might be one of the first people you'd check with? Of course, if he'd done that, the movie would have been a lot shorter.

The film within the film, Le Fin Absolue du Monde, is only seen in bits and pieces, which is of course necessary, by design. They couldn't well tell this story and make a coherent fictional film too. Also, how to depict something that's supposed to be so viscerally horrific that "the only rational response is violence"? The bits and pieces we see are interesting and dark, but the viewer doesn't get any idea of what the film is actually supposed to be about. There doesn't seem to be any continuity in the scenes we see-it's just a jumble of random images. The creepy video in The Ring made more sense (and was creepier to boot).

I initially loved the premise, but quickly realized that it's quite derivative The Ring. It also reminded me a lot of Laird Barron's excellent recent novella "The Imago Sequence" (which was far superior to any work mentioned in this review), though I don't think the filmmakers could have read it pre-production, so the similarities are almost certainly a coincidence. Though these two factors diminished by admiration for the film somewhat, I still found it to be an enjoyable and laudable viewing experience...even if I did want to do a rewrite on the script so that I could see the film I wished this was.

And in the words of Kirby: "I don't want to see an ordinary film. I want to see something extraordinary." That was my problem with Cigarette Burns. But you've got to give Carpenter points for having the guts to put a line like that in his movie.

DVD Extras
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
Commentary: John Carpenter (director), Drew McWeeny & Scott Swan (writers)
Featurettes: "Celluloid Apocalypse: An Interview with John Carpenter"; "Behind The Scenes: The Making of Cigarette Burns"; "Working With a Master: John Carpenter"; "On Set: An Interview with Norman Reedus"
DVD-ROM: Original Screenplay, screensaver
Misc.: John Carpenter biography (onscreen text); Still Gallery; Trailers

Cigarette Burns' extras are an interesting bunch. The featurettes are all well-worth your time if you're a big Carpenter fan, or if you're interested in learning how movie magic is brought to life on the big-or in this case, small-screen.

Carpenter comes off as a bit of a blowhard in parts of the various interviews, but he's an engaging speaker and offers some interesting insights into his process. He also curiously sort of undermines his entire film by calling one of its primary themes-that a film in the wrong hands can be a deadly weapon-a terrible cliché.

A genius of a film, but so violent it's not something for everyone.......2007-08-27

What a whirlwind of a film, it sucks you right in and stays there. There's so many original and brilliant ideas and themes in it, that it sweeps away 99 % of it's genre of today. First of all, a warning, this is extremely violent, but it shouldn't pose much of a problem for adults. Mr. Sweetman, played by Reedus from "The Boondock Saints", owns a movie theatre in the city where he and his friend screen obscure movies to their audience, and he works on the side as an antiquarian in films, tracking down obscure and scarce films for interested buyers. Right away I felt I was watching a weird and scary version of the excellent film "8MM", which says a lot.

Eventually he gets an offer he can't refuse, from a decadent but extremely wealthy film-collector. He wishes him to track down a copy of an obscure French film that supposedly shows the beginning and the end of Ragnarok, and he's willing to pay all expenses plus 200 000 dollars, a nice co-incidence seeing that Reedus owes exactly this amount to his former father in law, for lending him the money to purchase his theatre. To show how he knows the film still exists, he shows Reedus something so well made, I'll never forget it. Absolutely terrifying and wonderful! We only get small glimpses of the past, but it turns out Reedus and his former fiancée lived quite rough, and it ended up the worst imaginable way, something her father understandably can never forgive Reedus.

He then quickly descends into a dark world of ever more obscure and dangerous people connected to the film in some way. The parallels to "8MM" is striking, as I've mentioned before, but where that movie was secular and dealt in more mundane though twisted issues, this goes the full way. From here on, you're on your own, but I highly advice you to check this terribly frightening film out, with it's absolutely eerie feeling throughout, and so much originality.

If this is your genre, and you like the feeling of an overwhelming cosmos and things wildly beyond our imaginations, like in Lovecraft's tales, then this is decidedly the short film for you. I only wish they had made it into a full-length film, with material such as this, it would have been quite the success, I wager. Highly recommended!

The best MOH story!.......2007-07-18

Theater owner Kirby Sweetman (Norman Reedus) shows rare cult movies at his movies and seeks out a special long lost piece of cinematic history called "Le Fin Absoulte Du Monde" which is one of the most legendary and infamous movies ever. Rumor has it that long ago it drove the audience into muderers, Kirby goes out and seeks out for the legendary movie, soon he discovers the shocking truth behind the film once he ges his hands on it.

A gory and smart shocker directed by masterful horror director John Carpenter is a unique and creative story with good acting and violent special effects. Udo Kier of "Suspiria" fame co-stars as a villain, the film shows us if it was true that snuff films could exist and is a must see episode.

This DVD has good extras like audio commentarties, interviews, two featurettes, trailers and a still gallery.

