:
Nicolas Cage,
Nicolas Cage,
Joaquin Phoenix,
more...
:
Joel Schumacher,
Joel Schumacher
see all cast/crew...
: 
: Columbia TriStar
: Suspense/Thriller
: 123 min.
: English
: English
see additional details...
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Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage) is a surveillance expert on the rise. He's living the American dream with a wife, Amy (Catherine Keener), infant daughter, and a house in the suburbs of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After the completion of an assignment for a U.S. Senator, Welles is summoned to the house of a recently deceased captain of industry. His widow, in settling his estate, has discovered an 8MM film in her late husband's private safe. The silent short depicts the apparent murder of a young woman by a large, masked figure, what is known as a "snuff" film. Greatly disturbed by the film's contents, the widow hires Welles to find the identity of the woman and determine if she is still alive. Welles finds the girl's identity and follows her trail from the time she ran away from home to Hollywood. Once there, Welles meets adult bookstore clerk Max California (Joaquin Phoenix) to act as Virgil to Welles' Dante. As the two begin their descent into the world of underground pornography, the detective grows more and more distant from his family, as if he cannot shake the taint of the world in which he now walks. Tom and Max eventually meet pornographers Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare) and Eddie Poole (James Gandolfini). By this time the detective finds he can no longer walk out of the inferno. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
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| Between 'Terrific' & 'Trash'
by JMVerville
December 14, 2004 - 12:36 PM PST
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3 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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This film is often made out to be 'very provocative, intriguing, shocking, etc.' or a horrible performance by Nicholas Cage that should not be two hours long. The truth is, naturally, somewhere in between.
I feel that the film was, indeed, rather shocking at times; it drew me in very much at parts, and I felt very much like I wanted to see the end of it. At times, naturally, Nicholas Cage takes away from the film with his over-the-top nature, and the overall acting is not spectacular. Nor is the plot -- although the basis is very intriguing and lured me in, I found that there were certain portions of the plot that would have been better left out. However, other parts of the movie were truly provocative and interesting. The film provokes a lot of mixed feelings, drifting in between 'terrific' and 'trash.'
I was captivated by the film, and I certainly enjoyed it, but there was a lot of other junk thrown into it that took away from many parts of the movie. Overall, if you are interested in a shocking topic such as snuff, it is worth a watch without a doubt. However, do not expect a gem. If you are weak at heart, do not watch it, and if you enjoy that which makes the weak at heart squeamish, it is decent enough.
If you like the basis and idea behind this film, definitely see the 1979 film 'Hardcore.' |
| A flawed, but compelling thriller
by EPetersen
March 5, 2004 - 10:19 AM PST
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5 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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This is one of a few mainstream horror films to exploit the urban legend of the "snuff film" - a movie produced for commercial release that features the on-camera murder of a person or persons.
Nic Cage stars as Tom Welles, a surveillance expert turned private detective. His wife doesn't like his new profession, especially since they now have a baby daughter. But then Tom is hired by a wealthy client, a high-paying job he can't turn down.
Welles' client is an elderly widow whose husband - a multimillionaire industrialist - has recently passed away. When she opened his secret safe, she found that her husband had a reel of 8mm (eight millimeter) film in his possession. The grainy movie appears to be a snuff film featuring the brutal torture and murder of a young girl by a burly man in a leather mask.
Tom Welles' job is to find out whether or not the movie is a real snuff film, and to learn the identity of the girl and if she's still alive. So, Welles descends into the darkest levels of the porn underground in search of that information.
Nic Cage is good in the lead role, but the movie is stolen by its supporting cast - Joaquin Phoenix as a porno shop clerk who aids Cage, (watch for his hilarious line when he tries to sell Cage a sex toy) Anthony Heald as the widow's seedy lawyer, and James "Tony Soprano" Gandolfini as (what else) a foulmouthed lowlife bad guy.
8MM was directed by Joel Schumacher (Phone Booth), who, in my opinion, was way too mainstream a director for a dark story like this. At times, he seems repulsed by his own movie. Either that, or he was desperately trying to avoid an NC-17 rating. There is not that much gore for a movie about snuff films. When Cage watches the alleged snuff film, Schumacher cuts away from it as soon as something happens, relying on Cage's expressions of revulsion to convey the horror. The brief glimpses we do get of the snuff film don't look very convincing. Compare it to the snuff footage Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) watches in Emanuelle In America, and you'll see what I mean.
Characterization and atmosphere make this movie work. A neverending sense of dread, the victim's devastated mother, Cage's slow transformation from emotionally detached detective to angry vigilante, and the psychopathology of the killer make for compelling viewing. The very ordinary (and very sick) killer, who calls himself The Machine, looks like Seinfeld's George Costanza when unmasked. That scary ordinaryness and his explanation of why he kills are what makes Welles snap.
8MM is a pretty good bet for fans of suspense thrillers, but the dark themes were done better in other movies. The similarly themed 1979 George C. Scott film Hardcore is far superior, but alas, has not been released on DVD yet. Until then, check out 8MM.
- Eric Petersen |
| Unpleasant, in the bad way
by TAubuchon
May 15, 2002 - 4:53 PM PDT
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1 out of 8 members found this review helpful
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| There really is not much to say about this movie. The acting was flat, the subject matter was distasteful. I really didn't care about any of the characters. Even though I enjoy dark movies, this movie was depressing and boring. Yuk, I want almost two hours back. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 4.24)
123 Votes
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