SNUFF
(1976)Directors: Michael and Roberta Findlay
???
SNUFF
(1976)Perhaps the biggest exploitation
hoax of all time (tied with the "You Will See a Man Turned Inside Out!"
tagline from SCREAMERS aka Sergio Martino's ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN), producer
Allan Shackleton's SNUFF has been released on DVD in a mysterious package, limited
to 10,000 pieces. No one knows who had the nerve to release such a disc, and
the disc itself features no telltale signs of any particular company, but how
will the guilty parties sleep at night after unleashing this monstrosity on
the world?
The disc kicks off with a biker chick opening, with two attractive women straddling a roaring hog, tearing down the road to the sounds of a cheap Steppenwolf "Born to Be Wild" rip-off library track. The girls meet up with two other girls, one of whom is a drug addict keeping her stash to herself. Infuriated, the psycho biker chicks chase after the druggie, shooting a gun wildly at her before hitting her in the shoulder. Laying on the ground bleeding, the girls are revealed to be part of some kind of cult, with a Charles Manson-esque leader named Satan (pronounced "Sah-taaan"), who orders the girls to slice up the wounded girl's feet.
OK,
bear with me: we then cut to an airport, where as a man is brutally murdered
by a caped woman in a restroom, movie star Terry London arrives with her manager
Max to shoot a new movie. She reunites with her lover Horst Frank (?!), who
shares his luxurious mansion with the oddball pothead Angelica. Angelica has
been sent by Satan to bear Horst's child, who is to be the second coming of
Christ...or something... When Horst kicks her out of the house, Angelica dedicates
her life to worshipping Satan after relating the story of her childhood trauma.
Oh yeah, and as everything reaches a frenzied disgusting climax with a reenactment
of the Tate house massacre, the "leading lady" and the "crew"
yell "Cut!" and then proceed to film "Angelica" (played
by a different actress) being dismembered and gutted live on-camera. SNUFF!
OHMIGOD!
SNUFF doesn't start to make any sense at any moment during its surprisingly long running time. Now, given this is directed by Michael and Roberta Findlay, you might argue that this is a given in their films. But SNUFF reaches new heights of stupidity even from the creators of SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED! At one point, the film wallows in stock footage of a carnival, with costumes, dancers, parades, etc. And when the lead characters aren't at the carnival, they're participating in boring sex scenes or pining for loved ones. The token Findlay dubbing is present, as the film was shot in Argentina with local actors (Roberta and Michael's voices are glaringly obvious, and Michael even appears as a police inspector whose desk is placed in the doorway of a giant warehouse?!), the violence is pretty disturbing (a lengthy grocery store massacre is jaw-dropping in its tastelessness!), and the Manson Family parallels create a nice time capsule quality at times. But the majority of the film is the sudsy soap opera romance between Terry and Horst...and the aforementioned damned carnival footage! Think the opening of Roger Corman's SWAMP DIAMONDS to the tenth degree!
The
Findlays, known for their above-average NYC roughies during the 1960s, had really
hit rock bottom by the 1970s. The introduction of color into their films struck
the death knoll for their influence in the New York grindhouse business. In
fact, there are a few black-and-white sequences in SNUFF that are arguably the
most effective sequences in the film. 1969's MNASIDIKA is essentially a nudie
arthouse film, based in ancient Greece and featuring much poetry, Bergman-influenced
editing, and sexual subtext. While SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED (1974) has become
a cult classic and is one of few killer Yeti films, it still drags at times
and features few of the personal touches Michael was known for. SNUFF would
be the couple's last mainstream film and they soon divorced, with Michael graduating
to co-directing gay hardcore films with frequent collaborator John Amero (KISS
TODAY GOODBYE with George Payne and CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD's Michael Gaunt,
POINT ME TOWARD TOMORROW) and Roberta moving onwards to directing straight hardcore
films, many featuring nasty violence towards women (ANGEL ON FIRE, HOT CHILD
IN THE CITY). It's a shame such a historic filmmaking duo had to part on such
a shoddy project.
Now the infamous "snuff" footage: anyone who is still fooled by this nasty scene need only recall that the scene isn't presented in a single unedited shot, and if this was a real snuff scene, the audio of the two cameramen wouldn't continue on the track after the film ran out! Producer Allan Shackleton acquired the Findlays' film, which was shot in 1971 and originally titled SLAUGHTER (and reportedly played a few theaters under this title, to disastrous business), and for some odd reason decided to tack on this short sequence shot in one day and retitle the film SNUFF. The film caused quite a stir on first release, raking in an incredible amount of cash at the box office. For the record, the famed Women Against Pornography protesters were paid by Shackleton to protest screenings for publicity. Genius! Only in the 1970s could this happen, with a huge percentage of the moviegoing populace being duped into seeing something they assumed was a taboo being broken and even after word of mouth proved the film was a hoax, the film STILL did huge business!
For a "snuff film,"
the video quality on this release is really quite good. It's on a par with a
number of Something Weird releases, with bright color and minimal grain or dirt.
It really looks quite good for a film that should look like the crud it is.
The mono audio is 
very
strong, servicing the trashy dialogue very well.
Oddly enough, just as mysterious as who distributed this disc is the lack of chapters or even a standard homemade menu on the disc. The film automatically starts and plays as one long chapter, in a continuous loop after the film is completed. There are no credits. It's just a shame that the original theatrical trailer wasn't included somewhere...perhaps as an Easter Egg after you let the film play twice in a row. But who could watch this film more than once?!
If you find this disc somewhere,
I can't really recommend the purchase. All the hub-bub over the film is for
nothing, but if you're an exploitation history nut, owning this on your DVD
shelf would be essential. Try duping the public today with this film and you
would be drummed out of the film business in a heartbeat. If anything else,
SNUFF recalls the gutsy no-holds-barred days of exploitation marketing at its
best, even if the film is an example of how low the genre could go.
(Casey
Scott)