Also recommended: "Silence of the Lambs", "Hostel", "8MM", "Demons 1 & 2", "Saw Trilogy", "Bloodsucking Freaks", "Men Behind The Sun", "Snuff", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Saga especially the 2003 remake & The Beginning", "Funny Games", "The Untold Story", "Ichi The Killer", "Imprint", "Audition", "Se7en", "Manhunter", "Hannibal", "The Hills Have Eyes (2006)", "Re-Animator", "Videodrome", "Tetsuo The Iron Man", "The New York Ripper", "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer", "Mother's Day", "Cannibal Ferox" and "A Clockwork Orange".

Please enter a title for your review.......2007-07-11

Fashionably incomprehensible. How much you enjoy this film will probably directly correpsond to how much you enjoy namedropping. The worst in the series and as much of waste of time to watch as any movie ever has been. I don't think I've ever seen a movie with such an uneventful plot that is so hard to follow. Characters are never adequately introduced or established, there is no suspense, and nothing in it has any relevence to horror other than a realistic looking beheading which isn't even clear whether it really happened or if it was a dream sequence, and a ridiculous scene at the end of a guy feeding his intestines into the wheels of a film projector. I'm almost surprised that this episode was even aired, rather than the producers just cutting their losses and canning it to save their audience the annoyance of trying to find anything of worth in it.

For Horror Fans, not the General Public.......2007-05-31

Carpenter dons his old school hat and delivers here. The story here is interesting and fits perfectly into the 1 hour format. Excellent gore scenes! Some genuinely creepy moments, and if I weren't so jaded, I may have actually been scared.

The plot is mentioned in other reviews-- sorta reminds me of Polanski's THE NINTH GATE (wouldn't it be nice to get Polanski aboard for an episode?). An rich eccentric, freaky film collector hires some bozo to track down the reel to a legendary film that was screened once and caused the audiance to go berzerka and slaughter each other. The rest is for you to find out and enjoy.

The dialouge is appropriate and the directing,cinematgraphy is great-- I don't care what the mainstream reviewers say. If you are a horror fan and enjoy the old Carpenter films-- you will dig this bad boy.

Average customer rating:

Awesome!!
Two stars for the movie and another for Joaquin Pheonix
Disturbing Subject Matter
Dark Disturbing and Utterly Enthralling
Who did the music?

8MM
Starring: Nicolas Cage , Joaquin Phoenix , James Gandolfini , Peter Stormare , and Anthony Heald
Director: Joel Schumacher
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 0767821823
Release Date: 1999-09-14

Amazon.com

This thoroughly unpleasant thriller from the hands of Joel Schumacher (Batman and Robin) offers very little in its lurid tour of snuff films and the seedy pornographic underworld. A wooden Nicolas Cage stars as a private detective hired by a tycoon's widow, who discovers in her dead husband's safe some 8mm footage of a young girl being sexually abused and slaughtered. Cage's job is to determine the veracity of the film and to find out the girl's identity, whether she be alive or dead. What could have been a taut, nerve-jangling thriller is instead a lumbering, overwrought but underwritten tale of vigilante justice. Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker also penned the imaginative and compelling Seven, but you wouldn't know it from this tired and monotonous script. Schumacher tries for echoes of both The Silence of the Lambs and Paul Schrader's Hardcore (which stars George C. Scott as a father trying to find his daughter in the seedy porn industry), but despite some slick camerawork, the film fails to draw the audience into either the mystery of the missing girl or Cage's supposed internal conflicts. It's not so much the unsavory subject matter as it is the sloppy and unimaginative filmmaking that makes the movie unbearable. Of the entire cast only Joaquin Phoenix, as a charismatic goth boy who works at an adult book store, comes away with a memorable performance. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews:

Awesome!!.......2006-11-05

This is a very well-made movie that made me feel a lot of different emotions. Disturbing to think about "snuff" films and its great that someone made a good movie revolving around that. Nicholas Cage once again displays his talent as an amazing actor. I am really impressed by this movie and how it made me feel throughout. Unique, creative, thrilling and chilling!!!! I love it!!

Two stars for the movie and another for Joaquin Pheonix.......2006-04-03

The main plot of the movie: a rich man dies; his wife hires Cage as a PI to see if a woman was really killed on a film she found in his safe. While the material that is dealt with in the film is disgusting, it's not why I didn't like it. I usually like Cage and think he is a great actor, but he was stiff and un-Cage like throughout the movie. He just couldn't get into the part and become his character, rather than just saying the lines. The movie moved sooo slowly, that I just wanted to skip to the end and find out what happened.

The only true treasure of the film was Joaquin Pheonix, whose role was unfortunately too short. He was the only one who seemed to hold the film together and made it worth watching. It reminded me just how good of an actor he is, even in a small part like that. Other than that, I did respect the end of the movie, which showed that anyone could be a monster, your neighbor, your friend, even someone in your family...and monsters aren't dressed like the boogeyman, but rather look like everyone else on the street.

