8MM(1999)
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE)- RRated R for strong perverse sexuality and violence, and for strong language
- 2h 3m
Feb 26, 1999
A private investigator is hired to discover if a "snuff film" is authentic or not.
Release Details
Original Release | Feb 26, 1999 | Wide
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2026-10-25T14:23:11.492Z
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Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital,SDDS
Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: Germany, United States
Language: English
Summaries
Plot Summary
- Tom Welles (Nicholas Cage), who lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is a private investigator who mostly investigates allegations of affairs for high-profile people, because those kinds of cases bring in a lot of money for him to use to support his wife Amy (Catherine Keener) and their newborn daughter Cindy. What Tom doesn't yet know is that he will be getting a case that will take him into a kind of underworld that he never thought he would ever have any reason to be in -- not even in an investigation.One day, while Tom is in his yard raking leaves, Tom gets a call from a powerful attorney named Daniel Longdale (Anthony Heald), who wants Tom to come to the home of Longdale's richest client. Tom goes to a three-story mansion, and meets Longdale in person. Longdale's client -- The mansion's resident -- is elderly widow Mrs. Christian (Myra Carter), whose wealthy husband, Mr. Christian (William Buck), has recently passed away. Longdale is one of the executors of the estate.Longdale and Mrs. Christian take Tom to Mr. Christian's private office, and they tell Tom what they found in the office's safe. Longdale and Mrs. Christian found cash, stock certificates, and nothing out of the ordinary -- except for a reel of 8MM film. Mrs. Christian says it's a film where a teenage girl appears to be murdered. It starts out looking like a porn movie, but it quickly turns violent. Tom tells Longdale and Mrs. Christian that it's a kind of film called a snuff film. Tom watches the film, and it shows a masked man using a large knife to kill a scantily clad girl who looks like she's about 16-years-old. After watching the film, Tom, horrified by the film, learns that Longdale and Mrs. Christian don't want the police involved, because they want to protect Mr. Christian's reputation. Mrs. Christian wants to know who made the film, and she wants to know if the girl's murder was real or not. Tom agrees to take the case. Tom tells Mrs. Christian that the film is all he's got to start the investigation with, and that he'll have to treat it like a missing persons case in order to get any information on the girl.On the next day, Tom takes a flight to Cleveland, Ohio, and goes to the U. S. Resource Center to try to identify the girl. After getting nothing, Tom spends the night in a nearby hotel. On the next day, Tom heads back to the center, and goes through missing persons pictures on one of the computers in the center, and he gets nothing. Tom calls Mrs. Christian after he checks the film stock that was used to make the film. It's called Supralux 544. What Tom has discovered is that the company that made that film stock discontinued it in 1992, so the time that the film of the girl might not have been made any later than 1992. On a hunch, Tom tells Mrs. Christian to check Mr. Christian's financial files from about 6 or 7 years ago. On the next day, Tom goes back to the center, and goes through a file cabinet full of missing persons files. Tom finally finds the match he's looking for -- the girl in the film is Mary Anne Matthews (Jenny Powell) of Fayetteville, North Carolina, who disappeared in 1993.On the next day, Tom takes a flight to North Carolina, and goes to the home of Mary Anne's mother, Janet Matthews (Amy Morton), in Fayetteville, but Janet is not home. Tom goes to the place where Janet works, and after Tom introduces himself and talks to Janet, she agrees to meet with Tom at her home later. After work, Janet goes home and talks to Tom, and Janet explains some things -- Janet and Mary Anne had always argued about Mary Anne's stepfather, Dave. Mary Anne hated Dave, because he wasn't her biological father -- that, and the fact that Dave acted like a jerk who thought he could discipline Mary Anne as though he was her biological father.Janet and Dave divorced in 1995, two years after Mary Anne disappeared. Mary Anne was 16 years old when she disappeared in 1993. Janet believes that Dave is one of the reasons why Mary Anne left. Mary Anne did have a boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, but she never did tell Janet and Dave who the guy was. Janet also blames herself for Mary Anne's disappearance, because the last time Janet and Mary Anne argued about Dave, Janet got so angry that she slapped Mary Anne. On the next day, Mary Anne left. Tom asks Janet if she wants to know the truth, even