MovieChat Forums > 8MM (1999) Discussion > Does Snuff Exist?

Does Snuff Exist?


That's the age old question. People want to know if REAL snuff films actually do exist. Well, it depends on how you look at it.

There have been a few convicted killers who did film the torture, rape and murder of their victims. That would be a REAL snuff film. So, YES, they have been made.

Now, I assume (and I hope) those tapes were destroyed by the police after they were done being used as evidence. So, if there was only a single copy made and that copy was destroyed then NO, it does not exist. But, once again, it was made.

In all the true crime stories that I've read on this subject, there's one question that never seemed to pop up in the articles, "Were additional copies made?" It's not hard to imagine that one or two of these films were given to other people before the killers got caught and, if they're in circulation (so to speak) other people can probably get them. But, it's probably a very small group of people and you know they're not gonna run around and advertise the fact that they have something like this in their collection. So, if they do get brave enough to pass it on to someone else, more than likely, they're gonna charge and arm and a leg (no pun intended) for it.








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A snuff film is a product and a commodity, which is how it theoretically differs from a serial killer's home movies he makes for himself.

"It's not hard to imagine that one or two of these films were given to other people before the killers got caught and, if they're in circulation (so to speak) other people can probably get them. But, it's probably a very small group of people and you know they're not gonna run around and advertise the fact that they have something like this in their collection. So, if they do get brave enough to pass it on to someone else, more than likely, they're gonna charge and arm and a leg (no pun intended) for it."

That's unfounded speculation. Serial killers do whatever they can to minimize their exposure. Making a personal movie would be no different than saving a memento from a victim.

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You make an interesting point, and I'm not attacking you, but I don't think this is a very strong argument. If profit is the key element that is required it would be a simple matter to repackage rape / torture / molestation media that ends in death and sell it, transforming it into a snuff product. We've been taking pictures of sexual assaults and disgusting scenes pretty much since the camera was invented; the Japanese took plenty enough of those during their rampage in China in the late 1930s, some of which I would absolutely consider snuff.

I think it's pretty obvious that there isn't some massive underground conspiracy to create snuff for profit... That's true enough. No more than there is some vast underground conspiracy of satanic child molesters that buy and sell kids like we used to believe in the 80s. But the motives of the producer and the money made (or not) doesn't actually change what is depicted in the pictures or on the films, so it becomes a completely semantic argument.

I have a nursing text around here somewhere that has a picture of a dead infant that was sexually abused. If that same picture out of context was mixed in with child porn, the feds would happily consider it a criminal violation, just like they do with nudist videos and the like out of context. If it was repackaged and sold as part of some kind of snuff compilation for money, by the same logic it would be "snuff porn." Both approaches seem to be silly, since the picture and its contents don't change, only the context is changed.

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I don't think merely repackaging media or historical documentation is appropo. The urban legend seems to revolve around the motive from the start--"picking a victim, killing them while filming it and then passing it off to another party in return for a sum." So that would be the difference beyond semantics.

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Drug cartels live stream murders. Isis show videos too.

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It is nothing more than an urban legend.

If people were murdered in snuff films, there would be a body and some form of evidence. As far as I know there has never been a conviction involving an alleged snuff film. If they existed law enforcement would have stumbled across a few, or the remains of the unfortunate victims. There have been several investigations into alleged snuff films, but they all ended with the 'victim' being found to be very much alive.

For the conspiracy theorists who will respond by saying that people get away with it by having either money or power, remember that Al Capone died in jail and Pablo Escobar was gunned down by police on a rooftop. Ridiculous sums of money may help criminals evade the law for a time, but it doesn't make them immune from prosecution and it doesn't make their victims disappear without a trace.

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If you can think it, somebody else is thinking about doing it.

"a malcontent who knows how to spell"

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Exactly.

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I agree with the urban legend part, an important part of proving something to be true is hard evidence isn't it? Its not enough to sat it must, likely, does exist etc. If evidence arises it will be a different story, right now it's just a lot of speculation and hearsay, with conspiracy theories thrown in to the mix.