If you have nothing to do and like Pheonix, then I recommend it. If you like Cage then don't watch it, you will be highly disappointed. The unfortunate thing is that the plot is a good idea; it just wasn't pulled off well.

Disturbing Subject Matter.......2006-02-06

The first time I saw this movie I found it so disturbing in subject matter that I thought I would never watch it again. It is still disturbing but I don't find it as bad as the first time I saw it. The topic and what the film is based around is the underbelly society and the horrible side of human behavior in the outlaw culture of underground pornography, specifically snuff films. Snuff films are supposedly an urban legend where some one is raped and or assaulted and then killed on film. The premise revolves around a rich widow who finds a reel of film in her recently deceased husbands safe that contains what appears to be a 'Snuff Film'. She hires family man and P.I. Nicholas Cage to investigate and says she only wants to know if the film is real, who the girl was and if she is alive or if she was murdered on film. This plunges family man Cage into the scummy dark world of outlaw underground porn and the sick disgusting people that bottom feed there. And as the old saying goes and as Joaquin Phoenix warns Cage, "when you dance with the devil you don't change him, he changes you."

Good movie but definitely not for everyone and the material can be very disturbing to those who can't handle it. Katherine Keener is good as is Peter Stormare and an unforgettable villian simply known as The Machine.

Dark Disturbing and Utterly Enthralling.......2006-01-14

It seems that whenever this movie is brought up in a discussion the general negative reaction seems to be: It was so *bad*! The entire thing was about violent porn! Who on Earth would *like* that?!?!

Well, no one. And that's the point. This movie is *not* made as a way of glamorizing violence and death so that the viewer will like it. The entire point of the movie is to show that there happens to be a very real and very ugly world out there that we happily do not or can not see on a day to day basis.

The film pulls no punches with reality even going so far as to be the only film of it;s kind in history to have a paid dominatrix as a consultant. It shows a gritty part of the porn industry that 20/20 in all of it's Oh So Shocked pompous news reports would vomit at the site of.

But don't let that turn you off. The worst of it is mostly psychological. As for violence the hardest part for me to watch was in the beginning when Cage is watching the snuff film he's asked to investigate. We see the girl's killer sock her in the face before slashing her to bits which I found hard to watch because: 1) I HATE seeing women get punched. So from a moral stand point I was offended which is a good thing. Seeing things like this serve to remind us of why it's important to hold onto our own morals and ethics which seems to be the theam of the movie. And...2) The actual "slashing to bits" is never shown at any point throughout the movie, but what we *do* see is Cage's expression when watching the film which sometimes can be more jarring than seeing the actual deed its self.

Watching this movie I'm reminded of another book I read where the author had written something along the lines of: I make a point to never turn away from torture. It seems disrespectful to turn your head away because you have the option when the person who is in pain has nothing at all. To shut of your TV because you found some of this offensive to your person seems like a cheep way out. More than anything this film serves to remind us that there are parts of you that you may not like, but exists anyway.

How you deal with them after that will determine who you are.

Who did the music?.......2006-01-09

At best this is a bad B-movie remake of Hardcore.

But who did the music? the credits only list two peices, neither one of which apppears to be the arabic music all thru the film.

Average customer rating:

Not very entertaining
THE ONLY MOVIE PULLED BECAUSE OF A REAL MURDER ON SET
"Forgive me for my ignorance, but I am fascinated by it...."
Oh the humanity!
Snuff

Snuff
Director: Michael Findlay , and Roberta Findlay
Manufacturer: Blue Underground
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000096IBY
Release Date: 2003-07-29

Customer Reviews:

Not very entertaining.......2006-07-11

I love cheesy movies. I love terrible acting, terrible direction, terrible scripts, everything. However, I have little patience if the movie as a whole is boring. There's just not a lot here. Ignore the hype - there was no real murder on the set, no one died to make this "film", the murder was (poorly, in fact) staged.

I had always seen this DVD on the shelf at Borders and the packaging and tag line ("a film that could only be made in South America where life is cheap") looked intriguing. Then I read about the film in David Kerekes's great book, Killing for Culture. The book, by the way, is incredibly good. I foolishly disregarded his warning that Snuff is a mess of a movie. If you're reading this review, you're probably a fan of the exploitation picture. I recommend getting Kerekes's book and reading about Snuff rather than buying the expensive DVD.

Snuff presents itself as a genuine video nasty - something sinister, sick, and twisted. It's really just amateur hour. It does have a few unintentionally funny moments (as these films often do), but it drags in so many places that it's almost not worth the effort. The time would be better spent watching any of the following

Last House on the Left
Last House on Dead End Street
I Spit on Your Grave
Toolbox Murders
etc.

These movies are great. Snuff isn't. Don't waste your time and money.

