Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Unless you're looking for a cinematic equivalent of a disposable airport paperback then please avoid this cheap cliché ridden excuse for a film. Think of all the usual archetypes you'd expect to find in a straight to video American thriller and you have the ingredients for 8mm. A dead girl, a grief-stricken lonely mother, a stressed out workaholic PI who's neglecting his worrying wife, some bad men with facial hair who swear a lot and make seedy porn films (they don't have houses in the country, wives and babies like our licensed firearm carrying hero). You can guess the rest.If you're looking for any kind of intelligent film-making, you will be insulted by Schumacher's offering here.

I give this movie 10/10 because I think this movie has a real story to it, it feels all too real and it makes you sick while watching it. I can't say I would recommend this movie to anyone to see, but it is a movie people should see not because it's such a great movie, well it is, but because it's about real people and a story that could happen. I do how ever hope that people never do anything like this because I want to believe in peoples goodness. The acting is great if not even awesome, the story is "too real" and I can see the Joel Schumacher in this film as well as others, he is one of my favorite filmmakers through the time because of movies like this one. Even if I do not want to recommend this movie it is one of the best movies I ever saw.

Greetings from Lithuania."8MM" (1999) is a great thriller. Nicolas Cage stars as a private investigator, hired by an old wealthy woman, who has to find out if the "snuff film" found in her late husbands safe is real.This is a real movie, which feels real, with consequences. It takes you to the dark and dirty side of human nature, and is very gripping. This is a not an action flick or a one man army kinda thriller - this one will leave you haunted. This is one of the very best films from Joel Schumacher, and has a great cast then almost unknowns Joaquin Phoenix as well as James Gandolfini - great job all all involved.Overall, "8MM" is a disturbing thriller. This is a dark tale, which takes it's hero as well as viewer on the edge.

Joel Schumacher's 8MM is a stomach churning ride to the dark, depraved side of humanity, and at times is so unnerving and bleak it can be overbearing at times. Its also captivating in its ugliness though. Humans have always had a fascination with dark, intense aspects of our world, and this film knows that good and well, showing you some truly nasty things but leaving the choice to see it through to its conclusion fully up to you. Shumacher, although a diverse guy, isn't known for venturing very far into the scum bucket (even his Batman films were kid friendly garish gumball machines), but there's a first for everything, and he should be proud of the finished product here. Nicolas Cage plays a small time private investigator with a wife (Catherine Keener) and small child. He's summoned by the lawyer (Anthony Heald, eternally smarmy) of an ailing widow. She has found a mysterious 8mm videotape among her deceased husband's possessions. On the tape is what appears to be a harrowing, graphic snuff film in which a young girl is murdered by masked men. She hires him to originate it and confirm its authenticity, launching one of the grimiest, nauseating investigations since Fincher's Sev7n. He's led to porn shops, underground sex dungeons, kinky night clubs and brushes shoulders with all sorts of weirdos and unsavory cretins. The only help he gets is from sex store clerk Max California (Joaquin Phoenix in a very well written role). He comes across the ultimate speazeball porn producer Eddie Pool (James Gandolfini will make you want to rip his throat out and urinate down it), mysterious debonair Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare letting his freak flag fly), and their masked enforcer known only as 'animal'. There's also a cameo from a young Norman Reedus too. It's quite the rabbit hole of deplorable human behaviour he falls down, and soon we see the edges of his soul begin to fray from what he's seen. Cage, when he's not campy, is quite good at showing someone who's mental state begins to tatter based on their experiences, and he goes for it here, making us nervous if he's gone too far to ever return to his family with his soul and sanity in one piece. It's quite the movie, and like I said there's parts of sheer nastiness (I can't watch the scenes with the snuff tape these days I get panic episodes from it), but if you're willing to pay the mental toll to see an unflinching, and very well made thriller with a neat cast, go for it.