The Big Picture
- Snuff films are a myth, as there is currently no evidence of violent killings being filmed for profit.
- Historical definitions of snuff films vary, some claiming they are pornographic films involving death at the climax, while others state they are real murders captured on film.
- Films like Snuff , Cannibal Holocaust , and other found footage or home movie-style horror films have often been mistaken for snuff films due to their realistic portrayal of violence and gore.
Snuff films. You’ve probably heard the term, and there’s a good chance that it conjures images of the darkest corners of the internet where people can pay to watch real torture and murder. If you’re a bit older — like, '70s or '80s baby older — you may remember the term being pinned to specific movies, such as 1976’s Snuff or 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust, which are entirely fictional but earned quite a reputation upon release as viewers thought they were real. However, there’s a very good chance that you aren’t sure what the hell snuff films are, and that’s understandable! There’s a lot of fiction to sift through to get to the facts and find a real definition, but luckily, the history is relatively short. It’s only 40 years or so of Satanic panic, internet myths, more internet myths, and a few movies so realistic that they whipped people into a frenzy. Not so bad, right?
What Does "Snuff" Mean?
Snuff films originally got their name from the word “snuff,” meaning to extinguish a candle flame, though it became a slang word for killing at some point. The term “snuff film,” though, was first used in Ed Sander’s 1971 book The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion regarding a rumor that the Manson family had filmed the murder of a woman (though no such film was ever seen by a member of the family or by anyone else). From this alone, you might be able to glean what snuff films are on a basic level; they’re films about murder, or snuffing out the flame of life. Rather artistic when put that way, isn’t it?
However, snuff films have a different definition from snuff itself. Some definitions, such as the one found in the Collins English Dictionary, claim that snuff films are pornographic in nature and involve a death at the climax of the story. This definition would lead someone to believe it’s a specific type of sexploitation film, something purely fictional that’s meant to shock the viewer. Other definitions, though, like the ones from the Cambridge Dictionary and the Oxford Reference (the definition that will appear when you search “snuff films” in Google) make an important distinction by saying snuff films are real murders that have been filmed. The latter leaves out mentions of pornography, though, so it can be assumed that snuff films don’t have to include sex. Just death.
When Did Snuff Films Begin?
All of the above definitions would have caused some major pearl-clutching back in the 1970s when snuff films first started being discussed. Originally an urban legend, the idea of real murders being filmed for entertainment and financial gain really took off with the release of Snuff, a 1976 exploitation film based on the Manson Family murders that was filmed in South America (an important note, as the original rumor said that snuff films were made in South America “where life is cheap” and then brought to the United States.) The end of the movie watches like found footage as it turns on the camera crew, who brutally torture and murder an actress until the camera runs out of film. The scene, along with marketing that leaned heavily on portraying the film as legitimate snuff, was enough to launch a real investigation. Of course, it was found that the death was just movie magic. This is a common theme with films labeled as snuff; more on that later.
Going into the 1980s, the United States was steeped in the Satanic Panic, and snuff films certainly fit the satanic agenda people were afraid of. The urban legend only grew as moral crusaders went after games like Dungeons and Dragons, metal music, and horror movies (both the tame and the extreme) as satanic cult recruitment materials and degraders of common decency. Naturally, a culture of fear makes people far more willing to believe stories of horror movies being full of real, premeditated murder and of serial killers who film their crimes and sell the tapes. It also made it far easier for films to cash in on the panic by building their marketing around it. The cannibal boom of Italian cinema happened during the '70s and '80s, and many of those films — most notably Cannibal Holocaust — had their actors sign agreements to not appear in public for a certain amount of time after the film’s release to maintain the idea that all of the deaths in them had been real. This led to issues for the directors of Cannibal Holocaust and Snuff, and while they won their cases by proving no one had actually died during filming, the damage was already done.
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Around the same time, mondo films gained popularity, which also led to the exacerbation of the snuff film legend. Mondo films are not snuff films technically, as they aren’t always sexually charged and don’t include filmed, premeditated death (though, things changed a bit in the '90s and early 2000s), but they do show unfiltered, mostly real scenes of life which sometimes included accidents, funeral rituals, and extreme pornographic material. It wouldn’t be surprising if they helped feed the public’s interest in snuff films, as well, using the “it’s all real” tagline for their marketing but with the added bonus of at least some of it actually being true. Perhaps the rise of the snuff rumor correlated with these films becoming popular at the same time as more intense sexploitation films, leading to a public perception that they were all depicting fact instead of fiction.