THE ONLY MOVIE PULLED BECAUSE OF A REAL MURDER ON SET.......2005-09-17

THIS MOVIE WAS NOT THAT GREAT BUT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION BY MY FATHER WHEN HE TOLD ME ABOUT THE REAL LIFE MURDER AND POSSIBLY ANOTHER THAT HAPPENED DURING THE FILMING OF THE MOVIE. THE SCENE THAT TOOK PLACE WITH THE GUY TIED TO THE TREE HE WAS REALLY MURDER THE DIRECTOR WANT REALISM AND THAT SCENE WAS THE REAL MURDER THAT HAPPENED.

"Forgive me for my ignorance, but I am fascinated by it....".......2005-05-06

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.

Oh the humanity!.......2004-12-12

Have you ever seen a film so bad, so cosmically awful in every single one of its gutter level, rotten attributes that you gaze in open mouthed awe at the idiocy of it all? I have, and I'm going to tell you all about it right now. It's called "House of the Dead"...oh, sorry; I'll be writing that review later tonight. I meant to say that the film in question is Roberta and Michael Findlay's 1970's dud "Snuff." Actually, the finished product we see here on this DVD isn't solely the fault of the aforementioned couple. Apparently, some yutz picked up the rights to the film five years after Roberta and Michael made it in Argentina. That's right--most of this film takes place in South America. After watching this atrocity the stupidity of the invasion of the Falkland Islands a few years later makes more sense. Anyway, this huckster shot a couple of cheesy H.G. Lewis quality gore scenes, inserted them at pertinent (yeah right) places in the film, and unleashed it on an unassuming public by advertising it as a real life snuff movie. How many people went to see this crud based on the advertising campaign is unclear to this day, probably because no one wants to admit their crime. The statute of limitations on willingly seeing bad films hasn't run out yet, either.

"Snuff," which we should call "Jigsaw" since that's what the film resembles, begins with a completely nonsensical scene before breaking down into complete anarchy. We see a couple of young ladies zipping down the road on a motorcycle as some generic rock music--although it resembles Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" in some respects--plays in the background. These girls, the names of whom I couldn't remember at gunpoint, eventually chase down another woman named Ana. It turns out that Ana is the procurer of narcotics for a cult run by the wily Satan (that's Satan pronounced so that it rhymes with Rattan), and she tried to pull a fast one on the group. After an amazingly lame chase sequence, Ana ends up lying on the ground with her feet in stocks. One of her "sisters" takes a knife and twists it around between Ana's toes. Ouch! It's always better to pay for a professional pedicure rather than let an amateur do it for free. Anyway, these scenes take up only a small part of the film. Once they let Ana go, the film downshifts into an insipid plot involving a film actress named Terry, a film director called Max, and her lover Horst. Believe it or not, there is a connection between Satan and Terry. It's unfortunate in the extreme that we couldn't just wrap the whole thing up in the first five minutes before the pain of watching "Snuff" increased to intolerable levels.

Horst seems to live at home with his arms dealer father, a man so grating to the senses that I couldn't feel my appendages two seconds after seeing him. He shouts, he bullies, he argues with anyone within earshot. Why? Don't ask me. What we do know is that Horst has a thing going on with Angelica, a woman who just happens to be a spy in the employ of Satan. Of course, Terry doesn't know about this covert relationship at first. She's too busy listening to Max talk up the latest movie deal, a deal that will eventually fall through. At some point in the "narrative" Terry goes to a Carnival type street festival and sits there for what feels like hours with Max. The movie, in an effort to transcend its five peso budget, loads up the screen with tons of stock footage of South American Carnival type street festival footage. It's strange: we see a close up of Terry and Max that is obviously shot against the side of a building somewhere, then see the film cut away to incredibly grainy stock footage. It's so obvious the two events have no connection that one wonders why the filmmakers even bothered. Let's skip to the end, eh? Satan's female cult members rob a store, Angelica tells a story about her abusive childhood and the demise of her father, and the cult embarks on a Manson Family style spree at Horst's father's house. The end.

Sorry about the rather jumbled summary, but would you believe I did that with the help of notes? Yep, I took notes on this movie and STILL can't fashion a coherent synopsis. The film simply makes no sense. Random scenes, like a cult member stabbing some guy in a bathroom at an airport, stand as sequences entirely independent from the rest of the film. For that matter, the whole Carnival scene makes little sense. I think it is painfully obvious why it appears in the movie, though. Using stock footage achieves two important goals for the micro budget filmmaker: it's cheaper than shooting your own stuff, and it helps to pad the run time. As for the big "scene" at the end of the film, the scene hyped as real snuff footage, it isn't anything a self-respecting gorehound will write home about. Like I said earlier, you've seen what happens in the scene before if you've ever experienced any of Herschell Gordon Lewis's gore films. In other words, the effects do achieve a certain level of yuckiness even as they look extraordinarily cheap.

