8MM DVD > Reviews

Advantages: Good central performance
Disadvantages: Poor secondary characters

...society. If you expect 8mm to be an in depth study of morality or the extremes of the sex industry then you’re in for a disappointment. 8mm start off wanting to be more than it actually is and ends up being a reasonable thriller but not much more. THE PLOT Tom Welles (Nicholas Cage) is a private investigator hired by a wealthy widow to track down the makers of a 8mm 'snuff' film (hence the title) found amongst her deceased husband’s ... Read review

Advantages: good plot
Disadvantages: sick, sick,sick

Nicholas Cage in seedy porn scandal? Just doesn't quite ring true, does it? "8MM" is yet another marvellous film starring the effervescent Nicholas Cage, who manages to be able to turn his hand to just about any role that scriptwriters throw at him these days. This time he plays a private investigator, willing to ply his trade for those who maybe don't wish to enlist the help of the local police (seems to be a lot of that about lately!). As ... Read review

Advantages: Different, and thought-provoking
Disadvantages: Very grim, and terryfying

...It may only be an 8mm reel of film, yet the results are disturbingly too close to home. AND THEN….. There is a similar colourless theme within this film to Se7en, where there is a constant deadly theme set throughout. As is the mysterious soundtrack played in the background. You know what I mean- the moody violins and tribal music! There is a nice pace to this film. It jumps around a bit, but in an effective way as it keeps you on your ... Read review

Advantages: Great acting, original
Disadvantages: Poor plot, too long

Nicolas Cage stars in possibly his darkest movie ever. Cage stars as Tom Welles, a PI yet to make his big break. When a rich widow offers him the case that could make his career, he jumps at the chance. All he has to do is find out if a “snuff” tape (a video of a person being murdered) found by the widow, belonging to her late husband, is real or not. Unfortunately, things are not that simple and the case could cost Welles his life ... Read review

Advantages: Points towards a seedier side of a 'glamorous' porn industry
Disadvantages: Some could find the film distasteful and/or disturbing

...investigation of a reel of 8mm tape showing what appears to be a snuff movie. His job is to ascertain the genuiness of the film and the fate of the young woman portayed in it. This takes Cage into the seedy world of the porn industry where bit by bit he unravels the events and characters involved in the making of the 'snuff' movie. However, the more he uncovers the more dangerous the job becomes, but Cage is fixed on getting answers, both for himself ... Read review

Advantages: Cheap, good thriller
Disadvantages: None.

...on a single role of 8mm film owned by the millionaire widow’s husband from this his life and career soon start to take him deeper than anything he has ever thought off , throwing him together with aspiring musician but porn store clerk Max California(Joaquin Phoenix). With his new found help they enter the seedy and disturbing world of pornography to find out if the film he had seen is a bonafide snuff movie or a fake. His search takes him ... Read review

Advantages: Superb acting by Nicolas Cage, original story!
Disadvantages: Some may think its too sickening!

I'd never heard of 8MM until about 8 months ago when I was searching on the play.com website for DVD's and came across it. Seeing as i'm a Nicolas Cage fan and it was relatively cheap I decided to buy it. To my surprise it turned out to be one of the best and most gripping films I've ever seen. >> Staring << Directed by Joel Schumacher Nicolas Cage .... Tom Welles Joaquin Phoenix .... Max California James Gandolfini .... Eddie Poole ... Read review

Advantages: There is quality acting through-out.
Disadvantages: Dark on purpose. Whiny, unsupportive wives annoy me - and the somewhat cliched concept of the same annoys me just as much.

...discover whether or not the 8mm film show some gruesome special efforts or whether the poor girl really was murdered. I thought, as I sat down to watch it, the clips of the 8mm film that the audience could peek at over Cage’s shoulders would be the darkest and most horrible aspects of the movie. I was wrong. Cage’s characters accepts the case and embarks on a missing persons enquiry to try and track down the girl. He’s the unsung hero, flicking ... Read review

Advantages: addresses true horror
Disadvantages: things like this do happen

8mm The film is rather bold in that it takes on a subject that is not one for the faint hearted in that it centres around a young girl who is missing and starts with a widower who’s late husband was rather filthy rich and she found a video tape with the said young girl and what looks like her being murdered on film, and so she hires a private detective named Tom Welles. Who is played by Nicholas cage, Welles then sets about going deep into ... Read review

Advantages: Gripping, Compelling, Action Packed
Disadvantages: Not for the faint hearted.

Academy award winning film starring Nicholas Cage from snake eyes & face/off, plays a fustrated survelliance specialist namely Tom Welles. Respected but still waiting for his big break to improve his professional status, spends most of his time on routine cases. Nothing really too dangerous or threatening. A case arises involving a small innocuous - looking plastic reel of film really turns his life upside down, sending him down a sordid and ... Read review

Advantages: The bloke who wrote Seven
Disadvantages: The bloke who directed Batman and Robin

It had an odd effect on me the third time I saw this film. The first time was at the cinema and, as is always the case the first time you see a film, I had certain expectations. It was dark and sinister but ultimately left no lasting impression. The second time was the same. But last night I left the film feeling drained. In fact I went to bed feeling quite emotional and very secure in my sheltered little life. Which made me see the film in a new ... Read review

Advantages: Brilliantly directed and acted
Disadvantages: Dark, and very disturbing

I bought 8mm on the basis on Nicolas Cage's performances in other films. Since sitting down and watching it, his other performances seem to pale slightly in comparison. Joaquin Phoenix as a supporting character is brilliant, and totally believable. The plot is dark, and gets darker as the film progresses. It does have a lighter ending than the originally scripted one, but it doesn't detract from the finished film. About the gritty underground world ... Read review