Snuff 102 (2007) User Reviews

Filmed with a potato

[itrevorallen · 3/10 · 23 October 2021]

This movie isn't rubbish because it's extreme, hardcore, brutal, or any of that. This movie is rubbish because it failed an attempt at a plot, it failed attempts of shock with unoriginal filmography, just drop the quality of other shock films by around 95% and you have snuff 102.

Gore 4/10 Camera 1/10 Music 1/10 Acting 3/10 Overall 3/10, feeing generous.

Just go watch Atroz.

Deplorable film, but serves a purpose.

[SpannersGerm669 · 3/10 · 8 July 2012]

Now to start with, I would never recommend this film to anyone, with a clear conscience. This is the work of utter evil and sheer cruelty of the highest order. Even if you are familiar with the works of Extreme Cinema, this one rises to an even higher level than that. Upon watching this film, I got the impression that it was a work of hatred towards humanity and without a shred of apologetic or good intentions. This is an exercise in sheer depravity. It depicts acts of violence from characters without a shred of redeemable qualities. Mind you, the film never pretends to be anything that its not and it promises on what it delivers. Sheer torture, not only for the characters, but the viewer as well. We are thrust into a very very dirty atmosphere with a low budget that is evident in every scene, but the director takes advantage of this, making it even dirtier, if that were possible. Having said all of this, does this film serve a purpose? Yes, I think it does. Unlike August Underground, which was just based purely on shock value, this film attempts to explain the meaning of snuff films and the types of people who are into it. So, it separates itself from the usual Pseudo Snuff Film, by at least attempting to give us an insight into the psychology behind these sorts of films in the sub genre. However, this isn't much of a redeeming quality, and although it is of a higher standard in the Pseudo Snuff sub genre that in itself is a sub genre thats lacking in real movie quality talent, that is not saying much. Viewer, definitely beware!

Dull exploitation

[Prof-Hieronymos-Grost · 2/10 · 3 October 2008]

Gory Argentinian film that doesn't really have any plot, the film switches between a girl's home, a room where three women are being held captive by a psychopath and psychobabble by an expert who tells us what are the reasons behind Snuff films and why the subject holds the publics interest. Snuff 102 also intersperses some dodgy internet "Snuff" clips, all in all the film is a sickening viewing but it left this viewer cold. I like this kind of material on occasion, but it was more the styling of the film i don't care for. Like the expert in the film says, those who watch such films don't really care for those that are being butchered, i have to agree.

The pain and suffering of victims number 100, 101, and 102—captured on video for your entertainment.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 5 April 2008]

An investigative reporter, researching the phenomenon known as 'snuff', gets some first-hand experience in the subject after she is abducted by a psycho, taken to a blood spattered basement, and filmed whilst tortured (along with a couple of other unfortunate victims).

If you are a fan of extreme underground horror, then you have probably heard at least some of the controversy and hoopla surrounding this film (about the realistic gore, which led people to believe that the on-screen carnage they were seeing was real, or how the director was beaten up by an irate member of the audience after one particularly nasty sequence). However, any extreme underground horror fan worth his (or her) salt knows that it's never wise to believe the hype: more often than not, the rumour-mill isn't exactly providing accurate information.

For starters, I've seen this film described as 'faux-snuff', which it most certainly isn't: with its multiple camera angles, distinct narrative, creative editing, and an effective thumping industrial soundtrack, it could never be mistaken for 'the real McCoy' (and I don't believe that was ever the director's intention). Also, the gore in this film isn't really that graphic: sure... a LOT of nasty things happen to the women in the basement, but Snuff 102 manages to suggest a lot more than it actually shows.

The quality of the footage is grainy and has been treated with filters to achieve a distressed look; much of the action occurs in shadowy conditions, making it hard to discern what is happening; and clever editing deceives the viewer into believing that they have seen much more than they actually have. So, the 'chiselled teeth' scene, although certainly nasty, isn't as stomach-churning as it might've been, and the 'stomping' of the pregnant woman (the killer crushes her head and her distended belly), which is admittedly nauseating in concept, doesn't really warrant attacking the film-maker.

Much more disturbing, in my mind, is the inclusion of genuine images of pain and suffering taken from the internet (the sort of thing to be found on dubious sites such as Ogrish or Rotten), and a couple of scenes of animals being killed and mistreated (I always find real gore difficult to stomach).

Director Mariano Peralta has certainly delivered a gutsy, taboo-busting film which is genuinely unsettling, but is it the last word in gruelling snuff-themed cinema, as some might claim? Definitely not. Snuff 102 has far too many moments that drag (a very dull beginning and lots of talking throughout), is a little repetitive, and features much too much in the way of artistic pretension for it to walk away with that accolade.

November Underground with reading glasses on

[dschmeding · 2/10 · 16 March 2008]

Once again... very good reviews, bad rating. Now which should you trust on this movie?? In my case I should have trusted the vote... like expected "Snuff 102" is another take on the Snuff-Genre with DV-Cameras and low production value, much reminding of course of August Underground. But in contrary to the other reviewers I found this one much less shocking. Mainly because it tries to be intelligent by incorporating psychological statements, dialog thats as endless as the sequences of screaming girls and some artsy shots of meaningless pictures... which by the way look rather cheap to me. I was about to end the movie after the bleached out opening sequence. The movie is roughly about the snuff genre and a woman investigating on it.. wasn't Tesis a similar plot, don't remember for sure. Anyway ... you got her talking to a psychologist, surfing the web and looking at strange sites all mixing with the sequence of 3 girls bound and gagged and tortured while stumbling into the chaos of course. Now there is some plot and they even tried a kind of twist in the end but basically of course its about seeing girls bashed and tortured and even cheaper ... they regularly mix in stupid pictures from Rotten.com which gives the movie a real cheap and stupid feel. The mixture just doesn't work although the gore FX looks pretty realistic... anyway, with such bad picture quality its not such a big deal. So if you mix movies like August Underground, Scrapbook and the style of Slaughtered Vomit dolls and add some try of being intelligent on it you can watch this since you already know what kind of production value is awaiting. After all I found this one extremely boring and by far not as sick as Slaughered Vomit Dolls which had a very similar noisy and artsy collage style or as realistic as August Underground which was boring anyway.