I feel sorry for anyone subjected to "Snuff." Heck, I feel sorry for the technicians who had to go through the footage for hundreds of hours during the DVD transfer process. I'm seriously (very seriously) considering elevating this film to the top of my worst films ever list. It's even worse than "Manos: The Hands of Fate," which at least was so bad that it entertained on a certain level. There is nothing remotely entertaining about "Snuff." It's eighty minutes of excruciating agony that even my worst enemy shouldn't have to watch.

Snuff.......2004-11-05

Snuff is a pretty good exploitation film. The original storyline mentioned below is not bad and then of course at the end they do the snuff gag. I give the director credit he took a risk making an experimental film and didnt do too bad of a job. You could probably make an argument that the blair witch project got some ideas from this flick. Overall not too bad, I had fun watching Snuff.

Average customer rating:

Get this...you will not be disappointed.
Argento influenced Japanese horror.
JAPANESE ITALIAN-LIKE HORROR FLICK
Entertaining but uneven Japanese slasher
Shiryo no wana.

Evil Dead Trap
Starring: Miyuki Ono , Aya Katsuragi , Hitomi Kobayashi , Eriko Nakagawa , and Masahiko Abe
Director: Toshiharu Ikeda
Manufacturer: Image
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305789649
Release Date: 2000-11-07

Description

Arguably the most controversial and popular Japanese horror film ever made, Evil Dead Trap (aka Shiryo no Wana) is finally on DVD in the United States from Synapse Films! Nami, a talk show hostess, tells her audience to send in home videos to profile on her late night program. Soon, she receives anonymous videotape in the mail^Ea tape containing terrifying imagery. She watches in horror as an unseen filmmaker follows a route to an abandoned factory^Eand brutally tortures and kills a woman on camera. A camera crew is assembled and they set off to follow the videotape^R s trail to the foreboding location. What they find there is a horror beyond imagination! There is someone^Eor something^Ein the mysterious building. Something waiting in the shadows to torture and murder them one by one^E This film has a huge cult following and is sure to please any serious horror film fan!

Customer Reviews:

Get this...you will not be disappointed........2006-10-10

Before Ringu made Japanese horror films mainstream in the west, there was Evil Dead Trap...probably the most well known Asian horror film of its time. A late night news program recieves an apparent snuff film from an obsessed viewer. Hoping this will be the big story she has been looking for, anchorette Nami and her crew decice to investigate. Once the bodies start to drop though, it becomes clear to Nami that there may be more to this story than meets the eye.

This is a great Japanese horror film from the 80's with an ending reminescent of early Cronenberg. Any fan of the genre should be more than pleased.

Argento influenced Japanese horror........2006-07-04

A reporter looking for her big break finds it when a maniac mails her a snuff film and directions to an abandoned factory. Without telling anybody she and four co-workers go to investigate (great idea!) and are shocked to find out there really is a killer on the loose and he's after them (imagine that!).

One by one the killer knocks off the victims in violent ways (cleaver to the head, decapitation, massive spearing) all leading up to his main prize: the girl he mailed the tape to. With such an exciting start you'd think that this film would just get creepier and creepier, but instead when it gets down to the Final Girl it actually slows way down then drags on to some confusing nightmarish ending that caused me to make a face like I was eating a lemon while reading an advanced physics math book.

JAPANESE ITALIAN-LIKE HORROR FLICK.......2005-11-12

This is a very bizzare and I won't hesitate to say - one of the best Japanise horror flicks I've seen. First if your opinion on Japanise horror tradition is based on such titles as "The Ring", "Grudge" and "Dark Water", you may forget about them - that is to say the latest Japanise wave. In 1980-s it was by far different. "Evil Dead Trap" has some supernatural elements as well, but it's made in a totally different style. I'd call it Japanise-Italian style no mater how funny that may sound. This movie reminds of giallo films in general and of some particular works by Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. Everything is done here in Italian manner - cinematography, music, camera angles, ghastly murder scenes. I'm far from thinking it was the director's intention but sometimes I got the feeling I was watching some tribute to Italian masters of horror. I'm sure there were scenes imitating the ones from "Suspiria" and "Phenomena" for example, and eyeball-slitting scene was a flat-out homage to Fulci's "The New York Ripper". And music - if I heard it while my eyes were blindfolded and was asked what it is - I'd say it's Goblin's soundtrack to some new Argento movie.
"Evil Dead Trap" (apart from having a stupid title) is at times absurd, surreal and strange but without a doubt very stylish, original and fresh although as I said is reminiscent of many Italian horrors. That's a very pleasant fact considering it was made in 1988. I'm not sure you'll like it if you have just a shadowy idea about Japanise horror, but if you are an aficionado - I bet this movie would be interesting for you.

Entertaining but uneven Japanese slasher.......2005-03-27

Until its final (disappointing) reels, "Evil Dead Trap" is basically a slasher film with an intriguing premise: The hostess of a late-night TV show for Insomniacs solicits home videos from her viewers. She receives a tape that follow a van as it makes its way outside the city to an abandoned military complex. Inside, the faceless videographer appears to torture and then murder a woman. The TV show host gets a crew together to investigate - WRONG move. Someone or some thing lies in the shadows, ready to torture and murder Nami's crew one by one. What could he want with Nami?

