[Editorial] Am I Watching a Snuff Movie? 7 Disturbing Extreme Horror Films

Trigger warning: This article includes mentions of sexual abuse, rape, hate crimes and more.

Have you ever watched a horror film that just felt so damn real? Part of the extreme horror appeal is the uncomfortable feeling that what you’re watching could potentially be real; they are films that push the audience's boundaries in order to make them experience an overwhelming sense of realism. For this reason, so many extreme films focus on using either found footage to present their concept or they toy on aspects of the every day in which we as humans know is a reality of the depraved side of life. 

The majority of these films are often stylised in a raw and gritty presentation, utilising murky lenses and handheld cameras that allow the viewer to become fully immersed in the atrocities happening on screen. By using these horrific tropes to force the viewer to confront their personal boundaries, we are given some of the most difficult films to sit through. If you’re feeling brave today and want to see just how much you can handle, then here are some of the most realistic extreme horror films ever made - making you question whether you’re watching a genuine snuff movie…

XXX Dark Web (2020)

A few years ago after the unveiling of Unearthed Films’ new side label ‘Too Extreme For Mainstream' there was a resurgence of horrifically graphic and brutal extreme films. It had felt like years since extreme fans had been given something nastier and more brutal but since then more filmmakers are pushing the boundaries with their films. XXX Dark Web is an extreme anthology film which shows one young man as he searches deeper and deeper into the seedy underworld of the dark web to find some of the most festishist materials of pornography that he can sexually please himself to. The segments featured are: Curiosity Killed The Cat by Domiziano Cristopharo and Lorenzo Zanoni, TeknoBarbie by Domiziano Cristopharo, The Prosperity of Vice by Alex Hernandez, Dolls by Emanuele Marchetto, Deconstructing Roberto by Adam Ford and Allison’s Mouth Fills Up with Blood and Semen by Daniel Valient.

The premise is fairly straightforward, but occasionally fluttering between a cinematic scope as we see the man in his bedroom furiously searching through increasingly disturbing videos, we also are privy to the found footage element, with the videos he watches being displayed as ‘amatuer footage’ which absolutely exacerbates just how much this one feels like a snuff movie. Throw into the mix unsimulated sex, engorged penises being manipulated through series’ of pain and pleasure, the destruction of various human bodies for the arousal of the perpetrator and we have a film that easily provides us with the disgusting sense that we, the viewer, are simply sat also trawling through the dark web to find our next cumshot. One particular segment Deconstruction of Roberto could certainly be coined as torture porn, but less in the mainstream term and more so that we are really watching a young man practice BDSM. 

XXX Dark Web is available through TetroVideo on limited edition!

August Underground (2006)

Fred Vogel is regarded as somewhat of an icon within the extreme horror community and for good reason, he brought to our screens one of the most notoriously nasty films ever, August Underground. For those of you reading who aren’t into these types of films but curing your curious mind, you will most likely have heard of this one and avoided it at all costs possible. Now I’m urging you to give this one a go and see how far you get into it - consider it a little challenge. 

Part of the torture porn boom in the 00s, this one really amps up the torture to some of the most extreme levels ever seen on screen. Reminiscent of Guinea Pig: Flowers of Flesh and Blood in the realism that comes with the violence and gore that happens throughout the film, it certainly looks and feels like a snuff film. Two friends depict their atrocities on camera, which entail running around like madmen finding victims to be butchered for their depraved needs. There is one particular scene that helped AU to gain it’s cult status with gorehounds which involves one of the most realistic portrayals of a body being dismembered. If you’re really wanting to push your personal boundaries then you could go full hog and watch the full trilogy including Mordum and Penance. 

Megan Is Missing (2010)

During 2020 someone on TikTok gave Megan Is Missing a boost in the online world, but unfortunately it seemed to come with a lot of negativity and pure shock as most people believed it to be real. Michael Goi’s 2010 film is not real, but if you were to watch without much prior history or knowledge it’s easy to see why you could fall into the trap of thinking you have just witnessed a snuff film. Personally it has always been one of my favourite extreme horror films, and you can read my thoughts on it here, but for a conflicting viewpoint also check out Malika’s take on the film. 

