Rather than my feelings on alot of the movies already listed I thought I’d name a couple that nobody else has mentioned. Now these didn’t get to me as badly perhaps as some others already posted but they’re bad enough IMO.
Jacob’s Ladder. I saw this movie on cable when I was pretty young, and man did it mess with my head.
When the Wind Blows. A wonderfull animated tale of an elderly couple living in rural England, during a nuclear war. The effect of watching this sweet little animated couple go through the horrors of radiation sickness is very disturbing. There’s also an animated book as well.
I saw the Curse of the Blair Witch first, without knowing the movie was coming out. That “documentary” scared the living hell out of me, because it “took place” only about 20 minutes from my home. It wasn’t until I went online after the show and looked it up that I discovered it was going to be a fiction movie.
Then the movie itself gave me nightmares for a week.
I saw that movie, but was disappointed. I’ve heard Cannibal Holocaust is pretty intense, but I haven’t rented it yet.
Oh, boy, I JUST got that in my email two days ago and I screamed at the girl at work who sent it to me - almost gave me a heart attack! Sick, sick, sick…
Originally made for the BBC as a documentary/drama, it was judged too grim to be screened on TV and received a limited cinema screening in London (London could issue film certificates for films that were not certified by the BBFC).
I saw it when I was a student (math) and it scared me. The most frightening thing about it was when it was over and the audience left the theatre. Normally a post-movie crowd is loud, discussing the film, the rest of the evening, or just chatting. This crowd was deadly quiet. Nobody spoke a word. Some were crying.
I almost hate to mention this, but has anyone seen any of the Faces of Death movies? I have not actually ever seen one and absolutely WILL NOT IN THIS LIFETIME. But, I’ve been told about these horrible snuff films. Even though I’ve never seen one, I was completely disturbed by what I heard. I won’t mention any of the scenes (sorry) because, personally, I don’t want to be responsible for anyone having this shit in their head because of me. However, I will say, if I can be this disturbed over something I have never seen, it must be really bad. Look it up at your own discretion. And, don’t blame me!
Banned in most countries, it shouldn’t even exist. Talk about evil.
These movies are very good fakes. The was such an uproar about the first one that the same film-makers released another movie describing how they had actually achieved the effects in them. They are very stomach churning but considering the budget they were working on, they are also impressive examples of special effects.
However, agree with OP that most people probably shouldn’t watch them.
I made the mistake of watching a fraction of one of these movies. I was over at a friends house, and his friend popped it in. I think it was called “Traces Of Death” and it did indeed have real footage. Budd Dwyer suicide was on the tape. These things depressed me for days, and I agree it shouldn’t be viewed by most, if not all out of respect for the people who dies. . I saw an HBO special with the helicopter scene of the Twilight Zone Movie… I wont go into detail, if you want you can read up on it. I just bring it up because I hear it’s on one of those tapes.
…which somebody else has already pointed out. Duh me.
I don’t think they count as ‘snuff’ since they’re not filmed deliberately for sale; it’s a collection of existing footage. I still wouldn’t want to see any of them.
Actually, Crusoe, Faces of Death isn’t all accident and suicide footage. There are deliberate killings done solely for the sake of the film. Some argue that some of the human footage may be fake but the animal scenes most definately are not. Yuck!
I would like to direct pink pussycat and anyone else concerned about the authenticity of Faces of Death to this thoughtful and informative review of the movie, from urbanlegends.com, the homepage of the alt.folklore.urban archives.
Pink Pussycat, without wishing to quibble over definitions, I was using snuff specifically to refer to human deaths filmed solely for the tape. If that’s not the correct definition I apologise, but it seems from the site linked above that any snuff credentials are at least questionable.
Well, I don’t know about y’all, but I’m getting pumped for the upcoming release of the US version of The Ring, which may or may not be retitled simply Ring. The original Japanese film has been lauded by some on this very board as among the creepiest they’ve ever seen. Gist of the plot, as I understand it: there’s a videotape that contains some weird, static-filled, disjointed images. When you finish watching it, your phone rings, and a voice tells you you’ll die in a week.
Oh, and I should mention that, following the subcultural success of the Faces of Death movie and series, a copycat movie series called Traces of Death came out to capitalize on the success of FOD. As I recall, much of the footage in TOD appeared to have been recycled from an earlier movie called Africa Blood and Guts, which mostly contained scenes of violence in the streets of African cities and atrocities committed by soldiers against prisoners and others. Real stuff.
So, both Traces Of and Faces Of exist, just to be clear.
One Day In September is a documentary about Israeli athletes being taken hostage by Black September terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics. It’s hard to pick the most disturbing element.
Is it the terrorists who decided taking hostages on a world stage would be a good way to get their demands met? Is it the German government, who left the Olympic village essentially unprotected? Is it the drunken moron American athletes who helped the terrorists sneak in? Is it the Olympic commission who decided 11 hostages weren’t worth halting the games, until an outcry finally forced them to? Is it the police who back out of a rescue mission at the last minute because they take a vote and decide they don’t want to undertake a suicide mission? The list goes on and on.
Lost and Delirious is also disturbing in that everyone at a boarding school watches a girl’s nervous breakdown and says they’re concerned, but they don’t actually take any steps to make things better. The headmistress says she’s worried and recommends counseling to the girl, but doesn’t actually do anything so radical as pick up a freakin’ “change of roommate” form.
I hated every second of Requiem for a Dream. I didn’t want to see it in the first place, because I knew how disturbing it was from reviews and such.
Respectfully to you, Crusoe, I had doubts about my own definition of a “snuff” film (would make a great OP!) - however, regarding another poster’s comments to me and direction thereof to specific websites, Faces of Death is, indeed, more than one movie. I heard some of the later films in the SERIES were much more intense. I think the sensationalism of violence characterizes a “snuff” film. Real or not, that is the definition. And, that includes animals and humans, or so I thought.