"Snuff" essentially follows a bizarre cult of biker women who follow a male leader (fittingly named "Satan") around the South American countryside, killing whoever they feel like killing, and torturing the disobedient members. One of their targets includes a Hollywood actress in the area filming a movie.
One of many films whose notoriety preceded its actual merit, "Snuff" was ingeniously marketed in the 1970s, which led to its legendary status. The issue? It's just plain bad. The central narrative concerning the cult and the biker girls is clearly cribbed from the real-life Manson family killings (namely the horrendous murder of Sharon Tate), and the film feels like just as much of a bad trip.
The dubbing in the film is horrendous, but the performances here really don't help matters. A great deal of the film is laughable due to gaudy performances and dated special effects. The worst part of it all is that the film's most notable scene was not originally part of the film or the narrative at all— the evisceration of a woman on a bed while a film crew stands around recording— and its displacement in the film is felt. That said, it's inarguably the most technically impressive portion of the entire film, and the best acted by a mile. The only problem here is that it's not properly linked together with the narrative and thus comes across as what it is: an afterthought. A clever afterthought, sure, and probably the only reason this film was ever released to the world; but it quite obviously doesn't belong, and by the end of the whole thing, you're kind of just left scratching your head.
Overall, "Snuff" is one of the weaker exploitation films of its time, mainly due to disjointedness— it aimlessly plods along its biker cult narrative before derailing into a gruesome murder scene that has absolutely nothing to do with what has narratively preceded it. I can deal with the bad dialogue, and the bad dubbing, and the opulent '60s hippie aesthetics, but the lack of coherence makes it tough to even watch this as mindless entertainment. There are a few well done scenes and some gruesome gore (albeit clearly faked), but aside from that, there's not a lot going on here. 3/10.
One of many films whose notoriety preceded its actual merit, "Snuff" was ingeniously marketed in the 1970s, which led to its legendary status. The issue? It's just plain bad. The central narrative concerning the cult and the biker girls is clearly cribbed from the real-life Manson family killings (namely the horrendous murder of Sharon Tate), and the film feels like just as much of a bad trip.
The dubbing in the film is horrendous, but the performances here really don't help matters. A great deal of the film is laughable due to gaudy performances and dated special effects. The worst part of it all is that the film's most notable scene was not originally part of the film or the narrative at all— the evisceration of a woman on a bed while a film crew stands around recording— and its displacement in the film is felt. That said, it's inarguably the most technically impressive portion of the entire film, and the best acted by a mile. The only problem here is that it's not properly linked together with the narrative and thus comes across as what it is: an afterthought. A clever afterthought, sure, and probably the only reason this film was ever released to the world; but it quite obviously doesn't belong, and by the end of the whole thing, you're kind of just left scratching your head.
Overall, "Snuff" is one of the weaker exploitation films of its time, mainly due to disjointedness— it aimlessly plods along its biker cult narrative before derailing into a gruesome murder scene that has absolutely nothing to do with what has narratively preceded it. I can deal with the bad dialogue, and the bad dubbing, and the opulent '60s hippie aesthetics, but the lack of coherence makes it tough to even watch this as mindless entertainment. There are a few well done scenes and some gruesome gore (albeit clearly faked), but aside from that, there's not a lot going on here. 3/10.