The first thing you should know about "Evil Dead Trap" is that its violence is far more intense than your average US slasher. Fans of Dario Argento or Lucio Fulci (whose work "EDT" mines extensively) probably won't be shocked by the level of violence, but your casual viewer might be turned off by the sheer brutality of the carnage. Unlike say Jason or Freddy, the faceless killer of "Evil Dead Trap" isn't content to just murder his victims. Nope, this baddy wants to actually torture them in a series of highly sadistic and elaborate set pieces. The body count isn't especially high, but it does include intense, graphic scenes of eye-gouging, a cleaver to the head, a garote/neck-snapping, etc. Gorehounds will love it; casual horror fans might be seriously put off.

Aside from the brutality, what sets "Evil Dead Trap" apart for me is the stylish camera work and chilly atmosphere of the film. Corridors of the labyrinthian military base are lit with bold Technicolors. There's a gorgeous scene set in the fog-drenched woods outside. The soundtrack is unintrusive but effectively creepy. I'd never realized how much Japanese horror was incluenced by Italian gaillo and gore films, but fans of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci will recognize little stylistic flourishes throughout "Evil Dead Trap."

There are some plot gaps. For one thing, if I'd received a snuff film in the mail, my first response would be to contact the police - NOT to investigate the source on my own! Even assuming the film was fake, the kind of person who'd stage a mock snuff that features a woman getting her eye pierced by a large, sharp poker (in graphic, disgusting detail) is not the kind of person I want to meet. The first few minutes of the movie require some serious suspension of disbelief ...

And the ending is a letdown. "Evil Dead Trap" is so stylish that for the first hour or so I started to enjoy the fairly by-the-numbers predictability of it all. The last half an hour veers into some highly ridiculous Freudian psychobabble terrain that didn't seem to fit. I give the screenwriter/director credit for trying to do something different, but the ending is a serious departure from the rest of the film. The last half an hour or so seems to lag, and things get uninteresting once "Evil Dead Trap" tries to explain itself.

Anyway, all that said - ANY fan of Japanese or Eurohorror will enjoy the movie, and US horror fans who have a stomach for graphic violence should be entertained. "Evil Dead Trap" is uneven and flawed, but it kept me rivetted for most of the film.

Shiryo no wana........2005-02-08

The evil dead trap is definently a strange film but it is enjoyable to a certain level, it seems that it just suffers from a bad and confusing ending. Nami who is a female reporter works for a late night T.V. show that specializes in bizzare happenings and weird hauntings or something like that, but soon a delivery arrives for Nami with a video tape that has a snuff film that shows a girl being tortured and killed in a very graphic way, Nami then decides to go to the place where this girl was killed and brings some of her collegues and friends with her and in typical fashion they all get killed. Now this is where the film gets more intresting as each member of Nami's team gets killed in a very gory way like in a slasher film only 10 times as gross especially when one of the women gets spikes petruding through her body is very painful to watch, I noticed another thing which is that the director seems to have taken or stolen some scenes from other horror film directors like Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Sam Raimi and other directors as well but he definently made the film seem different then those. The film was very popular in Japan and seem to have brought in a new wave of other japanese horror films. Other japanese horror films like the guinie pig series were also released during that year in the 80's were just to gross for people to watch, I would definently not watch it as it seems to be just a stupid and fake gore film with no story at all even if I am a hardcore horror fan it doesn't seem that interesting to me.

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the great american snuff film (not so great)
They claim it's real, but....

The Great American Snuff Film
Starring: Mike Marsh , Ryan Hutman , Melinda Lorenz , Holi Tavernier , and Jason Dinger
Director: Sean Tretta
Manufacturer: Brain Damage
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000LPS4DE
Release Date: 2007-03-06

Customer Reviews:

the great american snuff film (not so great).......2007-07-20

VERY BORING LOOK A WHAT A SERIAL KILLER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THINKING ABOUT WHEN HE WASGOING TO KILL TWO GIRLS AND WHY IF INTERESTED RENT DON'T BUY

They claim it's real, but...........2007-05-16

In 1971, there was a little film called "The Slaughter." From all accounts, the film was horrendous. So it was re-edited, and a special scene was added at the end. Then, with the tagline "A film that could only be made in South America, where life is cheap," the film was re-released in 1976 as Snuff. The special scene supposedly depicted an actual murder, committed especially for the film. An intensive publicity campaign, including fake protesters who were hired to add to the film's notoriety, led to success.

Nearly thirty years later, along comes "The Great American Snuff Film." As the box and the film tell us again and again, this is the true story of William Allen Grone, a nasty serial killer who was executed in 2003. But wait, it gets worse. Grone was driven by his desire to make, in his own words, "the great American snuff film," and he actually produced 2 1/2 minutes of it--along with a number of diary entries that detailed his horrific crimes. But wait again! It gets even worse. This DVD contains "actual" footage from the murder. Just jump to the end of the film, and there it is. (It's right after the statement in the film that it's illegal in the United States to own a snuff film.)