Slow-paced and sometimes boring but good

[ultra_tippergore · 5 April 2008]

Snuff 102 is a new movie in the "overhyped and labeled as most brutal ever" category. Like all the movies in that category (Murder Set pieces, chaos,etc) its not "that brutal" as reviews and comments wants us to believe (there are lots of fake reviews in this kind of movies, specially on MSP). What is Snuff 102? Well, lets start from whats not. This ain't a new August Underground, its a completely different kind of movie. Snuff 102 Its a movie with a traditional plot, its not a "fake snuff". The story is similar to Thesis or 8 mm but featuring some gross and very well done gore FX and some internet footage of animal killings. Overall, its worth a look, its boring sometimes (its too long and very slow-paced IMHO), the plot twist at the end is very predictable but its well done and its a good movie.

Snuff I Spit on Your Grave.

[DarkSpotOn · 2/10 · 18 June 2022]

As the title suggests, this is a Snuff version of classic I Spit On Your Grave. Three chicks get tortured, until one of them escapes, and kills the main villain. There's also a side plot to this film, that the chick that escaped did a investigation on the suspect, that did his mass-murders.

I'm going to be brutal honest here, when it comes to fictional Snuff-Movies, this one is probably the tamest i have seen, which was really a let down. Comparing this to Guinea Pig, Grotesque, Altroz and The Butcher, it's safe to say that Snuff 102 has no weight to the fictional snuff movies i have listed and seen.

The main problem i got with this film, is how boring it was. The whole movie was so slow, and repetitive, half of the scenes could of been cut out in order for this film to flow better. Until the last 20 minutes, everything else in this movie was painfully boring, and i could not wait for it to end. I have to mention, this movie does contain scenes of some real death gore scenes, one of which is where they slaughter a pig in Croatia, and they present is as snuff, which is understand why, is to compare the human body to a pig, for Snuff killers, the victims body is just like a Pig.

The movie is trying to prove a point, that Snuff-filming is just equal as Pornography, in the sence, that the human body is being exploitated and humiliated, and that there's no limits on the internet, that you can be perversed as you wish on the internet.

This movie could of been way better, if we had more likeable victims, that had any kind of backstory, the only one that has a flat barely exsisting backstory and development, is the chick that is investigating this guy. Sad to say but hour and twenty minutes of this was so boring, and you barely cared really. Yes the movie has some graphic scenes, if you never watched a fictional snuff flick, this probably could move you ill, however if you are somebody that is a veteran to extreme cinema, it's probably not going to bother you, and most of the effects look really cheap, and all of it is blacked out, probably because the budget was not there.

The only thing keeping this film at two stars, is the fact that it has a plot, because there's movies out there that nearly have zero plot, and are just a brain melter, like Gummo, Where The Dead Go To Die, and Begotten.

Tries to shock but only bores

[jackmeat · 2/10 · 29 March 2020]

My quick rating - 2,4/10. Ok, first an explanation. These are NOT horror movies. This is its own category, Shocksploitation. The whole point of these movies is to look so poor quality, and shocking you question it being real. If you think this is new, it is not. Guinea Pig started this 40 years ago with underground torture movies that got government attention when they thought it was real. And yes, they graduated to fake snuff. This movie mixes the grainy, fake torture but tries to incorporate a plot of a man being interviewed about the existence of "snuff" movies, all the while the viewer is bearing witness to it supposedly happening in what we assume the man is a part of. The interviewer preps for this by searching the web and finding some well known BS snuff that you may have seen before and the ever popular "beheading" video that was from a terrorist executing "someone." Blah Blah, so they showed something real, but one big rule of these movies, if you are trying to fool people into believing this nonsense, first off, don't tell them at the beginning "all the torture and violence in this film is real" Immediately you know it isn't. Second, what guinea pig did right was shoot in single camera long straight cuts. Made it far more difficult to tell it was fake. These movie has camera angles shifting and moving all the time. Who has time for editing film while torturing someone they kidnapped, am I right? LOL. The atypical camera angles hiding the most depraved scenes forcing you to figure them out or imagine it is also used. My point is, don't let crap such as this make you believe This is not horror, this is a filmed stunt to fool and shock you. I watch this because I am interested in the lengths people go to achieve this but in reality, it is just plain boring. This actually tried so it wasn't as bad as Guinea Pig was. That was a straight 1.5 hours of fake torture, no slim plot. And since American Guinea Pig has come and shifted into making plot driven gorefests now, and August Underground has been shocking in the USA for a while as well, this falls into just another attempt. It fails. Not a single part grossed me out, it has all been done before, and I have seen far WORSE. I give the little points it got on merit of some of the dialogue as it was an educated opinion about snuff at times. Do I think snuff films exist? YES, people are inherently evil and to think none of the sickos haven't filmed their murders before would be hard to believe. I am sure they have, but is their an underground market for it? Hard to say, if there is, I don't care to see it. I get nothing out of watching women get slapped around, and raped with various objects (which is always up to you to figure out since they make sure it is dark or camera is just off enough so you can't see, luckily). Long winded but lots to say on the subject. Long story short, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, AVOID UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO SEE IT.

