Snuff Trap - Die Kamera läuft ...

There's no denying there's something remarkably entertaining about watching Bruno Mattei's SNUFF TRAP, and entertaining in all the wrong reasons. Mattei essentially reworks Joel Schumacher's 8MM, though with only a few differences, mainly being its a female character who ventures into the sleazy world of the porn underground looking for her kidnapped daughter who or may not have fallen victim to a snuff film. Though with a decidedly different change in certain scenes and a shorter running time, a lot of the film consists of scenes almost similar and in one case exactly the same as 8MM. Even dialogue from 8MM is used in certain speeches, exact dialogue. Mattei's version is a lot more sleazier and explicit, and comes off as one part lurid thriller, soft porn flick and European travel monologue (I lost count the amount of scene where our heroine is just walking around European city's). It also has a happier and anti climatic ending, which I'm certain features footage lifted from another film. If you want to watch a film that provides cheesy, 'so bad its good entertainment' then Mattei is your man, and this along with his other 'masterpieces' such as RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR, THE OTHER HELL and ZOMBI 3, would make great late night beer and pizza entertainment.

A cheap exploitation film about a mothers search for her daughter who has been kidnapped by people who make snuff porno films. The trail leads the mother all over Europe as she searches for her child and we in the audience struggle to stay asleep.

This is one of the countless soft-core sleaze films that are made for people who want the excitement of porno with out the stigma or danger of it showing up on their credit card bill.Personally I'd rather have the stigma since those films tend to be more interesting and honest about what we're seeing. This is suppose to be a sexy thriller but its not. Mostly its people talking about things followed by lots of walking from place to place and lead to lead.Periodically through out the film various people get undressed and everything has more than a touch of S&M to the proceedings. The violence and fetish material is of the sort to provoke laughter rather than horror or even excitement, its all so incredibly fake. Worse there is not even enough nudity to keep it interesting. (Basically par for the course for many of these films)

You'll forgive my lack of details but it simply is a dull boring film that I stayed with to the end hoping for something remotely prurient to occur, but there was nothing. The most interesting thing was the blonde haired villainess with the huge over bite and nose the size of a Buick. I watched her with morbid fascination wondering what she had looked like as a young girl and wondering whether she had had plastic surgery, not the type of things you should be thinking about in a gripping thriller.

Avoid.

Snuff Killer otherwise known as Snuff Trap is an Italian thriller that is all too familiar yet doesn't give credit where credit is due.

What I mean by that is this is a blatant remake of the excellent 8mm (1999) but doesn't acknowledge itself as such. The plot is the same just with a minor character tweak, many scenes are near identical and it randomly flicks to 8mm's script to the very letter.

I'm not keen on movies being remade at all truth be told but when a filmmaker doesn't even have the decency to tip his hat to the source material that's seven shades of disrespect.

But putting that aside what is the film like? Well it's not actually that bad. It tells the story of a woman who learns that her missing daughter may have been kidnapped to be put into the seedy world of extreme cinema and snuff. To save her daughter she must dive into the bowels of the industry and put herself at risk.

The tweeked plot of 8mm does give the film its own identity, right up until the point it suddenly decides to reinact a scene line for line.

As for the content it manages to be both tamer and more hardcore at the same time. 8mm was grittier, darker and more brutal while Snuff Killer/Snuff Trap opts for considerably more nudity yet little actual unpleasantness by comparison.

I sadly couldn't get over the 8mm remake factor, but I could still recognise that this piece of Italian cinema is perfectly watchable and not the needless T&A or torture porn movie many might assume.

The Good:

All round passably made

Lead was surprisingly competent

The Bad:

Shameless remake

Couple of plot points made absolutely no sense

Weak dub

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Even the sight of people smoking makes me nauseas

I'm glad I've never been asked to pay the go down payment!

Snuff Trap (2003)

** (out of 4)

Before his death in 2007, Italian director Mattei, known in some placed as the Ed Wood of Italy, made a semi-comeback with a string of low-budget movies ranging in various subjects from cannibals to zombies and of course women-in-prison. This film here comes off as a semi-remake of HARDCORE but those expecting a lot of sleaze might be disappointed. In the film, a mother (Carla Solaro) goes into the darkest corners of Italy and France trying to track down her daughter who was kidnapped and might have been sold for a snuff film. The mother must try and buy her way to the underground where killing women on film is high dollar. Mattei is known for ripping off various films and creating some of the worst bad movies ever made including the infamous HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD. His recent stuff must have been made on budgets lower than $10,000 and you can see it but at the same time I must admit that this is perhaps the best movie I've seen from him. Not in terms of gore or entertainment but in the technical sense of film-making. The movie manages to be mildly entertaining even if it does go on for way too long and Mattei actually manages to build some suspense towards the end when we start to learn what has happened to the daughter. There are a few plot twists late in the film that are easy to spot but for the most part this film works. Those expecting a lot of sleaze are going to be disappointed because Mattei actually takes it pretty easy considering the plot. There's quite a bit of nudity but the violence is pretty tame and there's no gore to see. Solaro is a lot better than you'd expect and the supporting cast are decent, if nothing great. Not only does the plot lift from HARDCORE but you've also got a sex scene in the back of a limo that rips off the one in NO WAY OUT. If you're a fan of Mattei then you'll certainly want to check this one out but just be prepared for what you're in for.

After reading a very favourable review in a very popular Horror review magazine (which i won't name), i had very high hopes for this film. My hopes faded very quickly when i saw that BRUNO MATTEI was credited under the pseudonym of PIERRE LE BLANC for the on screen titles. This is never a good sign. The film is shot on video and is a very cheap effort all round. The acting, if you can call it that, is lousy and laughable throughout. The main problem is the distinct lack of gore or sleaze. Come on guys where was the red stuff we crave in flicks like this? If this is the best Italian film makers can come up with then the Italian film industry is better off dead. This really is a waste of time and i feel i have just lost 90 minutes of my life watching it. Don't be fooled by the title into thinking this will be a sleaze fest - it is nothing more than an amateur bore fest. I am off now to watch a Fulci flick to remind myself just how good Italian films once were.