- Director
- Michael Findlay, Simon Nuchtern
- Year
- 1976
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 76 min
Also released as
- Big Snuff
- American Cannibale
- El ángel de la muerte
- スナッフ SNUFF
- Снафф
- Snuff is My Game
Filed under
Snuff
A dull Manson knock-off with a fake murder stapled on the end and a marketing campaign of hired protesters.
Michael and Roberta Findlay shot a film in Argentina in 1971 called Slaughter and nobody wanted it. Distributor Allan Shackleton shelved it, then in 1975 noticed press speculation about snuff films and had four minutes shot in New York in which the crew apparently turns on an actress and kills her.
The seam is obvious. The lighting changes, the film stock changes, and the sequence begins mid-scene with no setup. Nobody who watches it attentively believes it.
It worked anyway. Shackleton hired people to picket his own screenings, the New York District Attorney investigated and confirmed the actress was alive, and the film made a great deal of money. The word "snuff" entered general use because of this marketing campaign, and the moral panic it created has outlived every frame of the film.
Banned, seized, prosecuted
DPP 72 · successfully prosecuted
The distributor hired people to picket his own American screenings. The New York District Attorney investigated, established that the actress was alive, and the film made money regardless. The word snuff entered general English usage because of this marketing campaign.
Elsewhere
- Australia banned · 1976 onward. Banned on the strength of the marketing rather than the film, which is the pattern for this title everywhere.
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Trailer
The sleeves
The same film, sold as a different film in each territory. Click any of them.
Where to watch
Canada
USA
Legal sources only. Availability data from JustWatch via TMDB.
Checked 9 Aug 2026
Written about
- The video nasties panic, 1982 to 1984
How a gap in British licensing law produced a moral panic, 72 prosecutions and one man in prison.
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