Heed the warning that von Stoetzel flashes up on the screen before his documentary starts: This is a difficult film to watch. However, this is a thorough and insightful look at probably the darkest concept of filmmaking.
Snuff is wall-to-wall death, much of it faked, some of it all too real. While many of von Stoetzel's interview subjects debate whether actual snuff films exist -- films with real killings that are sold for profit -- there's little doubt about their existence by the end of the film.
However, much of the documentary discusses what is not a genuine snuff film, e.g. other documentaries that include killings such as from the Vietnam war, the mostly faked Faces of Death series, horror movies and one of the film's most disturbing segment about atrocities caught on video during the Iraq war.
Von Stoetzel treats his subject in a very serious, scholarly way and has come up with a highly successful if not disturbing documentary.
Read my original review on Bad Lit.