if it is a horrible one. She tells Tom that she wants to know what happened Nary Anne.Janet gives Tom permission to search Mary Anne's bedroom, and that section of the house. Tom finds Mary Anne's diary, which has a note to Janet in it, which was written 6 years ago. In the note, Mary Anne tells Janet that the slapping incident is not why she left. Dave is the reason why Mary Anne left -- she didn't want to have to deal with Dave anymore. The note explains that Mary Anne hid the diary so Dave wouldn't be able to find it and read it. The note also says that Mary Anne and Warren Anderson (Norman Reedus), the boyfriend that Mary Anne never introduced to Janet and Dave, are in love and on their way to Hollywood, California.On the next day, Tom talks to Warren's father, Mr. Anderson (Don Creech), who runs an auto repair shop in Fayetteville. Mr. Anderson tells Tom that Warren is now in the Fayetteville prison, serving an 8 month sentence for breaking and entering. Tom visits Warren, who admits that he knew Mary Anne, and that they did go to California, but he dumped Mary Anne before he moved to Los Angeles. Warren says that was the last time he ever heard from her. Tom leaves, and calls Janet. That night, Tom goes to Janet's house, and Janet tells Tom that she has to know if anything has happened to Mary Anne. Tom promises Janet that he'll let her know as soon as he has any information about Mary Anne.On the next day, Tom takes a flight to Los Angeles, and goes into Hollywood. Tom starts asking around, looking for Mary Anne, but he gets nothing. Tom spends the night in a hotel. On the next day, Tom goes to an adult book store in a rough part of town, and buys $74.58 worth of books to see if Mary Anne is pictured in any of them. As Tom is giving the money to the cashier, Max California (Joaquin Phoenix), Tom notices that the store sells the kind of masks worn by the man who was in the film of Mary Anne.That night, Tom goes through the books, and finds nothing. Tom talks to Amy on his cell phone. After Tom and Amy hang up, Tom watches the film of Mary Anne again, to see if he can find anymore clues that might help his investigation. This time, Tom notices a man in the background on the film, and the man in the background is watching the masked man. The problem is that Tom can't see their faces, but he can see Mary Anne's face pretty clearly.On the next day, Tom calls Mrs. Christian, and updates her on the case. After the call, Tom goes back to the adult store, and hires Max to help him infiltrate the underground illegal porn scene, which is a lot different than the more mainstream, legal porn scene. Max, who is kind of an expert on the scene, starts by taking Tom to a house where a group of Hispanic men sell adult books and movies. Max knows how to speak Spanish, and when Tom gets Max to ask about snuff films, one of the men who runs the place pushes Max, and starts slapping him. When Tom gets involved in the fight, the man who slapped Max pulls out a gun. The man takes money from Tom and Max, and kicks them both out.Tom and Max go to a different place, where they find some snuff films, and buy them in hopes of identifying the masked man. One of the films shows a Filipino man using a sword to kill a woman, but the murder in that film turns out to be fake, as are the others that they found at the place. On the next day, Tom goes to the Fred Jordan mission, where he introduces himself, and asks if anyone remembers seeing Mary Anne. One of the nuns remembers Mary Anne, and she tells Tom that Mary Anne lived in the mission for only a month, and then left. The nun gives Tom the suitcase that Mary Anne brought to California with her. Tom goes to his hotel room, and goes through what's in the suitcase, hoping to find something that'll help him figure out Mary's fate.In the suitcase, Tom finds a piece of paper that leads him to Celebrity Films, an adult movie company run by Eddie Poole (James Gandolfini). Tom goes to Celebrity Films, and Poole doesn't give him any information. Tom goes across the street from Celebrity Films, and sets up surveillance equipment in a building that he can see Poole's office window from. Tom also sets up a wiretap on Poole's phone, and spends the next few hours watching Poole. Tom even follows Poole that night. Tom sees Poole and another guy walking to a house after Poole stops his car, so Tom gets out of the car he's driving, and tails them. A man sees Tom, and runs after him. Tom knocks the man into a drained swimming pool, and then Tom leaves. On the next day, Tom goes back to the building across the street from Poole's office. Poole places a call, and Tom uses his surveillance equipment to learn that Poole is calling a man named Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare).Tom later talks to Max, who tells him that Dino is an adult film maker who is based in Manhattan, in New York City. On the next day, Tom takes Max with him on a flight to New York City. They check into a