Also the definition is important, most dictionaries and this from wikipedia assert that "A snuff film or snuff movie is a motion picture genre that depicts the actual death or murder of a person or people, without the aid of special effects, for the express purpose of distribution and entertainment or financial exploitation. Though many films featuring real deaths exist, such for-profit films are generally regarded as an urban legend."

So the bottom line is where's the evidence?

Life is just one damned thing after another - Elbert Hubbard

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There are video's of adults raping 6 month old children, why not video's of people killing people? You have people having sex with horse, dogs, chickens, children, cuttin, men castrating themselves, eating *beep* extreme SM, but video's of people getting murdered do not exist? They fact that no victims have been found says nothing, if you have a contact who owns a crematorium, you cremate the body, dump the ashes in the ocean, no evidence. I believe that's how Nathalee Holloway was murdered by Joran. Wake up to the real world, if you have enough money or know the right contacts, you can get away with anything, including murder.

If your good at anticipating the human mind, it leaves nothing to chance!

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It is nothing more than an urban legend.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/oct/01/ameliagentleman.philipwillan

Notice it wasn't just one teenage girl murdered, this was many children raped and tortured to death on video, all for profit. It went on for years.
For the conspiracy theorists who will respond by saying that people get away with it by having either money or power, remember that Al Capone died in jail and Pablo Escobar was gunned down by police on a rooftop.
Time to grow up and connect with reality, or at least stop pretending you know what the hell you're talking about. Just because you've rationalised something out of your mind, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

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[deleted]

tom-1674:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/oct/01/ameliagentleman.philipwillan
Whoa. So, apparently there is proof? Excerpts from the article:
Last week Italian police seized 3,000 of Kuznetsov's videos on their way to clients in Italy, sparking an international hunt for paedophiles who have bought his products. The Italian investigators say the material includes footage of children dying during abuse. Prosecutors in Naples are considering charging those who have bought the videos with complicity in murder. They say some may have specifically requested films of killings.

'We have seen some very, very nasty stuff involving sadistic abuse of very young children, but actual deaths on film takes it a whole step further. That is very worrying,' said one senior customs officer this weekend.

The most appalling category was code-named 'Necros Pedo' in which children were raped and tortured until they died.

Many customers repeatedly ordered videos from him. The Naples newspaper Il Mattino published a transcript of an alleged email exchange between a prospective client and the Russian vendors.

'Promise me you're not ripping me off,' says the Italian.
'Relax, I can assure you this one really dies,' the Russian responds.
'The last time I paid and I didn't get what I wanted.'
'What do you want?'
'To see them die.'

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You might be right, but your analogy to Al Capone and Pablo Escobar doesn't bolster your hypothesis much, because:

Both of those guys murdered people left and right to further their criminal enterprise, and with impunity each for a long long time before their ultimate capture/demise.

I don't think the threat of being captured prevented either one of those guys from executing all manner of depravity, whatever they wanted or could think of, on enemies and friends alike.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

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[deleted]

Serial killers filming their killings is not snuff

Snuff is someone killed on camera for the purpose of distributing the movie.

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I too believe they are urban legend, even though I have heard from others they knew of someone that actually saw a snuff film????
But I read of a russian criminal that provided videos of murders of children, I believe the man's name is Dmitri and a documentary called "Snuff" was released some time ago, I wanna see it if I can find it, the documentary that is

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If people were murdered in snuff films, there would be a body and some form of evidence. As far as I know there has never been a conviction involving an alleged snuff film. If they existed law enforcement would have stumbled across a few, or the remains of the unfortunate victims. There have been several investigations into alleged snuff films, but they all ended with the 'victim' being found to be very much alive.


Just saw a bit of the movie this morning so checked out this board.

What you say has merit BUT how many missing person cases are never solved?

Or people stumble upon a body in the woods 20 years after he/she was murdered.

I think it's possible there are things so deep underground that it's almost impossible to get hold of them. But if you know the right dodgy people.

If you believe the evil of movie making stops at kiddie porn, bestiality, necrophelia or such then yeah snuff is an urban legend.

But is it possible some have gone one step further? Again there are heaps of missing person cases never solved.

And even if a body is found and the killer behind bars a movie may still have been made and distributed. The killer may never talk about the movie making though, just like a gang members vow of silence.