A Waste of Time...and Effort

[nojixa-13753 · 1/10 · 15 March 2024]

When one researches Mariano Peralta, they will find out that his previous work never got as much exposure as this sorry excuse for a movie. His previous work also consists of 15-30 min shorts that never really got off the ground, which might be the reason why he decided to make a "movie" like Snuff 102 in the first place. The movie itself feels like it can't decide between being a faux-snuff horror, outright torture porn or a serious movie and tries to be all at once, making it fail miserably in all departments.

It's also clear that this movie was made as brutal and revolting as possible because Peralta must have known that he did not have the talent to make a proper movie and thus needed to hide this reality behind a messy concoction of blurry and digusting scenes filmed with an equally terrible camera. It shows in the movie's many plot holes.... Just a TL:DR of the "story": A journalist chick decides to investigate snuff movies and the concept of violence itself. So she interviews this movie critic guy (who might or might not be called Malena because the movie doesn't list the characters by their names, not that all of are properly named, just Malena and this Leo guy, who's a minor character that got a gig for the second victim that ended up leading her into the killer's trap and her death). However she soon finds out that he's engaged in illegal stuff and has necro pictures at his places, which prompts him to kidnap her and decide to make her one of the starts of his next snuff tape (we only find out about this by the end of the movie because you see, the torture scenes and snippets of the interview randomly cut from one place to another over the course of the movie). There are multiple terrible aspects of this "movie" but I want to focus on the main villain first because I swear he's the worst horror movie villain I've seen....

Come on, the big bad killer (literally a skinny dude with a ski mask pulled over his head and a ridiculous pullover with an equally ridiculous turtleneck, which makes him look like a stereotypical hipster turned criminal) acts like a complete moron. He supposedly has killed 99 people by the movie's beginning and 101 by the end of it as he meets his demise, yet he acts like an amateur and runs around like a headless chicken when the main character unties herself (why haven't any of his previous 101 victims done that, if the room is littered with random glass shards?) This idiot also uses the same location over and over and it isn't some secluded basement or bunker mind you, it's the most generic abandoned house you could think of and it has literal graffiti in it, which begs the question why somebody hasn't stumbled onto his operation or found his bloody torture room because he as sure doesn't bleach the place once he's done (the dried blood on the wall looks more like rotten tomatoes or feces than fake blood btw). It also feels like this stupid killer doesn't have a plan at all. At first, he ties the first victim to a chair, only to beat and punch her before throwing her onto the ground, where the worst and most controversial part of the movie happens (not going to describe it beside the fact that victim is a pregnant prostitute, other reviews have described it in detail and Wikipedia has a plot synopsis of the entire torture as well) anyway, which made his efforts to bother tying her feet to the legs of the chair completely useless and not worth the time. He just decides what do on a whim, which makes him a very dumb snuff filmer. He also appears to wear gloves when torturing the victims but touches at least one of them with his bare hands, which pretty much makes them redundant (common knowledge: criminals don't use gloves just to look intimidating, they use them to prevent leaving finger prints.....). His torture room is also set up in a weird way.... He just puts his tools on the ground in a messy pile.... Why? The room is also dark when the power actually works in a supposedly abandoned house and he uses some terrible portable light that doesn't do the job at all (while the adjacent bathroom he uses to dismember the victims is lit up like a Christmas tree.), so his "scene" isn't lit up well (the movie is dark, so you don't see a lot of the things happening or the torture but wouldn't his snuff tapes be too dark to see anything in-universe as well, so I don't think that this idiot would really profit from them). Btw his all-black outfit also blends in with the dark scene, so you only see some white-ish blobs (the eye and mouth holes in his mask along with his gloves) flailing 'round the room. Why, if he's supposedly a ruthless and experienced serial killer and snuff filmer? Also, this guy's equipment is a "joke"....he's supposed to be a film critic that uses his movie making knowledge but he just slaps a cheap handheld camera on a tripod and calls it a day.......... The guy also appears doing everything on the spot without any prior preparation or planning.... He's only setting up his camera and torture room when he brought the victims in, even if that could have been done beforehand to save time..... The fact he doesn't even have a table to lay out his torture equipment says a lot about him (and this movie)..... He also doesn't show any emotions, even if he's supposedly getting aroused from torturing women besides sometimes pleasuring himself, which just looks awkward.... All in all, he just becomes the most generic and boring villain that looks more like an extra playing an IRA terrorist in a movie 'bout The Troubles or an enemy from The Hoods ripped straight out of Manhunt.

He's also played by two different actors for some reason (maybe the first guy refused to do the first scenes?) and Peralta is supposed to be voicing the killer but he doesn't say anything at all (I even combed this movie's subtitles to find a line because I'm not going to watch the full torture scenes and there wasn't anything). One guy is playing him when he's unmasked and giving an interview to the MC (a journalist chick)... Another is playing him when he's wearing that ridiculous ski mask and actually torturing them... Surprisingly enough, that actor who played the killer in the torture scenes was the only one to make it somewhere in the acting biz (even having a role in a Disney show called O11CE). To leave this idiot and focus on other parts of the movie, I would like to finish off with that the killer's end is as equally pathetic as his entire character. He gets knocked out with a rock by the MC and finished off with his own machete, even if he had the upper hand over her. He caught her but for some reason decided to strangle her rather than to use his machete, which he was flailing around like some video game bot while he was chasing after her. Btw, his movement looks unnatural and more like crappy animations from a PS2 game than something out of a live-action movie (maybe the actor was uncomfortable with playing that role but was desperate for the paycheck?)