Fast forwarding a little, we get to the age of the internet, and things only get more muddy. The 2000s and 2010s were filled with what most people consider snuff films: beheading videos and fatal accidents and suicides caught on camera. There were also filmed murders, such as those by the Dnepropetrovsk maniacs, and Luka Magnotta, that found their way to mainstream infamy. And that’s just what was readily available. There were plenty of rumors going around about the dark web and its “Red Rooms” that supposedly livestream torture and murder, and in 2015, it seemed the rumors were proven true as Peter Scully was charged with 75 crimes and a video he made called “Daisy’s Destruction” was a central piece of evidence to the trial. However, the reality of “Red Rooms” is still debated, with most experts saying they’re unlikely to exist and are just an urban legend meant to scare people. The internet has only served to further tangle fact and fiction when it comes to snuff films, especially with the rise of true crime content, and it has changed the definition of snuff from pornographic films that depict murder to murder that’s filmed, period. Moving the goalposts to create a more plausible myth.
“Snuff” Films Usually Include Cannibal Holocaust and a Number of Other Found Footage Films
CloseAs previously mentioned, Snuff and Cannibal Holocaust are the most well-known of the movies that people mistook for actual snuff. Looking back now, it’s hard to believe anyone thought they contained real human death. They don’t have great special effects, and well, all the actors appeared in other works after the fact, except for the cast of Cannibal Holocaust due to director Ruggero Deodato's contract. That contract — along with appearances from the still very much alive cast — saved him in court after being charged with the murder of the actors. In the case of both of these films, it was the “found footage” element, along with the rumors of snuff already circulating, that tricked audiences into thinking they were the real deal.
However, there are other notable examples of fictional films being stamped with the mark of snuff.Guinea Pig: Flower of Flesh and Guts (1985), features 42 minutes of a woman being tortured and dismembered. There’s a legend that Charlie Sheen, upon seeing it, thought it was a real snuff film and called the FBI. However, that might be a myth like snuff itself. There’s also the August Underground films from the early 2000s, which follow a serial killer named Peter (Fred Vogel) and his numerous accomplices. The first two films are shot in an amateur, home video style that garnered the most intense controversy, particularly when looking at the second film, August Underground’s Mordum, as Fred Vogel was arrested trying to bring copies of it into Canada for a film festival.
Both of these examples have faced plenty of censorship and often get slammed with bans based on their obscenity and disgust factor, but just like Cannibal Holocaust, people know they’re fake now. More modern examples include films like Megan is Missing (2011) and The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007), both of which are found footage films, with the former covering the disappearance, torture, and murder of two teenage girls and the latter chronicling a police investigation centered around a huge stock of videos from a murderer depicting the crimes in great detail.
You may be noticing a trend at this point. Most examples of snuff films are found footage or home movie-style horror movies that depict something that seems real and try to make it look as convincing as possible with special effects (though some aren’t quite up to par.) Many, like Guinea Pig, August Underground, Megan is Missing, and The Poughkeepsie Tapes, have sexual elements to them to go along with extreme violence and gore, which fits into the aforementioned definitions of snuff that call it porn with murder. It's understandable why these films are typically mistaken for snuff because they toe the line between fiction and reality in the way they’re made and the subjects they represent. They’re supposed to look and feel real. They’re supposed to scare the audience and make them think “that could happen to me.” Combined with the way rumors spread and the persistence of tales about premeditated murder for profit and the spooky things that lie in the deep darkness of the web, these films can easily convince someone that snuff is real and it’s what they’re watching in their own living room. However, it’s not really snuff.
What Is a Snuff Film?
So, if snuff isn’t any of the stuff written above, what the hell is it really? It’s a myth. Or, at least, it’s a myth by the most current definition, which is that it’s a violent killing that is filmed expressly for profit. Currently, nothing like that exists. Many people will attach the term snuff to any taped killing, but this isn’t right, either. The news and videos on social media are not for profit. They may be used for propaganda, shock value, record keeping, or information, but not specifically for profit. Older definitions don’t specify that snuff has to be real, but it’s what’s implied through the rumor itself, and thus what fascinates people. It’s naive to believe snuff films could never exist. The world is a place that harbors unthinkable evil alongside unfathomable kindness. For now, though, let your mind be at ease that there’s no secret studio pumping out snuff films for mass consumption. There's just extreme horror that capitalizes on a wicked myth.
Megan Is Missing is available to rent on Amazon in the U.S.
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