Personally I think it's an urban legend. Surely one single copy must exist in some police vault? Or does the police also not talk about it? But I also know there is virtually no limit to the evilness of man.

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[deleted]

You can find a film made by ukranian serial killers right now, if you use google. I wouldn't recommend it though, it's quite disturbing. It's stupid to assume they have all been destroyed.

The definition of snuff is, if I remember it correctly, that it's made for profit. As long as there are rich and bored people, these things will happen. Don't be so quick to believe the official "It has never happened" statement.

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In fact, if you think about all the horrid things men have done, it's done right idiotic to believe no one ever hired people to do a murder film.

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You can find a film made by ukranian serial killers right now, if you use google. I wouldn't recommend it though, it's quite disturbing.
Is that the one titled "Two Guys, One Hammer"? I think it is, but I'm not sure. The Two Guys, One Hammer shows 2 guys beating some poor man to death with a hammer. I've never watched it and don't ever intend to, but I've heard it's disturbing.



I'm reaching for the life within me. How can one man stop his ending. ~ Blue October

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Ernst Dieter Korzen and Stefan Michael Mahn were convicted of making a snuff film in Germany in 1999. They had already filmed one murder and were going to add a second to the film but the victim escaped. The film was seized by police before it could be sold. To think that the only people to ever try to make a snuff film were busted on their very first try is naive. Even if that was the only snuff film in the world, having never been sold doesn't make it any less of a snuff film.

_________
Stop plate tectonics before it's too late.

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There was a CP website that was closed down a few years ago that offered an option to produce real death videos. If you search around some news archives you'll find something about it. Also a russian man was arrested for producing CP in which a child died during the abuse. A man in America was arrested for having ordered it. It seems a case of supply and demand. Terrible.

"I saw the best minds of my generation
destroyed by madness"

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[deleted]

[deleted]

Every sick thing that you can imagine exists... or has existed. The thing with snuff... and why it is considered an urban legend... is that there is no real market for the distribution of murder/death on film. It doesn't mean that it hasn't been captured before.... war time atrocities, serial killers filming their victims, etc. Usually the latter film for their own enjoyment. It would definitely constitute as a "snuff film" if it were to ever be distributed, but it usually never is and ends up locked up in a police evidence vault somewhere (or destroyed). Sometimes some of this "evidence" is leaked onto the internet... but I don't think that I have ever seen a full murder depicted on film. Then again, I am not exactly looking for this kind of stuff. Life is filled with enough horror, violence, and death and I don't need to confirm this fact by watching a "real snuff" film.

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you're basically talking about an organization that is capable of eluding police, yet has enough of an audience to continue producing and distributing these films, which supposedly feature people getting rape/killed.

sorry, but that's retarded. snuff films exist in the way killingforcompany described. one time deals...films made by serial killers, etc. if it's floating around in public, it'll soon become locked away as evidence.

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And that's the way it was shown in the movie, as a one time deal for one single customer who ordered it done.

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Sadly, it does.

http://projectchildsave.org/projectchildsave/about/mission.asp


If it harms none, do what thou wilt.

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Thank you for that link. Clickable:

http://projectchildsave.org/projectchildsave/about/mission.asp

There's no doubt in my mind that this sick, perverted stuff (snuff films) does exist. We have humans who are capable of taking young children and selling them as sex slaves or using them in child porn for greed. Why is it so hard to believe that a human who could do that to an innocent child could go one step farther and kill one of these children to make even more money?

Human sex trafficking is a multi-million dollar "business." This happens every day in every country. Yet we hardly hear of authorities busting up these sex trafficking rings because either they get tips from corrupt authorities or they move around a lot.



I'm reaching for the life within me. How can one man stop his ending. ~ Blue October

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Ernst Dieter Korzen and Stefan Michael Mahn were convicted of making a snuff film in Germany in 1999.
Thank you for posting that. I googled for the news story and will post the link & story in case anyone else is interested in reading it.
TWO GERMANS have been jailed for life after becoming the first people in Europe to be convicted of murder while producing a ``snuff movie,'' a film in which real victims are tortured and killed.

A court in the town of Hagan heard how Ernst Dieter Korzen (37), and Stefan Michael Mahn (30), filmed themselves sexually assaulting and torturing a 21-year-old woman in 1997 to produce the snuff movie which they expected to sell for more than £10,000.

