The History of Snuff and the UK Video Release

The history of the video nasties in Britain is well documented with many books, magazines and websites detailing the Director of Public Prosecution’s list of banned films. Snuff (1976) is arguably one of the most famous titles on the UK Video Nasties list.

The backstory behind Snuff is honestly one of the wildest, sleaziest marketing hustles in grindhouse history. If you spent any time hanging around the aisles of 80s Video Rental Shops looking for the most notorious tapes on the shelves, this is the exact kind of urban legend that fuelled the whole scene.

The crazy part is, it didn’t even start out as Snuff. Here is how a forgotten B-movie was transformed into a cinematic myth…

The Original Cut:
The Slaughter (1971)

Originally, the film was a super cheap, $30,000 exploitation flick called The Slaughter, directed by the notorious husband-and-wife duo, Michael and Roberta Findlay.

The film was shot in Argentina, heavily ripping off the Manson Family murders. Because the local cast barely spoke English, they basically had to shoot the whole thing without sound and dub it later.

The film struggled to find a buyer, enter Allan Shackleton, an independent distributor who usually dealt in low-budget sexploitation. He bought the rights to The Slaughter and just sat on it for a few years. Then, in 1975, he read a newspaper article about rumours of real “snuff” films coming out of South America, and saw dollar signs. He realised he could hijack that urban legend and bolt it onto the Findlays’ forgotten movie.

The Infamous Fake Ending

To pull off the scam, Shackleton hired director Simon Nuchtern to shoot a brand-new, totally fake ending to tack onto the original film. They filmed it in a single day at Carter Stevens’ adult film studio in New York. The new footage was shot in a gritty style, making it look like the actual film crew suddenly turns on a woman and brutally murders her on set. They then just spliced this new ending right onto the end of The Slaughter with a jarring, abrupt cut.

The most hilarious part of the whole hustle is that Nuchtern’s footage had absolutely no continuity with the rest of the movie – a different cast, different scenery, different vibe. But that sloppy, sudden edit actually worked in their favour; it made audiences believe it was authentic, unplanned documentary footage breaking the fourth wall.

To seal the deal, Shackleton scrubbed every single cast and crew credit from the print. He slapped on that legendary, sensationalist tagline:“The film that could only be made in South America… where Life is CHEAP!” and successfully birthed one of the biggest cinematic myths of the era.

Video Trade Show 1982:
Snuff is Unleashed in the UK

The UK distribution history of Snuff remains shrouded in mystery and dispute. Here is how its bizarre and highly controversial UK video release unfolded during the early 1980s.

Originally intended for release to rental stores in 1982, the film was to be distributed by Astra Video, one of many independent UK distributors seeking to cash-in on the rise of video rentals, and leaned heavily into Shackleton’s original American marketing gimmick.

The Astra Video Ad Campaign (1982)

It’s thought that Astra prepared a blue version of the sleeve for the VHS release, and was promoted at a Video Trade Fair in 1982. The cover art leaned completely into the urban legend, featuring the blurb: “The original legendary atrocity shot and banned in New York,” and claiming that “The actors and actresses who dedicated their lives to making this film were never seen or heard from again.”

To make it look even more authentic, they credited the director as “T. Amazzo” (a dark pun on the Italian phrase ti ammazzo, which translates to “I kill you”).

The advance video trade ads for the film promoted Snuff alongside Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Blood Feast with the tagline “Wall to Wall Gore!”. This caught the attention of the mainstream British press. Note the cover here is the more akin to the “black sleeve” version.

The Sunday Times published a heavily outraged article about the impending release of a supposed real murder on cassette. The resulting moral panic was so intense that Astra Video publicly retracted the film and canceled the official release.

Black & Blue:
Snuff’s Video Rental Mystery

For decades, Astra denied officially releasing either version. It is widely believed that these were heavily circulated bootlegs, or that back-channel distribution occurred to quietly capitalise on the massive free publicity generated by the Sunday Times outrage.

Because it was an under-the-counter item, it became an absolute holy grail for video shop patrons looking for the most extreme tape available.

Despite Astra’s public retraction, copies of Snuff mysteriously flooded into UK independent video shops anyway. This created a long-standing mystery among pre-cert tape collectors involving two distinct versions. The confusion surrounding the UK physical release of Snuff is one of the classic distribution mysteries of the pre-certification era. Legitimate distribution or black-market opportunism?

The ‘Black’ Sleeve Original?

When the press backlash hit and Astra officially withdrew the title, demand for Snuff predictably skyrocketed. This is where the “Black Sleeve” entered the underground video shop network. This version featured a plain black spine and rear, stripped of any reference to Astra whatsoever. and which Astra denies having any involvement with.

The black sleeve Snuffs are regarded as the real deal and the one which was distributed in the UK. The official Astra release was always intended to have the black sleeve, and the black and white label. The branding added to the myth that this was a genuine snuff film.

The ‘genuine’ black sleeve Snuff has rounded labels, whilst the rumoured 90s bootlegs had square ones. The print quality is also used to determine whether it is an original or a boot. The bootleg version had a “checkered” pattern on the guys shirt due to the process of re-printing an already printed image.

Although Astra stated they had nothing to do with the black sleeve Snuff, they probably had a lot of copies of made up for sale before they pulled it. So what did they do with these copies?

Could it be that the black sleeve Snuff was put out into the marketplace using tapes & labels already duplicated by Astra for their planned “blue sleeve” release, but with a more basic and brand-free sleeve to avoid any trace back to astra in the event of seizure?

Or was it all part of a massive publicity stunt, Astra “pulling” their official release of Snuff, creating the mystery of a genuine snuff film, then releasing it unbranded in the black sleeve with the anonymous label?

The ‘Blue’ Sleeve Version: Was It A Legit Release?

