Preface to Snuff Films: The Final Cut

Over the years, I have written a great many articles about snuff films, have been interviewed on the subject, and have been consulted on this pervasive myth for several television documentaries. So, being something of a recognized “authority” on the subject, composing a college paper defining snuff films would be a cinch, a pushover, a walk in the park, and as easy as apple pie. Right? To some extent, I made this assumption as well, but…

With this paper, I faced several challenges: Firstly, to distill the information so the pertinent information could fit into the allotted space; and, secondly, to write it to an audience who was unfamiliar with the concept or term, as my audience in the past was already well-versed in the basics. The fact that my advisor and most of my peers were unacquainted with the snuff film phenomenon was ultimately invaluable, as it helped me to (eventually) define it clearly and objectively whilst avoiding the dangerous assumption that the readers were cinephiles. (I faced this problem with my first essay, but it became far more apparent with this piece.) Because of numerous misconceptions, I also found myself succinctly defining several other cinematic subgenres, including “shockumentaries” and splatter films, which were also not part of the average person’s lexicon.

Of my three MWAs in English 098, this was the one that would see the most rewrites, but in the long run, it was worth it.