fleabag hotel. Tom tells Max to get any Dino Velvet movies he can find, and then Tom goes out to try to find some information. Tom talks to Mrs. Christian on a payphone, and she tells Tom that Mr. Christian had five cash accounts between November of 1992 and March of 1993, and he wrote one check out to cash from these accounts, one check from each account. Mrs. Christian also tells Tom that Mr. Christian never dealt with money personally, certainly not cash. Mrs. Christian tells Tom that the 5 checks were written for odd amounts of money, and when the 5 checks were totaled together, they totaled $1,000,000.That night, at the hotel, Max brings back some Dino Velvet movies he found, and one of them shows the masked man who was in the film of Mary Anne, and the man is wearing his mask in this film. That's why Tom still can't see the man's face. Tom sees a star tattoo on the man's hand, and he asks Max who the man is. Max tells Tom that the masked man is known as Machine (Chris Bauer), and that Dino, who makes violent movies, regularly uses Machine in his movies.On the next day, as a way to investigate Dino and Machine, Tom and Max go to Dino's office, and they tell Dino that they would like to commission a film. After Dino agrees on a $10,000 budget for the movie, Tom has a couple of stipulations for the film -- he wants to watch the filming, and he wants Machine to be in the movie. With those stipulations, Dino raises the movie's budget to $20,000. Dino tells Tom to call him after 10:00 PM. After they leave, Tom gives Max some money and an airplane ticket. For safety reasons, Tom tells Max to take a flight back to Los Angeles, because he doesn't want anything to happen to Max.On the next day, Tom heads to the warehouse where Dino is scheduled to make the film. Tom is greeted by Dino, who is holding a crossbow. Dino leads Tom into a room where Machine is, and there is a bed in the room. There is also a target with a cross on it in the room. Machine steps behind Tom, and Dino aims the crossbow at Tom. Dino forces Tom to get out his gun, unload it, and put it on a table -- and then Poole walks in. Poole told Dino that Tom was in Hollywood a few days ago, asking questions. Poole handcuffs Tom to the bed, and then hits Tom -- and Tom is shocked when Longdale walks in. Dino wants Tom to get the film of Mary Anne, and bring it to him. Machine brings Max into the room, and Tom notices that Max has been beaten. Max is pinned to the target with crossbow bolts, and Dino threatens to kill Max if Tom doesn't bring the film to him. Dino even threatens to find Amy and Cindy, and kill them too.Tom agrees to get the film. Tom is uncuffed, and Longdale escorts Tom outside to the rented car that Tom said the movie is in. Outside, Tom learns from Longdale that Mr. Christian had asked Longdale to procure a snuff film, but Longdale couldn't find one, so he paid Dino to make one. What happened in the film was not fake -- Dino filmed Machine killing Mary Anne. Longdale admits that he told Dino that Tom might come looking for them. Longdale forces Tom to get the movie out of the car, and then Longdale takes Tom back inside, to the room where Dino, Poole, Machine, and Max are. Tom is horrified when Machine kills Max by cutting his throat.Tom lunges at Machine, but Tom gets beat up by Poole, and Tom is cuffed to the bed again. Dino burns the film. Tom tells Dino and Poole that Mr. Christian gave Longdale $1,000,000 to get Dino to make the movie, and Longdale kept most of that money for himself. Dino realizes that Longdale screwed him out of a lot money. Longdale pulls a gun on Dino, telling Dino and Poole to drop their weapons. Dino suddenly fires a crossbow bolt into Longdale's chest, and then Longdale shoots Dino in the neck. Longdale passes away from his wound his wound. Dino stumbles around for a few seconds, with his neck bleeding, and then Dino slumps to the ground, and passes away from his wound.Tom, who is still cuffed to the bed, manages to reach the table that has his gun and Machine's weapons on it. Poole hears Tom knock the table over, and he runs toward Tom. Tom knocks Poole down, and when Machine approaches Tom, Tom uses one of the weapons to stab Machine in the abdomen. Poole goes for the gun that Longdale made him drop. Tom reaches his own gun, and loads it. Tom uses the gun to free himself from the bed, and Poole chases Tom out of the warehouse. When Tom gets in his rented car, and starts driving, Poole fires some shots at Tom, but the shots miss Tom. While in the car, Tom gets out his cell phone, and calls Amy. Tom frantically tells Amy to get Cindy, and go to the cottage where they spent the 4th of July. A terrified Amy agrees to do it.Tom calls Mrs. Christian, and tells her that Longdale is dead, and that Mr. Christian gave Longdale the 5 checks that totaled $1,000,000 so Longdale could get Dino to make the movie that had Mary Anne in it. Tom also tells Mrs. Christian that Longdale kept most of the money for himself. Tom