Snuff
August FilmsSnuff (1975) was inspired by the Charles Manson murders of 1969.
Married director couple Michael and Roberta Findlay worked at a time when independent films were much harder to make than they are today. The Findlays thus used comparatively cheap effects of sex and gore to direct “roughies” like Slaughter (1971), which would be re-edited into Snuff (1975) — and mistaken as such.
It was at the behest of their producer, Allan Shackleton, that the couple removed the film’s credits and added a disturbing new ending. The low-budget movie distributor was aware that Slaughter’s Charles Manson-inspired premise would entice viewers — but wanted to push the realism of its onscreen violence to the edge.
Slaughter revolved around a cult leader named Satán who curated a harem of female followers to sleep with him and murder on command. Inspired by the 1969 Sharon Tate murders, one of the victims in the film was portrayed by a pregnant woman. Curiously, the Manson case had birthed the term “snuff” itself, and would now come full circle.
August FilmsNew York District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau launched an investigation into whether the movie was a snuff film or not.
Coined by Ed Sanders in his 1972 book The Family: The Story of Charles Manson’s Dune Buggy Attack Battalion, “snuff” described alleged recordings of real murders committed by the cult leader’s followers which they had buried in the desert. None were ever found — which sounded like opportunity to Shackleton.
After cutting the end credits to make the Findlay film appear like found footage, Shackleton had them shoot a new ending. It would appear to audiences that the film had ended, but behind-the-scenes footage accidentally continued to play — depicting the disturbing murder of a female crew member on set.
Held down by multiple crew members, the actress appears to be gutted, with crew members playing around with her intestines. As the coup de grace, the scene ends with two crew members frantically inquiring if they got the bloody scene on film as they are running out of celluloid. Without warning, the film ends.
Snuff was marketed as the real deal and even used the tagline: “The film that could only be made in South America … where Life is CHEAP!” While modern viewers might immediately identify the footage as fake, New York District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau launched an investigation to confirm as much after its release.
Only after tracking down the actress who appeared to have her guts removed was Snuff identified as a hoax.
