I think the main reason I liked this one more than most reviewers is that I heard nothing but terrible things about it going into it. I will agree that the film is not nearly as strong as the title would lead you to believe, and there definitely are some flaws, but overall I found THE GREAT American SNUFF FILM to be a pretty decent endeavor.
The story revolves around a supposed serial killer, William Allen Grone and his pal Roy who abduct a couple of girls in an attempt to create a snuff "masterpiece". Most of the run-time is involved with showing Grone and Roy's interactions, as well as some flashback sequences that give some background on Grone's life...
First off - I'm also of the mindset that although the film claims to be "based on true events" - it is not. I (like others...) have searched for information on Grone and on the author of the book that THE GREAT American SNUFF FILM was supposedly based on and found no information on either. In this era of fingertip information accessibility, I find this quite suspect. I also think that the tacked-on "real" snuff footage is completely fake as well. The film is a bit over-long, and could have been cut by several minutes in a few scenes that would have helped streamline the overall production quite a bit. Regardless, the tone and atmosphere of the film is pretty strong and bleak, and I found the camera-work and direction to be quite strong for a low-budget affair. The acting was passable and the score and sound design was hit-and-miss. I do feel the film suffered from a glaring lack of gore and sleaze given the subject matter - so that drops it a bit in my book as well. Otherwise, a relatively decent horror/thriller/fake-bio film - just don't expect anything exceedingly rough or "shocking" in this one...7/10
The story revolves around a supposed serial killer, William Allen Grone and his pal Roy who abduct a couple of girls in an attempt to create a snuff "masterpiece". Most of the run-time is involved with showing Grone and Roy's interactions, as well as some flashback sequences that give some background on Grone's life...
First off - I'm also of the mindset that although the film claims to be "based on true events" - it is not. I (like others...) have searched for information on Grone and on the author of the book that THE GREAT American SNUFF FILM was supposedly based on and found no information on either. In this era of fingertip information accessibility, I find this quite suspect. I also think that the tacked-on "real" snuff footage is completely fake as well. The film is a bit over-long, and could have been cut by several minutes in a few scenes that would have helped streamline the overall production quite a bit. Regardless, the tone and atmosphere of the film is pretty strong and bleak, and I found the camera-work and direction to be quite strong for a low-budget affair. The acting was passable and the score and sound design was hit-and-miss. I do feel the film suffered from a glaring lack of gore and sleaze given the subject matter - so that drops it a bit in my book as well. Otherwise, a relatively decent horror/thriller/fake-bio film - just don't expect anything exceedingly rough or "shocking" in this one...7/10