Overview

The phenomenon of so-called 'snuff movies' (films that allegedly document real acts of murder, specifically designed to 'entertain' and sexually arouse the spectator) represents a fascinating socio-cultural paradox. At once unproven, yet accepted by many, as emblematic of the very worst extremes of pornography and horror, moral detractors have argued that the mere idea of snuff constitutes the logical (and terminal) extension of generic forms that are dependent primarily upon the excitement, stimulation and, ultimately, corruption of the senses. Snuff: Real Death and Screen Media brings together scholars from film and media studies to assess the longevity of one of screen media's most enduring cultural myths. Thorough, provocative, and well argued, the contributions to this volume address areas ranging from exploitation movies, the video industry, trends in contemporary horror cinema, pornography and Web 2.0.

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9781628921144

Table of Contents

Reviews

These essays meticulously examine the history and mythology of the visual media's 'unholy grail'-the spectral 'real' behind film's reality effects. Tracing snuff's evolution from pornography to propaganda, from cult phenomenon to mainstream culture, this is the most comprehensive effort to date to track down the elusive phenomenon hovering at (and often defining) the boundaries between life and death, voyeurism and violence, terror and titillation, art and exploitation, realism and reality. Anyone seeking an unflinching glimpse of media in the digital age cannot ignore this collection. What was unthinkable a decade ago is now routine. Never have violence and terror been at once so visible and, as a result, so banal. Joel Black, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Georgia, USA In the 1970s a toxic brew of urban decay, rising crime rates and the 'porno plague' gave rise to a new myth: that of the snuff film. Although the combination of sex and murder in the feature Snuff (1976) was quickly revealed as a hoax and the FBI could find no evidence that the real thing existed, the concept of the snuff film has endured and, ironically, taken on a life of its own. This collection of fascinating essays advances a scholarly and rigorous consideration of how the fringes of popular culture have become mainstreamed, and how media myths can become disturbing realities. Eric Schaefer, Associate Professor of Visual and Media Arts, Emerson College, USA, and author of Bold! Daring! Shocking! True! : A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959 Snuff: Real Death and Screen Media is both thorough and wide-ranging in its approaches to the complex and malleable category of the snuff film. This book is destined to become the key text on the representations and public debates which underpin the charged and vital topic of real death on screen, and the cultural, commercial, legal, and affective consequences of its associated myths. Kate Egan, Lecturer in Film Studies, Aberystwyth University, UK, and author of Trash or Treasure? Censorship and the Changing Meanings of the Video Nasties

These essays meticulously examine the history and mythology of the visual media's 'unholy grail'-the spectral 'real' behind film's reality effects. Tracing snuff's evolution from pornography to propaganda, from cult phenomenon to mainstream culture, this is the most comprehensive effort to date to track down the elusive phenomenon hovering at (and often defining) the boundaries between life and death, voyeurism and violence, terror and titillation, art and exploitation, realism and reality. Anyone seeking an unflinching glimpse of media in the digital age cannot ignore this collection. What was unthinkable a decade ago is now routine. Never have violence and terror been at once so visible and, as a result, so banal. Joel Black, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Georgia, USA In the 1970s a toxic brew of urban decay, rising crime rates and the 'porno plague' gave rise to a new myth: that of the snuff film. Although the combination of sex and murder in the feature Snuff (1976) was quickly revealed as a hoax and the FBI could find no evidence that the real thing existed, the concept of the snuff film has endured and, ironically, taken on a life of its own. This collection of fascinating essays advances a scholarly and rigorous consideration of how the fringes of popular culture have become mainstreamed, and how media myths can become disturbing realities. Eric Schaefer, Associate Professor of Visual and Media Arts, Emerson College, USA, and author of Bold! Daring! Shocking! True! : A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959

Author Information

Neil Jackson teaches film at the University of Lincoln, UK, and has published on popular cinema in various books and journals. He is currently preparing a critical study of Hollywood's representation of the adult film industry. Shaun Kimber is Senior Lecturer in Media Theory at Bournemouth University, UK. He is the author of Controversies: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (2011) and is currently working on the co-authored book Writing & Selling Horror Screenplays. Johnny Walker is Lecturer in Media at Northumbria University, UK. He is the author of Contemporary British Horror Cinema: Industry, Genre and Society (2015) and founding co-editor of the Global Exploitation Cinemas book series (Bloomsbury). Thomas Joseph Watson is Lecturer in Media Studies at Teesside University, UK. His research investigates the role of film form in the depiction of violence in contemporary audio-visual media. He has published on pornography, documentary film, and experimental video-art.

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