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Amazon.co.uk Review
This thoroughly unpleasant thriller from the hands of Joel Schumacher (Batman and Robin) offers very little in its lurid tour of snuff films and the seedy pornographic underworld. A wooden Nicolas Cage stars as a private detective hired by a tycoon's widow, who discovers in her dead husband's safe some 8mm footage of a young girl being sexually abused and slaughtered. Cage's job is to determine the veracity of the film and to find out the girl's identity, whether she be alive or dead. What could have been a taut, nerve-jangling thriller is instead a lumbering, overwrought but underwritten tale of vigilante justice. Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker also penned the imaginative and compelling Seven but you wouldn't know it from this tired and monotonous script. Schumacher tries for echoes of both The Silence of the Lambs and Paul Schrader's Hardcore (which stars George C. Scott as a father trying to find his daughter in the seedy porn industry) but despite some slick camerawork, the film fails to draw the audience into either the mystery of the missing girl or Cage's supposed internal conflicts. It's not so much the unsavoury subject matter as it is the sloppy and unimaginative filmmaking that makes the movie unbearable. Of the entire cast only Joaquin Phoenix, as a charismatic goth boy who works at an adult book store, comes away with a memorable performance. --Mark Englehart
Video Description
DVD Special Features
Interactive Menus Feature Choice Of:
Audio set-up/Language choice
Multiple language subtitles
Scene selections
Extra Features
Filmographies, Theatrical Trailer
Behind the scenes featurette
Directors commentary
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A descent into hell,
By
This review is from: 8MM [DVD] [1999] (DVD)
8mm is an uncompromising tour de force of a world one would like to believe does not exist. Beginning with a simple enquiry to determine the authenticity of a snuff film, established investigator Tom Welles (Cage) is thrust deep into a seedy world of pornography, sado masochism, and murder all within the deepest recesses of LA and New York's soulless underbellies.Beginning as a missing persons case, Cage soon changes direction and requests the help of pornography store clerk Joaquin Phoenix. At this point the descent into hell really begins, though from the outset of the film one is able to discern that it has an air of the ungodliness about it. Undoubtedly Cage's performance reinforces the sense of bleakness and desperation in the film. As the film begins, Cage appears to be little more than a mild mannered, somewhat shy private investigator, but as he descends deeper into the investigation he is faced with a dark epiphany, whether he has the strength to kill in this tale of vigilante justice. Extra credit must be given to the direction, as the whole cinematography, score, and setting create a real sense of film noir in a bleak modern setting. Last but not least, the DVD package compliments it quite well with equally dark menu artwork, decent featurettes and star profiles. Definitely among my top ten movies ever, a totally unforgettable and thought provoking film and one of the best thrillers of the past ten years.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Performace from Nicholas Cage,
By vickyt "victoria5424" (Chelmsford,Essex,UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 8MM [DVD] [1999] (DVD)
Have to say thought this film was a bloody good watch, theres one part which just makes you look the other way but after watching so many films which I have found a let down Im glad I bought this, Nicolas Cage and J.Phoneix (which also seem to be in a few good films )where good to watch, good storyline, I would recommend this film to anyone who likes a good thriller, not really for the faint hearted.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
8MM,
By A Customer
This review is from: 8MM [DVD] [1999] (DVD)
I bought this after I saw it on sale for £6 and after hearing some controversy about it(I love controversy films). This was indeed so much better than I thought, I have put this in my top 10 films ever. It does have its ups and downs. Firsty, the stuff good about it was - Joaquin Phoenix as a gothic who has all the best lines and was completely perfect for the role, the quality(picture and sound), the snuff director Dino Velvet played by Peter Stormare and the amount of violence and nudity(not from the kids though). The stuff I didn't really dig was the acting from Nicolas Cage, and the film was a bit too long. All in all, a must-see for the strong stomached. It also is a bit sick.
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