Like this half-review and half-rant already alluded to, the movie's story isn't really structured well and is all over the place. The reason were mentioned above already, so let's move onto the technical side of things now...

And now... The general visual and audio quality of the movie. The footage is dark, blurry, grainy and overall terrible (maybe it was a desperate attempt to set the mood but I think it exposes the movie for being just a terrible torture porn). That's in the torture scenes and don't get me started on the scenes that are meant to detail the MC's interview with the killer and the lives of the other victims.... Peralta thought that it would make the movie more scary or edgy by editing in a black and white filter over them, which unwittingly lays the fact that this movie was filmed with a terrible camera bare for all to see. Those scenes look like some amateur YouTube shorts rather than something out of a "serious" movie, which Snuff 102 desperately tries to present itself as. And the audio... Oh, Christ, the audio.... The movie is in Spanish, so most viewers will have to resort to downloading subtitles to even grasp what is going on in the non-torture scenes but the torture scenes are really something onto themselve...and not in a good way..... It sounds like if somebody looked up a generic "porn sounds/moaning" sound effects video, downloaded it as a poorly compressed and edited file and then played it over the footage while also editing in various squishy and thumping noises over it (it all comes down to sounding like "eh eh eh eh eh" like one review on Amazon already alluded to). At the end of the day, it just sounds like some bad porn..... And I'm not kidding.... The music in this movie is just annoying and there are also rumors that Dodeccaheedron from the Aphex Twin was also used in the movie but it sounded so terrible that it made people, myself included, that Peralta just ripped it straight off the net and used in the movie without the composer's permission, so no effort and no care or respect towards the work of others.

The director also thought it was somehow a good idea to mix in real footage of beheadings and animal cruelty while claiming that ALL of the violence and torture in the movie was REAL when he debuted the "movie" at a film festival. Because of the movie's brutality, including the aforementioned scenes where the pregnant victim gets brutally tortured, and most likely the claim it was real in the opening disclaimer, Peralta ended up getting beat up by two enraged members of the audience (according to him, two men approached him and one of the was cussing him out and attacking him, which led Peralta to hit back and the other guy joined in, which resulted in Peralta getting sent to the hospital). After this debacle, no theater or streaming service would pick up this movie, which ensured it was a de-facto flop and the proposed sequel died in the crib (Thank God)

Would give it 0 starts, if possible.

Wanted to snuff myself watching this drivel

[The_Celluloid_Sage · 5/10 · 6 April 2020]

Perhaps the true ethics of cinema is the respect of the unseen parts of the image. The film literally starts with a graphic content warning, telling us the scenes are real. The film then moves on to give us an educational explanation of perversion and objectification. The film is well known in underground horror circles, if for no other reason than apparently a member of the audience attacked and injured the director at the Mar Del Plata International Film Festival.

The violence is very realistically portrayed, and all the while filmed in a very grainy VHS effect along with a lot of shadows, making it difficult to sometimes see what is actually being done. This works somewhat as the imagination is far more powerful and terrifying than any reality, and the director pushes the limits between what is not seen and what one would actually limit themselves to see. It's an interesting title as it is a faux-snuff film. Far too much other stuff happening leading up to the acts. Interviews, daily routines and the like. All done in black and white between the actual 'snuff' sections. What I found perhaps more curious at the end of the film is that, I found myself actually preferring the in-between scenes more than the violence/so-called snuff scenes.

I can watch anything that I know isn't real (I've never been good with Hospital programs though). Part of the attraction having been interested in film (and especially make up FX) is how it's done and how good it is. What I don't agree with is the use of or borrowed scenes of real animal abuse. This is a cheap shock tactic that was prevalent within the seventies Italian horror scene. What is interesting is this though: While I can pretty much watch anything regardless of it's depravity (though I do have limits), I hold no water with animal violence, even if it is a borrowed scene from years ago. Much like America with its guns vs nudity argument in film, is that hypocritical of me? Never thought about it that way before, so I guess if nothing else the film makes you question yourself or your own limits.

I mentioned in a previous review that thrill seekers can seek more and more extremes. Still not sure of the accuracy of that generally, but these kind of films are certainly marketed I think for those bored with mainstream horror, which quite frankly has become rather laughable, especially from America. Some film makers do like to try to push the boundaries. This has long been on my to watch list, and I was pleasantly surprised, not by the content, but more the message.

Not a film I would watch again, not necessarily for what is being portrayed (There are much bigger budget violent films around such as the Spit on Your Grave Remake and sequels), but ultimately because it's a one time deal for the curiosity factor and that it's only an average movie at the end of the day. For all the disturbing imagery though, The film does at least try to give off some sort of social commentary regarding what we watch, why and what are the moral limits, and that should be applauded. One for extreme cinema fans only.

