The prolific German horror/gore underground emerges in all its interesting blasphemy with a repulsive collection of snuff shorts entitled El Gore's Snuff Tape Anthology, an extension of the original trilogy (The Snuff Tape Trilogy produced by Grindhouse Family Filmworks and released by Black Lava in 200 copies) directed by the same effects artist and director El Gore between 2011 and 2014 and including the segments "Snuff Tape 0: Black and Dead," "Snuff Tape 1 - Red," "Snuff Tape 2 - Red & Yellow," and "Snuff Tape 3 - Dead, Red & Brown."
At the new edition of Black Lava Entertainment (currently on pre-order and available from April 20) i.e. the El Gore's Snuff Tape Anthology, as many as five more direct segments were added between 2014 and 2015. These are "Snuff Tape 4 - Dead Baby Fast Food," "Snuff Tape 5 - Final Orgasm Extreme Suicide," "Snuff Tape 6 - Organ Trade Autopsy," "Snuff Tape 7 - Gore Abortion," and "The Lost Snuff Tape - Dead Body Rape," segments that complete German director El Gore's perverse cinematic vision.
The prestigious Digipack-Slipcase Edition of the aforementioned anthology features a distinctly 1980s look, starting with the hardback case representing an old, blood-stained VHS and ending with the menu consisting of the interactive image of a dozen recorded videotapes, on whose labels is written (strictly by hand) the title of each short film. In addition, each selection in the menu is accompanied by the typical VHS sounds that are precisely reminiscent of those of old videotape players. Once the desired content is selected from the interactive menu, the typical VHS sound is played as it is inserted into the device's cart.
Each short then presents, thanks to special filters, the typical defects of worn VHS, such as interruptions and low fidelity. An inevitable as well as pleasant leap into the past for those nostalgic for old film technologies.
We move on to analyze the short films of the El Gore's Snuff Tape Anthology, an anthology that will delight fans of the genre. Indeed, heinousness, obscene acts and depravity abound in each episode. Thus there is no shortage of decapitations, cannibalism, emasculations, amputations, eviscerations, quartering, vomiting and many paraphilias including coprophilia, coprophagia, urophilia (pissing) and necrophilia. It is a string of cruel shorts that darken the spirit and, whether valid or not, manage to convey that unpleasant sense of filthiness to the viewer.
Below are all the shorts accompanied by their debaucheries:
"Snuff Tape 0 - Black & Died"
In the first episode, a man pulls a dead fetus out of the garbage bucket. He cuts it into pieces and feeds on it. All this after practicing autoeroticism.
Despite the fact that the fetus is visibly a doll, the short manages to disgust, thanks to an image made dirty by dull colors and somber music.
"Snuff Tape 1 - Red"
A man bound and gagged is tortured for hours inside a bathtub. His tormentor enjoys amputating parts of his body using razor blades and pliers.
Successful special effects culminating in the depiction of a perfect decapitation. Six minutes of horror in an impressive segment.
"Snuff Tape 2 - Red & Yellow"
A woman (Isabelle Fitzgerald) with black hair and in lingerie rages on a corpse. The girl enjoys stabbing him and slashing his chest and abdomen.
Lots of blood in this episode but also evisceration and pissing. With the (intentionally poor) picture quality, an attempt is made to hide the flaws related mainly to the quartering and in particular, those attached to the sloppily made rib cage.
"Snuff Tape 3 - Dead, Red & Brown"
A woman's corpse is subjected to a series of mistreatments. Her private parts, in particular, will be raped in a variety of ways.
Powerful short film, which differs from the others in its heinousness and more carefully crafted special effects. The segment can be distinguished into two parts: the one with the lifeless body of a woman, covered by a sheet and which, for that very reason shows little to those who would like to see more; and the one with the rotting corpse prominently displayed in the bathtub. Thanks to effective special effects, the funereal air of this segment, which seems to exhale the stench of putrefaction, is well perceptible.
Lots of madness and rot in this segment in which, among other things, a chainsaw is also used. Impressive are the uses to which a tampax is put.
"Snuff Tape 4 - Dead Baby Fast Food."
An infant is hammered to death by a cannibalistic psychopath.
The infant is actually a baby doll, and the director does not hide the evidence. Such a choice and the fact that the doll cries, bleeds and dies could be translated as the insane vision of a pervert. A sick person who sees, in an inanimate being, a tender morsel traceable in this case to a newborn child. Episode appreciable therefore only from this point of view (the artistic one).
"Snuff Tape 5 - Final Orgasm Extreme Suicide."
A man practices autoeroticism and then self-evicts and kills himself on camera.
Segment with strong and very striking images that enjoys good special effects again by El Gore. Here, too, logic must be estranged to leave room for purely artistic and conceptual points of view.
