8MM (DVD)

...Andrew Kevin Walker, comparisons between 8MM and his previous work have already been made. However while sharing the same look and feel, 8MM has it's own agenda, that being the origins of snuff films and the myths about their existence. The subject of snuff has been covered in very few films to date (Mute Witness being the most memorable) so Schumacher has teamed with Walker in order to shake up what is considered an extremely taboo subject. 8MM ...
...That's not to say that 8MM doesn't have its share problems.. Despite the subject matter, there isn't really a lot here that will shock an open-minded audience. The pacing is slow which may be off putting for some and Schumacher's visuals, whilst dark enough, lack the intensity and foreboding of David Fincher's efforts on Se7en. The casting of Peter Stormare is also a mistake as he goes completely over the top as porno director Dino Velvet, coming ...

Crib79 08.08.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

...(Chris Bauer) 8mm exhibits bad taste and may be shocking to most people, but to me it felt like a movie with serious intent, especially seen as though it tracks the descent of Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage), as the ordinary guy, into the nasty, immoral world of underground pornography. The character, understandably, is tormented, mentally, as he simply cannot accept why all the evil surrounding him exists. Notoriously panned by critics upon its release, ...
...Carter), Welles is handed an 8mm recording of the young girl being murdered- dubbed a "snuff film"- and has to uncover whether the film is real or not. Joel Schumacher brings the typical suspense and twisted horror that made Se7en so popular in its time, though, in a sickening kind of judgement, I must admit that I enjoyed 8mm a lot more. The atmosphere is one of the main features that I judge this film as being a success. The dark, surprisingly ...

andycarrington 01.04.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

8mm one of the best films I have watched in ages. It is a dark, disturbing film starring Nicholas Cage and Joaquin Phoenix. Prepare for the worst - you will be moved by the film. Overview Joel Schumacher’s film, 8mm is a strange tale of life for one man - Tom Welles. Played by Nicholas cage, Welles is a private eye who gets paid to find things out for people. Deeply in love with his wife (Catherine Keener) and daughter Cinderella, who he ...
...more about a roll of 8mm film found in her dead husbands’ safe. This he attempts, encountering and befriending along the way Joaquin Phoenix, a porn shop worker. Welles is lead through some of the worst parts of human existance, backstreet traders and dirty men. All of them draw him in and take the watcher on a powerful journey, filled with twists and turns. Eventually, what Welles has found begins to endanger his life, and instead of a feeling ...

davebaggott 15.08.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

...much their hidden away. 8mm gives us many characters who are horrific in themselves, especially the actual murderer of the young girl who states that he loved her face when she was first stabbed, knowing that she was going ot die.Thankfully, we do get the feeling that these people are rare but it opens our eyes up to the fact that there are nutters out there. This film is good, and it addresses the topic of snuff films well as still nobody really ...

siany 08.04.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

...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 possessions. ...
...through. The second half of 8mm seems to be totally at odds with the mood set up at the start. This is a film that like so many supposedly serious Hollywood movies started off as a good idea but then through the necessity for it to be a money-spinner at the box office tries to revert to the more accepted formulaic Hollywood action/thriller genre. In the end no one wins. The acting is generally good, especially Cage in the lead. The problems I had ...

Mauri 24.07.2000 (08.10.2002) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

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 a result ...
...widowed millionairess in tracking down the validity of a rather sickening "snuff" video, which her dear departed (and rather perverted) husband had made to satisfy his sexual kicks on a Friday night. Upon watching the afore-mentioned perverted "8MM" movie, Cage slowly begins to unravel a rather tangled web of deceit, perversion, and ultimately murder. The snuff video is in fact real, and not just another video. The young girl murdered in it has ...

paulc20001 21.08.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

...Nicholas Cage orientated. 8MM (Eight Millimetre) is a Joel Schumacher production released in 1998. If you’ve watched either Se7en, or Phonebooth, you will know that Schumacher isn’t exactly famous for his pleasant topics. His films are mostly distressing and horrifying to the eye, and with 8MM, there is no escape. FRONT COVER Nicholas Cage’s sober face stares intensely out from the video case. Down the left side, overlapping his cheek, is a repetitive ...
...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 toes. 8mm ...

louloutrixabelle 18.06.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

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 and ...
...to say the least. I was not particularly looking forward to this movie as I knew just from the description of the movie from the reviews that I had read that it would not be a happy two hours. The first half of the movie will shock you (well it shocked me) the most as you learn about the snuff tape and the world of pornography. The second half didn’t seem so bad. I don’t know if its due to the fact that you will have been numbed by the ...

Xeon007 08.04.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

...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 ...
...obsession, and obsession turns to do or die, Cage gets closer and closer to the truth and to his or others deaths. Masterfully keeping a personal touch throughout the film is well worth the thumbs up with an accompanying round of appluase. Specific Likes: I liked how it confornted my mind with what must exist, i.e. a much seedier, nastier and more extreme side to what is mainly portrayed as a glamorous, get money fast, harmless porn industry. Even ...

Scotsmanmatt 03.11.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

...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 to the ...
...finds that she has been missing for a couple of years and promises to find out the fate of the girl not only for his case but for the missing girl’s mother who has fallen apart and turned to drink. As his obsession with the case grows Welles and California’s lives become more in danger has they move closer to finding the truth. My Opinion – I think this one of Joel Schumacher’s best films his depiction of the seedy pornography industry is very ...

allmarallnot 20.07.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

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 Peter Stormare ...
...(USA: working title) 8mm - Acht Millimeter (1999) (Germany) Eight Millimeter (1997) (USA: working title) Sexy World (1998) (USA: working title) Rated: 18 Running time: 118 Minutes Made: 1999 Price: This film is available on play.com for £6.99 >> Storyline << The story starts off with Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage) a Surveillance Specialist with his a Modest, Home based business, whos respected but still waiting for this big break that will increase ...

bigmatti 03.07.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

...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 ...
...whines at him over the phone. Pay attention to the people in the missing persons’ centre. He gets the lead he has been searching for. He speaks to the young girls mother - who, sadly, desperately lonely. His investigations inevitably lead him into the world of pornography and he strikes up a friendship with a struggling punk rocker. He’s told then that what he will see will change his life - that the devil gets into you and will not leave you alone. ...

Manx 05.12.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

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 ...
...both the makers and those who peddle the evil filth and uncovers more than anyone could dream in some demonic nightmare. This film is not for those who get unnerved by the sick dark side of humans and so you should only see this if you are not one for having nightmares about films you see and it should be a lesion in that for some justice and retribution should come even if the price is breaking the law, and is one film I adored because the film ...

NAZGUL 16.10.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

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 terryfying ...
...another young male (spin off punk kid), to try and help him solve the crime. Max california (Joaquin Phoneix). They pursue the case together following a bizairre trail of graphic and disturbing evidence to determine the fate of a coplete stranger. As his obssesion with the case grows, so does the danger. Welles enters the seedy world of pornography and sees things beyond his wildest nightmare. The footage on the tape shows a girl being raped, which ...

lukus187 21.04.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)

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 ...
...for the first time with a genuine sense of what the story is about. At first it seems to be about revenge, with some seediness thrown in for atmospheric value. Last night I saw the real story, the story of the dark behind the floral curtains of normal, suburbanite lives: and what can happen when you draw those curtains back. I found the tension of the latter action sequences far more intense because for the first hour I was getting deeper and deeper ...

aubernguy 07.09.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of 8MM (DVD)