The Sage's Rating: 5/10

Extreme horror made in Argentina

[Elvis-Del-Valle · 5/10 · 21 February 2024]

Made independently, it must be recognized that it was possible to make what is perhaps the most extreme and violent film that can be found in Argentine cinema. Snuff 102 manages to be a visual torture for the most sensitive with all its scenes that go without detours. He can be given quite a bit of credit for them, as the grotesque makeup and gore are very well done. The film has the aesthetic of a snuff film that makes it visually amateurish, but it fits with the atmosphere. Even the soundtrack and editing are quite strange, fitting with the uncomfortable and aggressive atmosphere of the film. There are not many dialogues and the critic's words are the most interesting, contributing a lot to the film and leaving a good reflection on how far human beings can go to reach a certain level of satisfaction. The critic's dialogues touch on interesting topics about morality as something that limits our natural instincts, social marginality making the lives of those who occupy a very low social position have little value and about the body as something that can be used to satisfy any kind of desire without limitation. The film manages to be a good reflection of the brutal horrors that are quite common both in Argentina and in other Latin American countries. With all that, Snuff 102 could perhaps have been one of the best horror films that Argentine cinema could offer, but what prevented that is the level of amateurism it has and some elements that needed to be applied to the narrative. The film focuses more on the brutal scenes and less on the story, because the idea of a snuff film is that, giving priority only to the images. The 3 victims are introduced without knowing much about them. The journalist presented herself as that only. The pregnant woman had quite a bit to offer in her backstory, but it is never explained how she ended up in the hands of the killer. They leave that up to the interpretation of the viewer. The third victim is totally unknown and she is nothing more than that. While the editing is amateurish, it gets cheaper near the end until it falls into something from a Z movie. There is a fairly obvious editing error and the ending is edited in a way that is rather interpretive and not clear at all making the film conclude in a tacky way. You could say that the lack of character development and the editing at the end ruined a part of this movie, affecting almost half of it. For the only film Mariano Peralta has directed in his lifetime, Snuff 102 is a brutal, well-executed indie film with quite a bit of potential. It managed to go far because of its strong scenes, but it could have been much more. My final rating for this movie is a 5/10.

"These are their teeth. The other two are dead."

[hexagramme · 10/10 · 4 March 2008]

Snuff 102 is, without any doubt, the most authentic and mind shattering "faux" snuff film I have ever seen. The scenes of violence, from the very beginning, displays a deeply disturbing level of carnage, meaninglessness and authenticity. A perfect balance between not showing us absolutely everything (partly because of the darkness/extremely grainy visuals made by the cheap digital cameras) but showing far more than the majority of us viewers would ever want to see on film. At the same time it shows the most fantastic images, in between the horrible torture, all in black and white. Little things, like rain and the washing of dishes, which almost becomes intimate, because of the great lighting and camera work. These are the "breathers" of the movie Snuff 102, and you will treasure these moments. Everything else is pure pain.

I have seen my share of the nastiest movies out there. It's like an obsession I've had for a few years now. I grew extremely bored with the mainstream American horror scene, and the spineless, embarrassing remakes of foreign movies, that already were as they were meant to be. Even original modern American horror film has become a parody of itself. This is why I was looking for exactly this kind of movie. It's everything Hollywood isn't. Actually it not like any other movie I've seen, and that is only positive. It questions our morality, ethics, consumerism, and at a point in the film, one of the characters makes an absolutely great comparison between pornography and snuff film.

This is not a movie you will stumble upon by accident. You have to really want to see it, because there is only one way to obtain it at this point. It premiered at the Mar Del Plata International Film Festival, where members of the audience attacked and injured the director, before the credits rolled. Mariano Peralta was accused of using real murder and torture footage. People are not as naive as they used to be when it comes to movies, so this only tells you how "real" Snuff 102 feels to watch. Choose to add this movie to your collection and you will get extreme violence and at the same time a harsh, philosophical comment on our depraved modern internet society. Ten thumbs up!

Probably the best of it's genre...

[Indyrod · 6/10 · 9 April 2008]

OK, now first of all, this type of movie is not for everyone's taste, but those that like to take a ride into the most extreme, this is one you should probably like or maybe tolerate is a better word. I want to quote a user review from IMDb.

"The depraved plot of "Snuff 102" is easy to follow: three girls are kidnapped and subjected to sadistic torture and murder by a masked Snuff Maniac. One of them is pregnant. She is tied to a chair, beaten,her fingers are cut off, she is knocked to the ground and finally the killer stomps her head, stomps her pregnant belly then rapes her with a large knife. During this shocking sequence director Mariano Peralta was beaten and injured by the angry viewers of Mar Der Plata Festival."

Now that is pretty shocking right? Not that the director was beaten and injured, but the fact that this movie played at a festival. :) I will admit, the sequence that reviewer is talking about, is maybe the most revolting, sickening, and realistic act of extreme torture and murder I have yet seen on film. I mean, what were they thinking inviting a faux snuff film to a festival of any kind? To continue my quoting from the same review.

"Snuff 102 has also two shocking scenes of animal cruelty involving monkey and butchered pig. They are nasty and disturbing. The acting is fairly convincing and the atmosphere of total evil is well-captured. However the film asks several uncompromising questions about the evil side of a man. Give it a look, if you can stomach it. 8 out of 10."

I quoted that review, because I could not have said it better. There is a moral statement in this movie, and it does have a little twist at the end, which gives it a leg up on most of this genre of films, there actually is a story. So what I am saying, is this is as close to a "Gone With the Wind" of fake snuff films as I have come across. They use shadows, and some oversaturated colors, to hide some of the slicing and dicing, but you get the idea of what's going on without being shown so much obviously fake gore as in the Guinea Pig movies. This ends up making the film even more realistic, because your mind fills in the blanks quite effectively. Is it worth all the trouble and expense you have to go through to order the DVD from Argentina? From my point of view, the answer is definitely yes. When I heard about this movie, I had to see it. That's the bottom line, and the most sure way was to order it through their website www.snuff102.com.ar . BTW, the Snuff 102 title, refers to the 102nd victim of the maniac.

The most intense movie experience i've ever had..........ever.