tells Mrs. Christian that Mary Anne's murder in the movie was real. Mrs. Christian agrees to talk to Tom at 8:00 PM. Tom goes to the cottage, and talks to Amy, then he goes to Mrs. Christian's house. Mrs. Christian's butler (Jack Betts) answers the door, and tells Tom that Mrs. Christian has committed suicide. The butler hands two envelopes to Tom -- one for Tom, and one for Janet. In Tom's envelope is the rest of his payment, and a note, reading "Try to forget us." Tom wants to make Poole and Machine pay for their roles in Mary Anne's murder.On the next day, Tom takes a flight to Los Angeles, and drives a rented car into Hollywood. Tom heads to Poole's home, and forces Poole to tell him that Machine lives in New York, and then Tom forces Poole to take him to the abandoned house where Mary Anne's film was made. Tom forces Poole inside the house, and Poole admits that when Mary Anne came to his agency, Celebrity Films, he talked her up, and told her everything she wanted to hear, and then Poole talked to Dino, who flew out to California with Machine, and they made the movie.Poole also admits that when Mary Anne came into the house and saw Machine, she started crying, so Poole slapped her around to make her stop, and then Machine made her take some pills. After that, the film was made. Mary Anne has been dead for 6 years, since 1993, which means she was about 16-years-old when the film was made, because she was 16-years-old when she disappeared in 1993. Tom hits, Poole and realizes that Poole was the man who was in the background on the film. Poole participated in the making of the film, because he was getting money for handing Mary Anne to Dino. After the murder, Poole buried Mary Anne in the woods.Tom ties Poole up, and goes to the car, where he calls Janet. Tom tells Janet that Mary Anne was killed, and buried in the woods. Janet, utterly devastated, breaks down, weeping uncontrollably. Tom tells Janet that he can hurt the men who killed Mary Anne. Janet tells him to do it. Tom and a sobbing Janet hang up. Tom goes back inside the house to where he left Poole tied up. Tom pulls out his gun, and in a rage, he kills Poole by repeatedly hitting Poole on the head with it. Afterwards, Tom sets the abandoned house on fire, burning Poole's body, and the pornography that Tom bought as part of his investigation.On the next day, Tom takes a flight to New York, where he discovers that the Queens County Hospital emergency room treated Machine's stab wound. The Queens County Hospital tells Tom what Machine's actual name is -- George Anthony Higgins. Queens County hospital also gives Tom the address of George's mother, Doris Veronica Higgins (Doris Brent). Tom goes to Doris's house, and finds that she's home. That night, Tom sneaks inside Doris's house, which is located by a cemetery. Inside the house, George, who has a knife, jumps Tom, and they fight.Tom and George fall through a window on the second floor of the house, and after they land on the ground below, the fight moves to the cemetery. Tom pulls out his gun, but it goes flying out of his hand. George pins Tom down, and Tom stabs George. Tom grabs his gun, and forces George to take off his mask. George turns out to be a balding man who wears glasses. George says, "What did you expect? A monster?" George goes on to tell Tom that he has no ulterior motive for his sadistic actions; he does them simply because he enjoys it. George quickly grabs his knife, and throws it into Tom's abdomen. George lunges at Tom, as Tom pulls the knife out of his abdomen, and as George lands on top of Tom, Tom stabs George one more time, killing George.Tom drives himself to a hospital, where his wounds are treated. Later, Tom drives home to Amy and Cindy. Tom, having been traumatized from being in such a dark place during the investigation, breaks down, weeping, in Amy's arms. A few days later, Tom checks his mailbox, and finds a letter from Janet. In the letter, Janet tells Tom that she's glad that Mary Ann's killers are dead. Janet's letter also says that she's grateful to Tom for everything he has done for her and Mary Anne. Janet also believes that she and Tom were the only ones who cared about Mary Ann anymore.
Storyline
- A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, Welles relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town private eye. — Columbia Pictures Tom Welles, private eye, is hired by a wealthy widow, whose well-known husband passed away recently. She has found a reel of S8-film in a safe. On the film is a cruel slaughtering of a young girl, who obviously does not pretend or act: A snuff-movie. Welles takes up investigation, which leads him to the girl's mother and from there to Hollywood, into the office of a porn flick producer. Welles' rising obsession to solve the case also carries him away from his wife and new-born daughter. But when finally names are at hand, Welles suddenly finds himself on ice much thinner than he planned. — Julian Reischl