Megan and Amy are best friends trying to navigate their way through the tribulations that come with being a teenage girl, but their world’s are completely destroyed when Megan suddenly goes missing after meeting with an unknown boy from the internet. Visually the film devolves into some seriously disturbing territory that should come with a trigger warning as it will upset many viewers, but for me, the most disturbing elements of the film are between interactions and conversations the two girls have. It shows their naivety and vulnerability, something that so many teenage girls are victim to and exploited for. This is a film that is a constant gut punch, and will leave you feeling  fucked up for days, even months, afterwards. 

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Home Movie (2008)

The majority of extreme films focus on the disturbing minds of adults and their depraved sensibilities, however, Christopher Denham’s Home Movie from 2008 looks at the possibilities of children who harbour atrocious impulses. Through watching this family’s home movie the audience are made to confront the reality that often children can terrify adults in the darkest ways. 

Dread Central even described this film as better than The Blair Witch Project, which if that doesn’t get you adding this to your immediate watchlist then I don’t know what will. The parents are psychologists and try everything to help their children disregard their messed-up inhibitions but training the children away from their love of torturing animals and friends at school isn’t as easy as it seems. This is a film that will keep you in suspense the whole way through and ensure that your sense of dread never lets up for a single second. 

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Hate Crime (2012)

Before you go anywhere near this particular film it should come with a very serious and heavy trigger warning because this one really, really needs it. Upon my first watch of James Cullen Bressack’s Hate Crime, it was only about 7 minutes in before it was decided that the best course of action was to simply turn it off. The rape scenes at the beginning of the film are very gratuitous and fuelled by hate, which makes them sickening to watch. 

If you hadn’t guessed from the title alone, this handheld film shows the brutal attack on a Jewish family by a group of neo-nazis who want to act out their heinous and archaic beliefs on an innocent family that do not deserve what happens to them. The way the film is presented makes it feel too close for comfort when it comes to realism; this is not a film that will be an easy one to get through, and gives the impression that you are witnessing the genuine documentation of something so awful and horrific that it’s impossible to not feel overwhelmed by this film.

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Tumbling Doll of Flesh / Niku Daruma (1998)

Perhaps the most underground film on this list, and one that is not easy to come by for varying reasons, Tumbling Doll of Flesh is a film that, once seen, can never be unseen. Tamakichi Anaru’s pornographic found footage film is like nothing you have ever seen before and is a perfect example of how to make something that feels like an actual snuff film. Kana and Kiku are porn actors who have been hired to star in an adult film, however, the director’s demands become more and more depraved as the film plays out. 

This one is not for the faint hearted, and is one that even I have struggled to revisit after watching. The first third is laborious to get through, but does show how in Japan they censor elements such as genitals but allow cumshots and depictions of severe violence. After that you will witness the desecration of a human body in unimaginable ways, showing that there really are no boundaries when it comes to finding new ways to inflict pain, and ways to sexually abuse a human body.

Long Pigs (2007)

Second to the aforementioned film is another that you’ll have to seek the depths of the world to find because it’s another underground film that could be considered quite rare. But if you can get your hands on it then you are going to be in for a delicious treat (pun intended…). 

Long Pigs is another found footage style film, which sits alongside August Underground comfortably but adds a satirical spin so it’s not quite as dark and disturbing. Two filmmakers feel it’s a good idea to follow a cannibalistic serial killer around and document his methods behind choosing victims, slaughtering them and consuming them. As you’d expect, probably not the safest way to capture the evidence. Chris Power and Nathan Hyne’s Long Pigs is by far an exemplary piece of filmmaking and includes some horrifically realistic body hacking scenes which will scar your retinas forever.

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