[dustyluke33 · 10/10 · 8 March 2008]

I just got my hands on this tasty little underground sicko. I watched it all the way through twice, without English subtitles or any dubs, and still got the complete story. This is, end of story the most sickening, intense film I have ever seen. I am a collector of these so called "underground gore" films, i've got the august underground series, got every terrorist decapitation video there is and yet this movie shocked me more than any of them, the sheer grit and terror is anchored in with the pounding (and i mean pounding) soundtrack, consisting of mostly industrial and ambient pieces, it adds more emotion than ever. The acting is not too bad, but when it comes to the "horror" acting (screaming, crying) it is superb, the best i've ever seen. The main killer is relentless, sick and so good at what he does. This film to me is the next level in horror and pushes the boundaries so far, I don't think anyone will reach them for a while, not because of how graphic this film can be, but through the complete genius of Mariano Peralta and how he explores the theme's of the darkest parts of the human mind and giving us the ultimate in horror viewing. This is not a film to be picked apon by gore hounds because there is not enough gore (believe me the scenes include teeth being smashed in by a chisel and hammer and a pregnant woman having a 10 inch blade inserted into her) Get this if you are ready for something to take you deeper than you've ever been.

Snuff 102, a college course I'd like to take.

[ElijahCSkuggs · 7/10 · 20 March 2008]

Snuff is a hideous thought. From the hated August Underground films to the scene of child snuff in Running Scared, no matter the movie it still gives off a vibe unlike anything else. Unfortunately for the sub-genre of pseudo snuff, most of them stink. But good news pseudo-Snuff fans, this is probably the best one out there.

The story instead of following the August Underground formula, which is the found footage type dealy ala Blair Witch Project, this uses the regular type of story-telling. The story is simple enough, you have a girl who's researching Snuff and interviewing a lead researcher in the field. You actually do get some nice information on how and why Snuff could work and could not work. Scary thinking, that's for sure. Anyways, the story also switches gears back and forth from this girl to a group of girls who are held captive by a Snuff Maniac. And one of these girls, is actually the girl who's doing the research. The story simply goes back and forth from learning about Snuff, watching Snuff take place and learning the history of the girls who are captive in the room.

Snuff 102, sounds like a class you'd take in college, but you end up learning it's not even slightly related to that. The story uses nice quick editing to make the violence seem much more real. It also uses it's lighting very well. Each Snuff scene has an intense feel to it that definitely works. With an interesting premise, nice acting, and lots of blood, this is easily my favorite pseudo-snuff type film. Due to the subject matter and the slow-burn type film it is, it's definitely not for everybody, even horror fans.

Shocking and disturbing with heavy psychological context.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 8/10 · 2 April 2008]

The depraved plot of "Snuff 102" is easy to follow:three girls are kidnapped and subjected to sadistic torture and murder by a masked Snuff Maniac.One of them is pregnant.She is tied to a chair,beaten,her fingers are cut off,she is knocked to the ground and finally the killer stomps her head,stomps her pregnant belly then rapes her with a large knife.During this shocking sequence Mariano Peralta was beaten and injured by the angry viewers of Mar Der Plata Festival."Snuff 102" has also two shocking scenes of animal cruelty involving monkey and butchered pig.They are nasty and disturbing.The acting is fairly convincing and the atmosphere of total evil is well-captured.However the film asks several uncompromising questions about the evil side of a man.Give it a look,if you can stomach it.8 out of 10.

This isn't August; it's much more serious

[alucard617 · 7/10 · 8 April 2008]

All right. I felt the need to do a revised review as my last one was a little inaccurate. I just recently watched the film again and I think their were key concepts that I left out in my last review.

First, I'll start off the same way by saying that Snuff 102 is actually an intelligent film. It's not just mindless violence that leaves you with a feeling of sickness. The theme of the film is the impact violence has on the media and way it attracts even the most sane of people. The theme is mainly explored in the subtle parts of the movie where the reporter is doing an interview with the main villain himself. This person is an author of best selling books that deal with violence. The reporter interviews him to get his take on violence and why it is perceived in different ways. Eventually, she stumbles on his work in the form of pictures and he abducts her and has her bound and gagged in a abandoned building in the middle of nowhere. The place itself is a nightmare with blood stained walls. Two more woman are abducted and all three are to become victims 100, 102,and 102. Each woman will be tortured and murdered in front of a video camera; a tape marked for each woman with the victim number; hence the name snuff 102.

Now, obviously the reason why this movie is known at all is because of how violent it is. I will say this though; the reviews make this film to be 10 times worse than it is. The worst of the torture is merely implied and not truly shown. Ex; A woman get fingered with a butcher knife, but you don't actually see it. All you see is the knife go between her legs, no close up and it's from a side perspective. The sound effects however are brutal, but again you can just picture the sadist peeling an orange and you would get the same sound effect. One thing that I found interesting is that the worst for me was left out of reviews. There is one scene; spoilers, where the woman's water actually breaks and her unborn child is cut out of her. Pretty sick stuff though the latter is only shown after the torture you don't actually see it happen. Everything else has pretty much been done is horror movies; the thing that really sets it apart from those however is the overall mode. The coloring and the effects make it look like a nightmare. The actors were great in this; the woman made you truly feel sorry for them and the sadist defiantly conveyed a true feeling of evil. He is perhaps too good at what he does. I also really enjoyed the story and how it can relate to everyone mentally.

