Effects
1979·Thriller·1h 24m
7.0
★
Some crew members of a company shooting a horror film begin to suspect that the "killings" in the movie are real, and that they are actually making a "snuff" film.
Directed by Dusty Nelson
cocaine
snuff
drug use
inspiration
director
voyeurism
crowbar
bar fight
film production
film crew
film within a film
IMDB
N/A
Where to Watch
Cast
Joseph Pilato
Dominic
Bernard McKenna
Barney
Debra Gordon
Rita / Mona
Tom Savini
Nicky
Charles Hoyes
Lobo
Marty Schiff
Bar Extra
Crew
Dusty Nelson
Director
Dusty Nelson
Writer
Pasquale Buba
Editor
Pasquale Buba
Producer
Tom Savini
Makeup Artist
William H. Mooney
Novel
Popular Reviews
12 reviews
Sean McGrath
8.0★ · 01/04/26
Pretty perfect depersonalization horror; first half is fun film set slice of life, second half is legit blood pumping.
Many fascinating scenes that make the audience question whether what we’re seeing is part of the movie being filmed by the characters or the movie itself. Sometimes truth is truly stranger than fiction
Many fascinating scenes that make the audience question whether what we’re seeing is part of the movie being filmed by the characters or the movie itself. Sometimes truth is truly stranger than fiction
Pretty perfect depersonalization horror; first half is fun film set slice of life, second half is legit blood pumping.
Many fascinating scenes that make the audience question whether what we’re seeing is part of the movie being filmed by the characters or the movie itself. Sometimes truth is truly stranger than fiction
Many fascinating scenes that make the audience question whether what we’re seeing is part of the movie being filmed by the characters or the movie itself. Sometimes truth is truly stranger than fiction
jack
5.0★ · 09/15/25
i didn’t really know what to expect from this film.. but yeah it went in completely different direction than what i would’ve thought.
the premise of the film is relatively fun, a production crew for an independent horror movie, and the crew starts to suspect that the director creates snuff films. it has a meta-narrative which is incredibly ahead of its time, as it had that movie in a movie feel and i just loved that element, and thought it was arguably the best part of this movie. it’s an extremely low budget movie which manages to use its budget to make a really unique slasher if i do say so myself: i also find it interesting how this film was considered lost for decades so its just fun to see a part of historical horror cinema. this movie is extremely slow burn, but the final act is action packed and i’m at least glad this film builds up to to something, it’s very tense and an unsettling closure to this obscure 70s slasher. for such a low production value, the acting in this was genuinely good, and they all did a great job at showing the fear of the apparent snuff film, one being the camera man who’s very down to earth. the first like 2/3 of this film almost feels like background noise, it’s simply the crew interacting with one another and doing drugs. which is all fun but it can be seen as pointless or dragging the runtime. the unfocused plot may seem nonsensical, specially the latter half. it feels like a nonsensical mess and doesn’t really explain itself very well - i like how it has that sense of realism though. the low budget feel has that nice exploitative, grungy, unscripted vice to it, which i think fits the film perfectly. there’s very minimal gore which may contradict the title as this solely focuses on dread and psychological suspense, it’s a slow burn which really doesn’t fit in with a lot of other slashers but i can gladly say i’ve never seen something like this at all. it was original while not being the best made film ever it’s still a fun watch.
