8mm (1999)

This is without doubt one of Nicolas Cage's better performances, and some would argue that there's precious few of those around, although credit was deserved for his display in the Oscar winning Leaving Las Vegas (1995).

Critics have piled on to Joel Schumacher's 8mm, describing it as nasty, smug, as well as a film that has no brains.

Respectfully I have to disagree with these views; this was Schumacher's first since the critical disaster that was Batman & Robin (1997), and although his Bat-outing isn't close to being the utter shocker it's been cemented as, 8mm is certainly a far better film.

Cage's private detective Tom risks his marriage to take on what might be a case of missing person, but his primary objective, given to him by wealthy widow Mrs Christian, is to find out whether an 8mm snuff film found in her husbands possessions is authentic; in which, a young girl appears to be murdered.

As he gets in deeper and deeper, Tom is helped along by Joaquin Phoenix's adult video store employee, who enables him to gain access to darker and danker 'establishments'.

8mm certainly shows a world that none of us would ever want to be part of, but it's gritty, horrible underbelly doesn't make it trash. Sure, there are elements of an exploitation film on show but that's Schumacher's point.

We're not directly subjected in full to the snuff film Tom repeatedly watches, but the idea is that 8mm almost plays out like Tom's life itself becoming a snuff movie. It's nasty, it's flawed and at times not the easiest to digest but it's undoubtedly a really interesting part of Schumacher's canon. 7.2/10