Editing Snuff film (section)

===''Snuff'' controversy (1976)===
{{main article|Snuff (film)}}
The idea of movies showing actual murders for profit became more widely known in 1976 with the release of the [[exploitation film]] ''Snuff''.<ref name="csicop.org">{{cite news |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/snuff_film_the_making_of_an_urban_legend/ |author=Scott Aaron Stine |title=The Snuff Film: The Making of an Urban Legend |work=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=23 |date=1999 |issue=3 |access-date=December 13, 2010 |archive-date=September 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925180514/https://www.csicop.org/si/show/snuff_film_the_making_of_an_urban_legend |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2p7i4oL6Dk | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100814214951/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2p7i4oL6Dk| archive-date=2010-08-14 | url-status=dead|title=Do snuff movies exist? |series=Documentary, part 1 |publisher=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Cook, David A. |title=Lost Illusions: American Cinema in The Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam |page=233 |publisher=University of California Press |date=2000 |isbn= 0-520-23265-8}}</ref> This low-budget [[horror film]], loosely based on the [[Tate–LaBianca murders|Manson murders]] and originally titled ''Slaughter'', was shot in [[Argentina]] by [[Michael Findlay (filmmaker)|Michael]] and [[Roberta Findlay]]. The film's distribution rights were bought by Allan Shackleton, who eventually found the picture unfit for release and shelved it. Several years later, Shackleton read about snuff films being imported from South America and decided to cash in on the rumor as an attempt to recoup his investment in ''Slaughter''.<ref name="csicop.org"/><ref name="Cashing"/><ref name="Press">{{cite news |url=http://www.nypress.com/article-11831-the-curse-of-her-filmography.html |title=The Curse of Her Filmography: Roberta Findlay's grindhouse legacy |work=New York Press |date=July 27, 2005 |access-date=February 11, 2010 |archive-date=17 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100517115336/http://www.nypress.com/article-11831-the-curse-of-her-filmography.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Shackleton retitled ''Slaughter'' to ''Snuff'' and released it with a new ending that purported to depict an actual murder committed on a film set.<ref name="Cashing"/> ''Snuff'''s promotional material suggested, without stating outright, that the film featured the real murder of a woman, which amounted to [[false advertising]].<ref name="poison">{{cite news|last1=Eder|first1=Richard|authorlink1=Richard Eder|title='Snuff' Is Pure Poison|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/07/archives/snuff-is-pure-poison-poison-snuff.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 7, 1976|page=13}}</ref><ref name=Leonard>{{cite news|last1=Leonard|first1=John|authorlink1=John Leonard (critic)|title=Commentary: Cretin's Delight on Film|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/02/27/archives/commentary-cretins-delight-on-film.html|work=The New York Times|date=February 27, 1976|page=21}}</ref> The film's slogan read: "The film that could only be made in South America... where life is CHEAP".<ref>{{cite book |author=Hawkins, Joan |title=Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and The Horrific Avant-Garde |page=136 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |date=2000 |isbn=0-8166-3413-0}}
</ref> Shackleton put out false newspaper clippings that reported a citizens group's crusading against the film,<ref name="csicop.org" /> and hired people to act as protesters to picket screenings.<ref name="csicop.org"/>

Shackleton's efforts succeeded in generating a [[media frenzy]] about the film: real [[Feminism|feminist]] and citizens groups eventually started protesting the movie and picketing theaters.<ref name=Leonard/><ref>David A. Cook, ''Lost Illusions: American Cinema in The Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam'', page 233 (University of California Press, Ltd., 2000). {{ISBN|0-520-23265-8}}</ref><ref name=varrev>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=February 25, 1976|title=Film Reviews: Snuff|last=Jac.}}</ref> As a result, New York District Attorney [[Robert M. Morgenthau]] investigated the picture, establishing that it was a [[hoax]].<ref name="The New York Times">{{cite news|title=Morgenthau Finds Film Dismembering Was Indeed a Hoax|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/10/archives/morgenthau-finds-film-dismembering-was-indeed-a-hoax.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=10 March 1976|page=41}}</ref><ref>Charles Lyons, ''The New Censors: Movies and the Culture Wars'', Temple University Press, 1997, pages 64-70</ref> The controversy nevertheless made the film financially profitable.<ref name="csicop.org"/><ref>{{cite episode|title=Does Snuff Exist?|series=The Dark Side of Porn|series-link=The Dark Side of Porn|network=[[Channel 4]]|date=April 18, 2006|season=2|time=6:27}}</ref>