the premise of the film is relatively fun, a production crew for an independent horror movie, and the crew starts to suspect that the director creates snuff films. it has a meta-narrative which is incredibly ahead of its time, as it had that movie in a movie feel and i just loved that element, and thought it was arguably the best part of this movie. it’s an extremely low budget movie which manages to use its budget to make a really unique slasher if i do say so myself: i also find it interesting how this film was considered lost for decades so its just fun to see a part of historical horror cinema. this movie is extremely slow burn, but the final act is action packed and i’m at least glad this film builds up to to something, it’s very tense and an unsettling closure to this obscure 70s slasher. for such a low production value, the acting in this was genuinely good, and they all did a great job at showing the fear of the apparent snuff film, one being the camera man who’s very down to earth. the first like 2/3 of this film almost feels like background noise, it’s simply the crew interacting with one another and doing drugs. which is all fun but it can be seen as pointless or dragging the runtime. the unfocused plot may seem nonsensical, specially the latter half. it feels like a nonsensical mess and doesn’t really explain itself very well - i like how it has that sense of realism though. the low budget feel has that nice exploitative, grungy, unscripted vice to it, which i think fits the film perfectly. there’s very minimal gore which may contradict the title as this solely focuses on dread and psychological suspense, it’s a slow burn which really doesn’t fit in with a lot of other slashers but i can gladly say i’ve never seen something like this at all. it was original while not being the best made film ever it’s still a fun watch.
i didn’t really know what to expect from this film.. but yeah it went in completely different direction than what i would’ve thought.
the premise of the film is relatively fun, a production crew for an independent horror movie, and the crew starts to suspect that the director creates snuff films. it has a meta-narrative which is incredibly ahead of its time, as it had that movie in a movie feel and i just loved that element, and thought it was arguably the best part of this movie. it’s an extremely low budget movie which manages to use its budget to make a really unique slasher if i do say so myself: i also find it interesting how this film was considered lost for decades so its just fun to see a part of historical horror cinema. this movie is extremely slow burn, but the final act is action packed and i’m at least glad this film builds up to to something, it’s very tense and an unsettling closure to this obscure 70s slasher. for such a low production value, the acting in this was genuinely good, and they all did a great job at showing the fear of the apparent snuff film, one being the camera man who’s very down to earth. the first like 2/3 of this film almost feels like background noise, it’s simply the crew interacting with one another and doing drugs. which is all fun but it can be seen as pointless or dragging the runtime. the unfocused plot may seem nonsensical, specially the latter half. it feels like a nonsensical mess and doesn’t really explain itself very well - i like how it has that sense of realism though. the low budget feel has that nice exploitative, grungy, unscripted vice to it, which i think fits the film perfectly. there’s very minimal gore which may contradict the title as this solely focuses on dread and psychological suspense, it’s a slow burn which really doesn’t fit in with a lot of other slashers but i can gladly say i’ve never seen something like this at all. it was original while not being the best made film ever it’s still a fun watch.
the premise of the film is relatively fun, a production crew for an independent horror movie, and the crew starts to suspect that the director creates snuff films. it has a meta-narrative which is incredibly ahead of its time, as it had that movie in a movie feel and i just loved that element, and thought it was arguably the best part of this movie. it’s an extremely low budget movie which manages to use its budget to make a really unique slasher if i do say so myself: i also find it interesting how this film was considered lost for decades so its just fun to see a part of historical horror cinema. this movie is extremely slow burn, but the final act is action packed and i’m at least glad this film builds up to to something, it’s very tense and an unsettling closure to this obscure 70s slasher. for such a low production value, the acting in this was genuinely good, and they all did a great job at showing the fear of the apparent snuff film, one being the camera man who’s very down to earth. the first like 2/3 of this film almost feels like background noise, it’s simply the crew interacting with one another and doing drugs. which is all fun but it can be seen as pointless or dragging the runtime. the unfocused plot may seem nonsensical, specially the latter half. it feels like a nonsensical mess and doesn’t really explain itself very well - i like how it has that sense of realism though. the low budget feel has that nice exploitative, grungy, unscripted vice to it, which i think fits the film perfectly. there’s very minimal gore which may contradict the title as this solely focuses on dread and psychological suspense, it’s a slow burn which really doesn’t fit in with a lot of other slashers but i can gladly say i’ve never seen something like this at all. it was original while not being the best made film ever it’s still a fun watch.
