Snuff (1976) on Netflix
Pregnant actress Terry London travels to an unnamed South American country with her producer, Max Marsh. A cult of female bikers under a man named Satán tracks her and her friends.
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Plot summary
The story follows Terry London, a pregnant actress who reaches an unnamed South American country with Max Marsh, the producer of her picture, and a circle of friends. A cult of female bikers under a man called Satán stalks the visitors. The picture itself began as an exploitation film shot in Argentina in 1971 and drawn loosely from the Manson Family murders, largely without sound because few of its performers spoke English. An independent distributor later acquired it, spliced on footage of his own, and sold it as though the killings on screen were real. The resulting scandal brought picket lines, an inquiry by a district attorney, and heavy publicity.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Snuff (1976)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Shackleton hired fake protesters to picket movie theaters showing Snuff as a publicity stunt, and his associate Carter Stevens said he was later surprised when genuine protesters also began picketing the film.
SPOILER
Prompted by petitions from writers Eric Bentley and Susan Brownmiller and legislators, New York District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau ran a month-long investigation; he dismissed the "real" murder as trick photography and said police had traced the actress and found her alive and well.- Snuff began as a low-budget exploitation film called Slaughter, made by husband-and-wife team Michael and Roberta Findlay in Argentina in 1971 for $30,000; it was shot mostly without sound because most actors spoke little or no English.
- Distributor Allan Shackleton bought the rights to the film and, after reading a 1975 newspaper article about rumored snuff films made in South America, added a new ending to Slaughter to cash in on the urban legend.
- The added ending was shot in one day in Carter Stevens's adult film studio and spliced onto the end of Slaughter with an abrupt cut suggesting it was unplanned, reinforcing viewers' belief that the murder was real.
- The Adult Film Association of America, of which Shackleton was a member, expelled him, announced its affiliated adult theaters would not show Snuff, and held a press conference to insist the film was a hoax.
- Feminist protests led officials in Santa Clara, Philadelphia and St Paul to force theaters to stop showing Snuff; in Rochester four of twenty protesters were arrested for destroying a poster, and a Monticello theater owner was prosecuted on obscenity charges.
