8mm (1998)

Starring: -Nicolas Cage as Tom Welles
-Joaquin Phoenix as Max California
-James Gandolfini as Eddie Poole
-Peter Stormare as Dino Velvet
-Anthony Heald as Daniel Longdale
-Chris Bauer as George Anthony Higgins a.k.a. Machine
-Catherine Keener as Amy Welles
-Norman Reedus as Warren Anderson
-Myra Carter as Mrs. Christian
-Amy Morton as Janet Mathews

Being a fan of horror, I've seen my share of disturbing films over the years. While I can stomach the gorier titles out there, there are some that I refuse to watch again because they are too unsettling and make me feel dirty. The best example of The Girl Next Door, based on the novel by Jack Ketchum which itself is loosely based on real events. There's movies like Saw where the torture is so obviously fake and there's movies like that one in which it feels too real, almost like an assault to the viewer.

8mm isn't particularly graphic. There is some blood and nudity, but most of the world of graphic sex, hardcore bondage porn and the mythical "snuff film" is implied or described. However, most of the best horror films take on the adage of "less is more" and while 8mm isn't a horror film, it uses this adage to make itself very horrific. You don't really see the knife penetrate the young victim's flesh, it's all a blur. But in hearing how she died and watching Nicolas Cage's reaction to the footage, you can feel it. This is a movie that gets under your skin and stays there.

It's kind of amazing that Joel Schumacher was selected to direct something so dark in the wake of his Batman & Robin debacle. This could be considered his last good film after "Bat-Nipplegate", depending on how you feel about Phone Booth. As for Nicolas Cage, his work has varied over the years and it's impossible to tell which version of the actor you're going to get for any particular film. Sometimes he can be maniacal and over-the-top, or sometimes he can be a compelling actor. Lately he's been dull to watch in movies like Season of the Witch and Trespass (another Schumacher film).

Cage is very good in this film. He needs to be, because without the graphic details being shown we need someone with good screen presence to relay just how awful all of these events are. There are three great moments of acting from Cage within this movie. The first is the previously mentioned scene in which he first views the snuff film and is obviously shaken by it. The second is towards the end when he just breaks down crying after his ordeal. The third, and my personal favorite, is a throwaway moment in an underground porn ring, where he touches some particularly nasty photos and subtly wipes his hands afterward, as if the very touch of this material is enough to give him a disease.

The rest of the main cast make up scumbags of varying degrees. James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare and Chris Bauer are all good here, if not likable in the slightest. Their motives for creating such filth are simple, to the point and even more disturbing than perhaps the events themselves. They did it because they can and because they wanted to. The lack of any moral code mirrors people that probably do exist, and that's why this movie works.

I'm not sure I can say I liked 8mm. It was a good movie in every way it should be. Cage is brilliant here, Schumacher's direction is better than I expected and the story, macabre as it is, is well-told. But I don't think I'll be watching it again. Movies are meant to be a form of escapism, and having a light turned onto the dirty underworld that unquestionably exists is a little too real for me. I'd still recommend it for anyone that wants a good Cage performance. Just expect to have the desire to take a shower after.

Score: 8.0