There are a few drawbacks. First, the film continuously changes perspectives which is needed as it's good to have a rest from the carnage. The bad thing is that the fillers are incredibly boring. Many of them deal with the women's back stories and how they ended up being abducted. Yeah, it good to show you character development, but the moments are very slow. That and snuff 102 actually did a cliché thing. The women that die in this film are shown to have sex and do drugs and the survivor is not shown doing neither. I hate that because it makes it seem like that's the reason these women died, not because they were used as tools to fulfill the fantasies of a mass murderer. The script is also not too good. The film had a great theme but the script meant to represent it was only good in certain areas. The main concepts that I really liked about the film is that the music was minimum but also put exactly where it needed to be. The acting was great and I thought the ending was very needed; you leave the movie feeling a little cheerful and clean in some perspective.

Overall, this film is not as brutal as it was built up to be, but defiantly was violent. It has a great theme to it and the acting is top notched. As I said earlier, the script defiantly could've been better and some moments are dragged on for too long and becomes boring. Good film in the long run though.

extreme and sickening for a lot of viewers.

[trashgang · 8/10 · 28 November 2013]

have seen a lot of extreme flicks I can surely file this one under extreme gore flicks. But be advised, although it isn't of course a real snuff there are a few shots included with animal cruelty. A pig being slaughtered alive and some stuff going on in the beginning with a monkey's head.

A girl is going deeper into the mysteries of Snuff movies and slowly she becomes involved into that world. Naturally it's done by actors but still this isn't for everybody. I wont recommend it to people who can't stand flicks full of grainy shots and weird editing and over-saturated colours. Of course the sound is sometimes really bad and that could annoy people too but that's only the part were the snuff takes place. Secondly slowly with the involvement of the girl in the research we do get into the real snuff. Some is gruesome and not for the faint-hearted otherwise there are shots to be seen from real events. This is extreme be warned.

It clocks in over 90 minutes and maybe that's a bit too long for such kind of flicks but we only have two camps, the pros and the contras, there's no in between. The flick itself was officially released but has been taken out of the market due it's contents. It resurrected on VHS after a while but even that version is a hard target to track down. Only MassacreVideo has an official release nowadays. If you like flicks like the August Underground's or the MAGgot releases or the Slaughtered Vomit Dolls trilogy then this is a must have but if you are new to the genre or just a Horrorwood lover then stay away from this atrocity or you can make your own vomit flick while watching because the real images are gruesome, you will see a person being killed by slashing his throat and it's not faked.

If A Serbian Film (2010) was sickening, this goes a bit further but it do has it flows which a Serbian Film never had, even the score is a bit the same. The girl doing research do talk a lot to a professor. Skip that, it's boring, do watch the real snuff and see the pregnant girl being tortured, even as that was acted still it's gruesome. Extreme content!

Gore 5/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 5/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Deep, original and thrilling: one of my favorite films

[CarLIokffgE · 11 October 2023]

Like almost all (horror) films, Snuff 102 requires a minimum of open-mindedness, and above all trying to understand what it is: like what is this work? (this is a clichéd remark, but I insist and I will explain).

In my opinion, snuff 102 is first and foremost an excellent survival movie. We follow characters involved in bizarre events, we see them suffer, look for solutions to escape, communicate, etc. There are some ultra-thrilling scenes and I love survival! Especially when survival appears realistic within the ecosystem of the film.

So: 1st point: a great survival.

Then, Snuff 102 is a very gripping snuff movie, with a careful, glossy atmosphere, AND it is a formally very original film, on the border between reality and fiction.

Mariano Peralta wrote and directed a work that mixes genres: we follow a journalist, the film is like a documentary of her work. There are videos of real violence, real-fake snuff passages created by the director, and flashbacks to the daily lives of the tortured characters. I really try not to spoil anything, so it's not easy to tell the story. The mix is perfect, it really feels like it's a real doc and a real snuff (both at the same time). The structure is therefore quite complex, even if the narration is very refined.

So: 2nd: an extraordinary found-footage.

Finally, there are the directing choices: Mariano Peralta did not want to make a classic torture-porn (a genre that I really like). Above all, he wanted to cover important subjects with his film, to make himself think and make the viewer think. This film is from 2007, and poses very interesting questions about our relationships with image, bodies, violence, private life, etc. Far from being a film that wants to shock or delight in violence (and there are plenty of them that are cool), we are almost faced with a social chronicle approach (which requires fans of splatters to move on, the goal is not to push the limits of gore). It also shows a very critical view of society (and many other things), while letting the viewer form their own opinion about the events (there is no over-commenting on what we are told ; just food for thought). In short, it is this accumulation of elements which makes it so striking, which blurs the boundaries between myth and reality. Snuff 102 is therefore astonishing, glib, sticky, intelligent and the young director has produced a committed film with mature writing. The two main characters are brilliantly written.

I would add that the actors are great (the pregnant woman was actually pregnant: everyone was very involved) and you never feel a lack of budget.

So, 3rd: rich content that will work with you long after, if you accept the journey

Needless to say, I love the ending, perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the film.

Here are my impressions of this remarkable first film. We have excellent entertainment and a great horror film (which offers its share of strong sensations and cold scenes - one of the true extremes movies), which also allows itself to be exciting. I've seen it 3 or 4 times, it's a sure/solide thing!

Snuff-Themed Argentinian 'Shock-Film'...

[EVOL666 · 6/10 · 25 February 2010]

I first heard about SNUFF 102 several years ago-right at the point when I stopped watching a lot of this sort of thing due to a hectic schedule and an overall 'burnout' on these so-called 'extreme-films'. So now I finally got around to it...

I'm not going to bore you with what has already been described more eloquently by other reviewers as far as the content. Suffice to say-it is an Argentinian film that has to due with the subject of snuff-films; shows some pseudo-snuff content; and tries to also give some sort of 'insight' into the snuff-film world...all while the actors/actresses blow a bunch of coke and do a lot of boring sh!t before getting killed...