"Snuff Tape 6 - Organ Trade Autopsy."
An organ dealer has himself filmed performing a kind of autopsy in his bathroom. The footage will then be recommended to his clients.
It is one of the weakest segments, the least strong and the least engaging. The autopsy performed on a corpse covered by a sheet is unacceptable. This choice to keep the body covered seems to want to hide shortcomings in the field of special effects. However, there is no shortage of gutting and giblets for those hungry for gore.
"Snuff Tape 7 - Gore Abortion."
A pregnant girl (Isabelle Fitzgerald) is beaten, humiliated and tortured. Silent and exhausted, she will be conscious the moment she loses the baby.
"Snuff Tape 7 - Gore Abortion" is one of the best films in the anthology, so much so that it deserves its DVD cover depicting precisely an image from this segment. The extras also feature a "clean" (unfiltered) version of the aforementioned short. Very realistic and certainly more mature than the other episodes. It touches on reality and thus true snuff.
In the film, the actress was also in charge of make-up.
"The Lost Snuff Tape - Dead Body Rape."
A necrophiliac toys with a corpse and then has sexual intercourse with it.
The final short film in this disturbing anthology is dedicated to one of the most monstrous paraphilias: necrophilia. Dark and silent, it is the perfect painting of an unacceptable sexual perversion. This short, too, remains imprinted not only because of the putrefied corpse (discreetly realized) but because of the bleak situation into which the viewer is transported.
The "body" appears to be that of "Snuff Tape 3 - Dead, Red & Brown."
EXTRA:
Very rich the Extra compartment in which there are also some goodies that enrich even more a truly appreciable anthology, even and especially for collectors.
- Music video by the Anal Fistfuckers for the episode "Dead, Red & Brown."
- Making of - Snuff Tape 1-3;
- Making of - Snuff Tape 7;
- Photo gallery;
- Music video by Kadaverficker - High Bodycount mit Scheppersound;
- Snuff Tape 7 - Gore Abortion (original version without filters);
- Snuff Tape Trailer 2;
- Snuff Tape Trailer 3;
- Snuff Tape Trailer 7;
- Snuff Tape Trilogy Trailer
- Trailer The Final Snuff Tapes VHS
CD SOUNDTRACK:
Presents excerpts in random order with respect to the chronology of the chapters within the anthology. Also missing are some tracks featured in the film. A total of 21 pieces, many of them by German grinders Anal Fistfuckers, to which are added compositions by Kadaverficker and Deathtopia.
We start immediately with a very dark Gegen Frauen (Snuff Tape 3) by Anal Fistfuckers, taken from their first album Kot für die Welt, whose sound is branded by the authors themselves as Scat Grind Low Budget. The first track above is far from their typical sounds and in fact stands as one of the darkest and most disturbing of the whole lot, far removed from the sonic violence mentioned later.
The tracklist, after a disorienting intro, immediately takes us to the true nature of Anal Fisfuckers but not only, giving us no less than 13 consecutive pieces that are the musical carpet of Snuff Tape 3. In this odyssey of violence and brutality, breaking the fury of Anal Fistfuckers are two pieces by the Teutonic Kadaverficker who, presenting themselves as a Nekrokore band, are actually a mixture of subgenres.
Track 9 comes across mainly as a very dark Crust punk, relatable in some ways to that of the mutated Darkthrone, for instance. Too bad the track is really short, so much so that there is no time to warm up under the rhythm driven by a snare drum in great shape. Track 14, on the other hand, again by the same band, fits well into the logical thread carried throughout the record by Anal Fisfuckers and the extreme death metal made of alternating vocals on pig squeal and grount, typical of the grindcore of which they are proponents.
In contrast, the tracks starting from number 16 and ending with number 21 are the music tracks used in episodes 5, 6, 7, and 0 of Snuff Tape Anthology. These are songs available under the extreme music label Splatter Zombie Records. Also among these tracks reigns the grind of the Anal Fistfuckers except for track number 19 by the Japanese Deathtopia, a Gore group that here comes up with a track in which the sustained but not excessive rhythm still supports grunts but this time over raw guitars, for a picture once again closer to punk than grind.
The following Scat Porn Maniacs by Anal Fistfuckers is the title track of the Germans' album of the same name. The track, featured on Snuff Tape 7 - Gore Abortion, is definitely the highlight of the entire record thanks to a Death Metal shot at lightning speed in which there is room not only for the more classic growl, but also for visionary guitar solos and rhythmic rushes. Perhaps the most palatable track for a diverse metal audience.
Closing the collection is Whiskey Suicide, which, featured in Snuff Tape 0, makes varied vocalisms the strong point in a context certainly in line with what is heard throughout the collection.