The victim died before the production was complete and the pair kidnapped a second woman to finish the video. But she escaped and the men were arrested.

The body of the first victim was found in a heap of rubbish at the farm of one of the men. Her hands and feet were tied with metal banding tape that had cut deeply into her skin.

Forensic experts said the cause of death was strangulation.

Wolfgang Rahmer, the chief prosecutor, told the court: ``From my experience this represents a new depth in perversion. You see the victim begging for her life, pain being inflicted and massive sexual torture.''

The court heard that the murdered woman, Jueleyha Akpinar, was working as a prostitute in Cologne when she met the two men in November. They offered her drugs and money to go with them to the remote bungalow.

A lack of direct evidence had previously led to widespread scepticism over the existence of a snuff movie industry, with many dismissing it as an ``urban myth''. But Herr Rahmer said he had no doubt such an industry existed.

Both men were jailed for life in a secure psychiatric institution. Judge Hoerst Werner Herkenberg said Korzen should not expect his case to be re-examined for at least 18 years, and that Mahn would have to wait at least 15.

The German city of Frankfurt is a major centre for pornography in Europe. The city's Prosecutor, Job Tilmann, said there was a ready market for videos depicting violence and the death of women and children and they would fetch up to £10,000 in America.

He said: ``The need for more perverse stimulation is growing. People soon get bored, and then the perversion escalates. I think that there is no limit to the cruel fantasies that can be shown on video.''

According to Andre Rogge, a private detective in Belgium, the cruel fantasies of such movie makers even extend to children. Rogge specialises in seeking missing children and fears many are victims of the snuff movie industry.

He said the German case was not isolated, but involved an international network.

``I know this is a thriving market. I was offered a video cassette a few years ago for over £10,000. I did not buy this one, but I bought others and gave them to the Belgian police.

``On these videos you see torture and violence against children of less than four years. But the police have not been able to identify any of the victims to this day.''


http://www.independent.ie/world-news/two-jailed-for-torture-death-of-g irl-in-snuff-movie-26153083.html



I'm reaching for the life within me. How can one man stop his ending. ~ Blue October

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Sure. Didn't you see the Gaddafi movie? It was shown everywhere on daytime tv (warning: extremely graphic and disturbing imagery):
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/111024/gad dafi-sodomized-video-gaddafi-sodomy
It might not have been made for masturbation purposes, but it was certainly made for money and people certainly got perversely off from it. *pukes*

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I dont understand how people can question whether or not snuff exists.

The internet contains hundreds of shock websites that have thousands of videos of people being raped, tortured, and murdered. One would film it for entertainment purposes obviously, and it was passed along(uploaded) for more entertainment purposes online. Why else would it be filmed and uploaded if not for the enjoyment of others? People keep saying murderers most likely do it "for self enjoyment" and so on. I'm sure SOME of these videos were uploaded or distributed by the actual murderers hands, and not just some police officer who may have leaked it!

These websites most likely make ad revenue or money from something to keep their servers up - that's a profit.

I've seen videos of prisoners raping and murdering other inmates. First off, I'm ignoring to foreign countries and their jail policies, but it's mind boggling they have cellphones to record this. But they clearly uploaded it to entertain millions of others.

As a couple of users have already copy and pasted (from wikipedia I'd bet):
"a motion picture genre that depicts the actual death or murder of a person or people, without the aid of special effects, for the express purpose of distribution and entertainment OR financial exploitation"

If people are watching these videos, there were distributed. I don't see how it matters if it was recorded straight on a dvd and sold through some underground creepy black market, or whether it was uploaded to the net by the actual murderers or a 3rd party.
Someone feel free to explain why that matters, and why we are so intent on trying to say "snuff" is an urban legend.




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Have people been killed on camera for the sake of someones titillation? Of course. But surely most of that has been destroyed once it came to light, and was deemed authentic.

Is there a snuff market? No. Its just not logistically viable. The interest level is far too low, and the cost one would have to charge to make it worth the potential punishment would have to be (like we saw in the film) outlandish. It would require a almost person to person market (again like in the film) because if anyone let it get out, everyone would be in jail.

It just wouldn't work as a business.

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