Jack
5.0★ · 09/15/25
i didn’t really know what to expect from this film.. but yeah it went in completely different direction than what i would’ve thought.
the premise of the film is relatively fun, a production crew for an independent horror movie, and the crew starts to suspect that the director creates snuff films. it has a meta-narrative which is incredibly ahead of its time, as it had that movie in a movie feel and i just loved that element, and thought it was arguably the best part of this movie. it’s an extremely low budget movie which manages to use its budget to make a really unique slasher if i do say so myself: i also find it interesting how this film was considered lost for decades so its just fun to see a part of historical horror cinema. this movie is extremely slow burn, but the final act is action packed and i’m at least glad this film builds up to to something, it’s very tense and an unsettling closure to this obscure 70s slasher. for such a low production value, the acting in this was genuinely good, and they all did a great job at showing the fear of the apparent snuff film, one being the camera man who’s very down to earth. the first like 2/3 of this film almost feels like background noise, it’s simply the crew interacting with one another and doing drugs. which is all fun but it can be seen as pointless or dragging the runtime. the unfocused plot may seem nonsensical, specially the latter half. it feels like a nonsensical mess and doesn’t really explain itself very well - i like how it has that sense of realism though. the low budget feel has that nice exploitative, grungy, unscripted vice to it, which i think fits the film perfectly. there’s very minimal gore which may contradict the title as this solely focuses on dread and psychological suspense, it’s a slow burn which really doesn’t fit in with a lot of other slashers but i can gladly say i’ve never seen something like this at all. it was original while not being the best made film ever it’s still a fun watch.
the premise of the film is relatively fun, a production crew for an independent horror movie, and the crew starts to suspect that the director creates snuff films. it has a meta-narrative which is incredibly ahead of its time, as it had that movie in a movie feel and i just loved that element, and thought it was arguably the best part of this movie. it’s an extremely low budget movie which manages to use its budget to make a really unique slasher if i do say so myself: i also find it interesting how this film was considered lost for decades so its just fun to see a part of historical horror cinema. this movie is extremely slow burn, but the final act is action packed and i’m at least glad this film builds up to to something, it’s very tense and an unsettling closure to this obscure 70s slasher. for such a low production value, the acting in this was genuinely good, and they all did a great job at showing the fear of the apparent snuff film, one being the camera man who’s very down to earth. the first like 2/3 of this film almost feels like background noise, it’s simply the crew interacting with one another and doing drugs. which is all fun but it can be seen as pointless or dragging the runtime. the unfocused plot may seem nonsensical, specially the latter half. it feels like a nonsensical mess and doesn’t really explain itself very well - i like how it has that sense of realism though. the low budget feel has that nice exploitative, grungy, unscripted vice to it, which i think fits the film perfectly. there’s very minimal gore which may contradict the title as this solely focuses on dread and psychological suspense, it’s a slow burn which really doesn’t fit in with a lot of other slashers but i can gladly say i’ve never seen something like this at all. it was original while not being the best made film ever it’s still a fun watch.
i didn’t really know what to expect from this film.. but yeah it went in completely different direction than what i would’ve thought.
the premise of the film is relatively fun, a production crew for an independent horror movie, and the crew starts to suspect that the director creates snuff films. it has a meta-narrative which is incredibly ahead of its time, as it had that movie in a movie feel and i just loved that element, and thought it was arguably the best part of this movie. it’s an extremely low budget movie which manages to use its budget to make a really unique slasher if i do say so myself: i also find it interesting how this film was considered lost for decades so its just fun to see a part of historical horror cinema. this movie is extremely slow burn, but the final act is action packed and i’m at least glad this film builds up to to something, it’s very tense and an unsettling closure to this obscure 70s slasher. for such a low production value, the acting in this was genuinely good, and they all did a great job at showing the fear of the apparent snuff film, one being the camera man who’s very down to earth. the first like 2/3 of this film almost feels like background noise, it’s simply the crew interacting with one another and doing drugs. which is all fun but it can be seen as pointless or dragging the runtime. the unfocused plot may seem nonsensical, specially the latter half. it feels like a nonsensical mess and doesn’t really explain itself very well - i like how it has that sense of realism though. the low budget feel has that nice exploitative, grungy, unscripted vice to it, which i think fits the film perfectly. there’s very minimal gore which may contradict the title as this solely focuses on dread and psychological suspense, it’s a slow burn which really doesn’t fit in with a lot of other slashers but i can gladly say i’ve never seen something like this at all. it was original while not being the best made film ever it’s still a fun watch.
