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True enough, especially about the Findlays.

It must be racalled, too, that the FBI's, and Goldstein's, definition of a snuff film is one in which a murder is preplanned (without, of course, the knowledge of the victim) andd filmed for the express purpose of sale and distribution, for the purposes of perverted titillation.

The FBI's lead investigator on the project has said that he doesn't believe that such films were ever made. The FBI was offering everything it could, from money to legal "help", to informers who would have been in a position to know of such films, if they existed. None ever turned up.

Of course, an accidental killing might occur in some insane S&M movie shoot, but those who did it would hardly be willing to try to sell the footage, as it would constitute evidence of murder. This could be what happened here. The reporter might have tossed in the "snuff" angle for a bit of extra titillation.

BTW, have you ever heard of the Charlie Sheen story, regarding a "snuff" film he thought he had seen?

The FBI's lead investigator on the project has said that he doesn't believe that such films were ever made.

I think there have been incidents where a murderer did record his activities even if he didn't intend to/actually distribute his videos. The book Killing For Culture addresses the concept in a very scholarly manner (it even deconstructs some of the footage in mondo films).

Didn't one of these men who castrated another man met over the internet film his activities?

Snuff films are illegal true but so is are videos that show children being sexually molested. It doesn't stop some people from making such videos for their own enjoyment. Porn shoots in general used to be illegal yet there was still an underground production. Videotape is like polaroid photography; no one else has to see the work in order for it to be "produced".

Yes I am aware of the "Charlie Sheen" incident. He obtained a Japanese shock series that was completely fictional (one of the stories even dealt with the mutilation of a mermaid). What is more surprising is that he hasn't been raked over the coals for trying to watch a snuff film. He acted the hero for turning it over to investigators.

Those "Guinea Pig" videos are now available at major electronics stores (like Fry's).

I have not seen any of the films but I am aware of what they are. I think they are discussed in the book.

As to whether anyone has knowingly killed someone on film, the Guiness Book Of Records had a film book published in the 1970s. Reportedly there was a German film made during WWII that had some prisoners used as extras and they "accidently" walked over a landmine while the cameras were rolling.

Now I will leave it up to you to decide if Nazi Germany was willing to kill some unfortunate POWs or Jews for "art".