First and foremost-whether you agree with and/or 'like' the content of this film or not- anyone who groups SNUFF 102 into the 'AUGUST UNDERGROUND/PSYCHO: THE SNUFF REELS/THE BUTCHER realm (or any of the other numerous 'faux-snuff cash- ins...) is a fool. This film-regardless of it's 'style'-does not fall into that sub-genre...even if many out there want it to because they haven't seen enough of this type of material to categorize it otherwise. What SNUFF 102 actually is-is a low-budget 'shock-film' with little substance that takes it's cues from the above-mentioned films, but has enough balls not to duplicate them. And therein lies the problem and the 'positives'. Although I couldn't understand the dialogue-this film is obviously a re-tread of Daisuke Yamanouchi's MUZAN-E, with an art-house twist, a la SLAUGHTERED VOMIT DOLLS...minus the puking. It's equal parts boring and 'graphic'...vile and tedious...pointless and semi- interesting...etc.  I applaud anyone who tackles this sort of subject matter unflinchingly- which the director obviously does (though not nearly as gorily as others would have you believe...)-but why does everyone who does this sort of thing make their films an hour too long??? A word to all you 'shock-artists'...edit your films down and cut to the f!ckin chase already!  I don't care about watching people riding around in cars, or long, drawn- out scenes of your window-sill, or other pointless filler. SNUFF 102 would have been far more effective as a 30-minute 'short'-much like all of this sort of material. Drawing it out to feature-length seems both pointless and pretentious. Bottom line: I'd say that this one is yet another that's essential viewing for 'extreme-horror' fans-but do not buy into the hype that you'll be seeing anything that hasn't been done before, and better, in other films. P.S.-the shoddy editing and frequent use of cut-away shots also help to ruin what could have otherwise been some pretty effective scenes (except for the extended vag- stabbing...that was pretty good...). 6/10

3,7? What the f***???

[Sickcess · 9/10 · 8 August 2013]

OK, first of all, if you get offended by extreme films, then don't f****** watch a movie called Snuff 102 and give it a bad rating because you can't take the content! This is quite a rare movie, so most of you who watched it must have sought it out and that means you must have had some idea what the movie was about.

Second, morals has nothing to do with the quality of a movie or any product of creativity whatsoever! And that is not an opinion. That is a fact! If you think about it, you will hopefully realize why. Being a vegan, I find yhe animal killings repulsive, even though I can sort of understand their purpose, since the whole film is basically about slaughter. And I don't think the animals are killed exclusively for the film. But regardless of the conclusions I draw from moral speculations, I won't let that affect my overall opinion about the quality of the movie, since it has absolutely nothong to do with it.

I would say this movie, together with A Serbian film, is the best extreme horror since Cannibal holocaust.

The movie is about a reporter investigating snuff and interviewing a guy that seams to be some kind of expert on the subject with a background in sociology and analytical psychology. I don't know if I missed something, but I found it unclear why this guy was interviewed.

The imagery is brutal and very well made. Some of the FX looks very real. And one of the scenes actually is real. It is taken from the internet and were shot during the Iraq-war. Even though I find the moral of including this clip questionable, I think it is somewhat defensible, sice it's not Peralta's clip at all, and serves both the purpose of showing the harsh reality and what exists on the internet. But be that as it may, I still would have preferred not seeing that. Still doesn't affect the quality of the film in itself though.

The movie is painful to watch for all the right reasons. It displays several slow scenes of extreme torture and murder together with an awesome industrial soundtrack, which really helps setting the mood. It is not the most brutal film I have seen. The vomit gore trilogy is still way worse. A Serbian film and August Underground's mordum is also worse and I think the uncut version of Cannibal holocaust is as brutal as this one.

And the downsides (apart from some really questionable morals, which still don't have anything to do with the quality)? I could really only think of one: The story in all its simplicity, is a little hard to understand. I guess it is supposed to be in a nightmarish sort of way, but still, if you are going to have a story to go with the violence and the message at all, why not make the small effort to make the parts of it comprehensible? It would only make the movie better. I am thinking of the mentioned "expert" mainly. Why not just tell the viewer why he was interviewed in the first place. I must say though that I was a little drunk when I saw the movie, so I might have missed it. But I was only a little drunk, so I don't think so.

Overall , extreme horror is at its best, I think, when it says something about the times we live in. And this film really succeeds well with this. The man getting interviewed really has interesting things to say about our culture, no matter if you agree with what he is saying. I would say that his analysis is more insightful than what you can get out of most films that has a message. I found his comment about pornography to be especially interesting. With this in mind the brutal imagery works really well when it comes to underlining and hammering in the message.

More plot.

[Movies3000 · 7/10 · 2 October 2021]

I wish it had more plot, because the plot made me interested to see the film in the first place but still a shockingly brutal movie.

Best snuff film out there

[tau-ceti-398-99784 · 9/10 · 16 June 2012]

I love this movie. It's very atmospheric and brutal. I really like the scene where the non male person get's its unborn baby kicked to death while laying on the floor. Its teeth are rammed out with a crow bar right after the baby dies. It gets stabbed in the eye. Fingers are being cut of. After that it gets a plastic bag over its head and chokes to death. The main character of the movie then rapes the victim (with the plastic bag still over its head). After sexually abusing the corpse, the man gets up and urinates all over the mutilated, abused, raped and tortured victim which is actually laying in a puddle of urine, blood and amniotic fluid.

This is as hard as it gets.

The only downside on this movie is that there isn't an even more brutal, sadistic part 2 .....