Okay, reality check. Search for "William Allen Grone" online, and you'll find nothing but references to this film. The film claims that some names were changed to protect certain people, so maybe, just maybe, the filmmakers decided that the real killer's name shouldn't be used lest the film somehow sully his reputation. But then you look at the people who were executed in 2003 in the United States, and you find nobody who remotely fits the bill. Then there's the question of just how likely it is that a film with the actual footage of a murder would make it into reputable stores and Amazon.com.

So the whole thing's a stunt to entice viewers. There's nothing new there. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre claimed to be real. So did The Blair Witch Project. And, as noted, "Snuff" did, too. None of them, however, claimed to have the actual footage.

Beyond the marketing campaign, there is the issue of the film itself. This is a gritty, low-budget film that is done fairly well. The killers (Grone and his accomplice) abduct two girls whom Grone plans to murder as part of his snuff film. For a period of days, they torture the girls in a variety of ways, and most of this part of the film is quite convincing. All four actors do a very good job: Mike Marsh as the cold, calculating Grone; Ryan Hutman as the impulsive and dim-witted Roy; and Melinda Lorenz and Holi Tavernier as the victims. We also see periodic flashbacks to Grone's recent past, including his first murder.

Unlike, say, The Silence of the Lambs, which was based, in part, on a real case but which featured the completely unrealistic Hannibal Lector, "The Great American Snuff Film" rings true. Though there was no real Grone, the character we see could indeed be any number of predators out there. The gritty filmmaking, no doubt in large part because of budget constraints, works well at conveying a sense of dread and hopelessness that pervades the film. Like Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer, "The Great American Snuff Film" succeeds to whatever extent it does in large part because of the techniques.

Average customer rating:

Hard Time
Starring: Charles Durning , Gene Lebell , Robert Loggia , Roddy Piper , and Paco Prieto
Director: Burt Reynolds
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002IQJ6E
Release Date: 2004-08-03

Black Belt Theatre, Vol. 9: Snuff Bottle Connection

Average customer rating:

!!!!!!!
Old "Skool" Kung Fu!!
cast from instant kung fu man is back in a much more real type story, but the fu isn't any better
Great cast; OK fu
Be careful

Black Belt Theatre, Vol. 9: Snuff Bottle Connection
Starring: Jang Lee Hwang , Roy Horan , Robert Kerver , Biao Yuen , and John Liu
Director: Lili Liu (II)
Manufacturer: Ground Zero
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00006II5Q
Release Date: 2002-08-27

Customer Reviews:

!!!!!!!.......2006-08-02

first of all i am reviewing the SOUL BLADE dvd print of this movie...

Im not gonna talk about the print of the movie but movie itself.
Fisrt of all this is a must have for all secret rival fans !!! and hwang jang fans. Yuen wo ping done the action and all performances are great , the plot is good , unique and the action is above average but nothing special . Its worth having for the fact that jon liu and hwang jang are impressive , and do have a great talent . The movies not cheesy , even though it has the annoying kid from sleepin fist , however he does not spoil this film[wacth and find out why]... there are small bits wehich bring the film down , but nothing... but most of all it is entertaining.

i bought tis flick after reading both positive and negative reviews. Websits like dragons den , hk cinema rate this movie high , some have rated it low , which i cant understand why..
it has VERY mixed reviews...

so overall I STRONGLY RECCOMEND YOU FIND A SOUL BLADE OR OTHER PRINT FOR THIS MOVIE.

Old "Skool" Kung Fu!!.......2006-06-07

I'm a John Liu fan since I was a child, therefore, no matter what movie he's in,,,to me it's nothing less than a stellar performance. I'm a little surprized to have seen the poor review on this flick. Before writing this review, I went back to watch it again for the 3rd time, and still cannot see why most people gave it approximately 3 stars! I'm just blown away by that. I think this particular flick is really good,,the old school kung fu very transpartent, the choreography is impressive and importantly the DVd transfer satisfactory!! I would not give this flick nothing less than a 4 star, and well deserving so!

I'm never one to follow trends,,I usually set them. I also noticed many people on Amazon usually based there reviews on what other people have to say, and therefore score the movie respectively. That is kinda sad I think. Here is an advise for you followers with absolutely no opinion of your own, don't be a follower,,be a leader, so you may lead by example!!

cast from instant kung fu man is back in a much more real type story, but the fu isn't any better.......2006-04-27

Now doctor something down there commented that it is a good movie but you don't want to get this version. I have to back him up. Pans and scans are always pretty bad, but htis one managaes to zoom in even closer. Hwang looks pretty bad ass in this one, looks better than instant kung fu man at least. And mang fie's brother, the guy who played dual roles in instant KFM is back and I can't figure out why he is in these movies. He is a decent actor, certainly not up ther with his brother, but his fu is also worse than his bro. This is unexceptable. It slows the movie down, casue whenever he fights, they have to do the close up flip shot over and over again. But liu is looking good. And hwang doesn't look quite as bad as that guy says. His iron fan technique is very good, though not original and not the best you are gonna see, btu still an enjoyable final fight.