The notorious blue sleeve Snuff from Astra – almost as controversial as the original film itself. Discussed and debated by pre-cert tape collectors with no definite conclusions still forthcoming, this is one of those releases whose origins and authenticity currently remains uncertain.

There is a suggestion that all blue sleeve variants were 90s bootlegs and it was never officially released. Astra produced sleeves and/or mock-ups for the film, this is undisputed, an image exists in a contemporary video publication, and it is also known Astra presented the title as a forthcoming release at a UK trade show in May 1982.

Some “blue” copies have appeared with Astra serial numbers on the side label. Were these the only legit copies of the blue sleeve release to make it through? It’s possible, but why not have an Astra top label too? Many suspect these were just clever fakes from the 90s.

Whether the existing samples found in current collections are bona fide 80s originals or the product of a later opportunist collector (or counterfeiter) remains hotly contested and will certainly continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Marc Morris points out that blue sleeve variants were unheard of prior to the early 90s, and during an interview with Astra boss Mike Beher that he stated categorically that “After seeking legal advice, Astra did not produce ANY copies of Snuff. He did not intend going to prison for distributing any copies”.

A lot of collectors say this is in fact the legitimate version which was intended for release by Astra Video. This version retained all of Astra Video’s original branding, logos, and some had the Astra serial numbered spine. The blue cover variant was also featured in Video Trade magazines, including an article entitled “Tougher times on the way for Nasty distributors“

The article was about the seizure of two video cassettes described by the police as “unbelievably horrible“, The films in question were Snuff and Faces of Death which were seized from a video shop in London and handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The article states that Snuff, a tape which purports to show genuine killings and was withdrawn by its distributors before release in this country. Some copies, however, have found their way into rental shops.

Note that the “blue” sleeve is used in the article, is this proof of the existence of the blue Snuff, or was it just a mock-up taken from the US “Cult Video” release?

Was the blue sleeved Snuff ever available to rent back in the 80s?

There are no known pictures of an actual Astra Snuff tape with Astra labels, only the plain label versions from the black sleeved variant was available for rental in the UK in the 80s.

According to The Art of the Nasty, Snuff was shown at a trade show. It is believed that Astra created and sold some blue sleeve releases at the show, but it was later claimed that the blue sleeve variant wasn’t seen until the 90’s!? A bit confusing, maybe it was the Black sleeve Snuffs which were being sold after all, and not the blue ones as originally claimed.

2 months later they withdraw the title and didn’t release it. So there are legitimate copies out there, although the majority will most likely be bootlegs.

So what happened to the rest? Astra would have made a lot of copies for the release date. Hundreds of them, and they take time to produce. They spent a lot of money preparing these tapes, and had a large stock ready for release. They then decide not to release it. Before they make the announcement the tapes are passed on to “someone”, possibly within the company, who repackages and gets them out as the black sleeve version we know today.

Conclusion

The black sleeve Snuffs are the real deal and the one’s which were distributed in the UK. The Blue sleeve was just a mock-up, re-created from the Cult Video American release, and was never a legitimate sleeve for Astra. The official Astra release was always intended to have the black sleeve, and the black and white label. And thats why they look so professional. The branding added to the myth that this was a genuine snuff film.

Add to this the fact that the blue sleeve version was nowhere to be seen in the 80s. There and no trade ads, fanzines reviews or anything publicising the release of Snuff in the blue sleeve before the 90s.

The branded ‘blue’ sleeve would have branded top and side labels like other Astra releases at the time – including Blood Bath and I Spit on your Grave. Snuff (Blue) was advertised with Blood Bath and carried the same cover layout, so its reasonable to assume that the tapes and labels would be the same.

Snuff:
The BBFC and the Modern Era

Unsurprisingly, Snuff became a primary target of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). It was successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act and added to the official list of banned Video Nasties.

The ironic twist to its UK history came decades later. In 2003, the US distributor Blue Underground submitted Snuff to the BBFC to test the waters for a modern UK DVD release. Because the BBFC’s modern guidelines recognized the film’s violence as incredibly cheap, fake, and dated special effects rather than genuinely depraving material, it was passed completely uncut with an ’18’ certificate.

Despite finally being legalised, the film never received a wide, official physical media release in the UK market—leaving modern British collectors to rely on importing Region Free US Blu-rays, keeping its elusive physical status alive.

How the Snuff Myth Built the Video Recordings Act 1984

The urban legend that Snuff contained a real murder didn’t just sell tapes—it provided the ultimate political ammunition for one of the strictest censorship regimes in Europe.

In the early 1980s, the UK video market was entirely unregulated. Anyone could duplicate a film, put it in a plastic clamshell, and rent it out on the high street. When the Sunday Times began campaigning against “horror and terror cassettes” in August 1982, they singled out Snuff, describing the violence as “horrifyingly convincing.”

This sparked a massive moral panic that entirely conflated cheap, simulated special effects with actual murder. The myth of the snuff film became the ultimate bogeyman for moral entrepreneurs and politicians:

• Mary Whitehouse and the NVALA: Campaigners used the threat of snuff as their primary weapon. It didn’t matter that the Metropolitan Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions consistently stated they had never found a genuine snuff film in the UK. The sheer terror that children could theoretically rent a real murder from the local corner shop was enough to unite the public behind censorship.
• Graham Bright’s Bill: Conservative MP Graham Bright used this exact panic—heavily amplified by the tabloids—to pilot a private member’s bill through Parliament. The argument was simple: if extreme, unregulated material like Snuff could slip into British living rooms, state intervention was mandatory. 

The result was the Video Recordings Act 1984, which made the UK an anomaly in Europe. It required the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to classify every single feature film released on video, granting those classifications legal force. Distributing an unclassified tape became a criminal offence with heavy fines.