Despite a lack of concrete evidence to support its existence, the snuff movie has endured for decades as an urban legend simply because the idea is so perversely intriguing and downright plausible; surely someone, somewhere has been murdered on film purely for the purpose of entertainment. This is the central theme of Joel Schumacher's 8MM, a thrilling descent into the grimy world of extreme pornography which sees Nicolas Cage as private detective Tom Welles, who is hired by a wealthy widow to find out whether a reel of film found in her late husband's safe is really what it appears to be—a snuff movie!
Cage gives one of the best performances of his career as a man forced to confront pure evil as he submerses himself in a world of fetish, porn and violence, and discovers precisely what a sick and disturbing place the world can be. Written by Andrew Kevin Walker of SE7EN fame, this is unrelentingly grim stuff made all the more provoking by its gritty sense of realism, the classy direction from Schumacher, and the excellent supporting cast, which includes standout turns from James Gandolfini as porn casting agent Eddie Poole, Joaquin Phoenix as sex-shop cashier Max California, and Peter Stormare as deviant director Dino Velvet.
Cage gives one of the best performances of his career as a man forced to confront pure evil as he submerses himself in a world of fetish, porn and violence, and discovers precisely what a sick and disturbing place the world can be. Written by Andrew Kevin Walker of SE7EN fame, this is unrelentingly grim stuff made all the more provoking by its gritty sense of realism, the classy direction from Schumacher, and the excellent supporting cast, which includes standout turns from James Gandolfini as porn casting agent Eddie Poole, Joaquin Phoenix as sex-shop cashier Max California, and Peter Stormare as deviant director Dino Velvet.