The gweilos are the ones that gave it the 3rd star for me. They are not great at screen fighting at all and one of them has a bad wig and just looks unbelievably stupid. But it is fun to watch them fight in this movie presented by ng-see yuen. There are 3 of them and 2 really get to fight, one just throws people around, and the other does karate kicks that go flying past guys faces and yet the whip crack sounds. I really enjoyed all their fight scenes. But more than that they brought out the snake hawk style and that was very nice to see. It was performed supremely by Hsu Hsia.

Now the dubbing is particulary bad for the russians!!!!!!! But with a little heroic acrobatic kid, Hwang lee, and John liu, I would prbably bump my scoer up to a 4 if the dvd presentation wasn't so bad.

And I almost forgot that there ARE SCENES OBVIOUSLY LEFT OUT. This is unnacceptable, I guess thta you just have to hope that groundzero is recording form the uncut vhs. So a 2.5, but I give it a 3 for creativity.

Great cast; OK fu.......2005-05-11

I used to own the VHS of this. I thought to myself this movie has to be great, right? It stars two of the best bootmen in the business, John Liu & Huang Cheng-li. Roy Horan a.k.a. Louis Sit from "Tower of Death" & "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" is in it. Even the King of Sticks Hsu Hsia is in it. The plot's workable and all, but the fu is what counts, and it was only OK. There were a couple of decent fights here and there, especially between Liu & Hsu, but with talent of this caliber it should have been better. What a letdown the grand finale was between Liu & Huang, especially after seeing these two battle it out in the classic "Secret Rivals 2" & "Invincible Armor". I couldn't put my finger on it but it seemed as if John Liu was "carrying" Huang during the fight. This was definitely NOT one of Huang's shining moments, including that totally unconvincing stuntman (it was so obvious) doubling for Huang during the end. Maybe Huang Cheng-li was burnt out or something. I can't review the DVD because I haven't seen it, but I can review the movie. The bottom line is, for what it's worth, I sold my VHS on e-bay and re-watched "Invincible Armor".

Be careful.......2004-02-19

Snuff bottle connection , aka Secret Rivals 3 in South Africa was always one of my favourite karate movies of the late 70's.However the DVD transfer does no justice to this movie.Who ever did the transfer to DVD needs to see an optician as almost half the movie is out of frame and this really spoils everything.Well if you prepared to watch it like that,I feel the company should drop the price to about $4.99 maximum.Do yourself a favour buy Invincible Armour instead.A classic in its true form.

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BLOOD OF THE DAMNED

Manufacturer: Customflix
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000QXCSR4
Release Date: 2007-05-17

amazon.com

Three Bloody Horror short films by a Horror based company "Really Dark Films" located in Northern California. This DVD contains film photos, cast and crew interviews, and behind the scenes. 1-Rehab: 15mins Christina(Karina Campell), a local crank head tries to get a free sack of dope from Kelvin(Matt Walker), a local drug dealer. When Kelvin tells Christina no, she gets upset and calls a local cop, Charles(Randall Russell). What Christina doesnt know is that Charles works for Sonny(Jeremy Wallace), a local drug lord. When Sonny finds out what going on, he calls a hitman; Rehab(Demarco Davis). 2-Deadly Woods: 11mins A crazed pyscopathic couple is loose in a woody park area located in Sacramento, California. The couple, Megan(Karina Campell), and Johnny(Craig Brown) have found Ricky(Randall Russell) and his little sister, Christy(Jamie Dixion) as new play things. But Megan and Johnny play alittle too rough with their new toys. 3-Holy Mer"sin"nary: 10mins A man of faith, Matthew(Randall Russell) get tierd of watching the world live in Sin. He decides to take things into his own hands. He goes after Caroline(Alex Rodriguez), a local hooker. Matthew doesnt plan on having sex though, he has deadlier plans for this dirty slut. All films are made by Marcus Allen Clay, Really Dark Films, Brotherhood Productions, and 15 Cent Entertainment.

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High Octane Video Wonders
Starring: Snuff
Manufacturer: Golf Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000AQVM5
Release Date: 2003-10-21

Description

Punk legends SNUFF "High Octane Video Wonders" finally gets a release on DVD. The DVD features the band live in Japan with superb sound and film quality (classy mate this is!) a must for any Snuff fan and any self respecting punker! TRACKLIST: Nick Motown, Pixies, Ningen Te-Ina, Marbles, Sweet Days, Iyehf Taidu Leikh, Efl Vs Concrete, Tomorrow, Arsehole, Fuck Off

DVD:

DVD

DVD