the premise of the film is relatively fun, a production crew for an independent horror movie, and the crew starts to suspect that the director creates snuff films. it has a meta-narrative which is incredibly ahead of its time, as it had that movie in a movie feel and i just loved that element, and thought it was arguably the best part of this movie. it’s an extremely low budget movie which manages to use its budget to make a really unique slasher if i do say so myself: i also find it interesting how this film was considered lost for decades so its just fun to see a part of historical horror cinema. this movie is extremely slow burn, but the final act is action packed and i’m at least glad this film builds up to to something, it’s very tense and an unsettling closure to this obscure 70s slasher. for such a low production value, the acting in this was genuinely good, and they all did a great job at showing the fear of the apparent snuff film, one being the camera man who’s very down to earth. the first like 2/3 of this film almost feels like background noise, it’s simply the crew interacting with one another and doing drugs. which is all fun but it can be seen as pointless or dragging the runtime. the unfocused plot may seem nonsensical, specially the latter half. it feels like a nonsensical mess and doesn’t really explain itself very well - i like how it has that sense of realism though. the low budget feel has that nice exploitative, grungy, unscripted vice to it, which i think fits the film perfectly. there’s very minimal gore which may contradict the title as this solely focuses on dread and psychological suspense, it’s a slow burn which really doesn’t fit in with a lot of other slashers but i can gladly say i’ve never seen something like this at all. it was original while not being the best made film ever it’s still a fun watch.
maia
6.0★ · 07/19/25
what the hell, sure
what the hell, sure
Will LehnherrPRO
4.0★ · 04/27/25
So much potential, not the best execution.
To start off with the good, I really enjoyed looking at this movie. I loved the colors, the landscapes and the grittiness of it all. I also think the premise is good.
The bad is that despite being called Effects and having Tom Savini, there really aren’t any effects. The story really made no sense to me. I’m not sure if there was any motivation beyond wanting to make a snuff film. I’m not sure who all was in on it. I’m not sure how the people who are in on it are connected to the motive. And it took nearly 2/3 of the movie to really get into anything beyond conversations
To start off with the good, I really enjoyed looking at this movie. I loved the colors, the landscapes and the grittiness of it all. I also think the premise is good.
The bad is that despite being called Effects and having Tom Savini, there really aren’t any effects. The story really made no sense to me. I’m not sure if there was any motivation beyond wanting to make a snuff film. I’m not sure who all was in on it. I’m not sure how the people who are in on it are connected to the motive. And it took nearly 2/3 of the movie to really get into anything beyond conversations
So much potential, not the best execution.
To start off with the good, I really enjoyed looking at this movie. I loved the colors, the landscapes and the grittiness of it all. I also think the premise is good.
The bad is that despite being called Effects and having Tom Savini, there really aren’t any effects. The story really made no sense to me. I’m not sure if there was any motivation beyond wanting to make a snuff film. I’m not sure who all was in on it. I’m not sure how the people who are in on it are connected to the motive. And it took nearly 2/3 of the movie to really get into anything beyond conversations
To start off with the good, I really enjoyed looking at this movie. I loved the colors, the landscapes and the grittiness of it all. I also think the premise is good.
The bad is that despite being called Effects and having Tom Savini, there really aren’t any effects. The story really made no sense to me. I’m not sure if there was any motivation beyond wanting to make a snuff film. I’m not sure who all was in on it. I’m not sure how the people who are in on it are connected to the motive. And it took nearly 2/3 of the movie to really get into anything beyond conversations