For those that don't know, a snuff film is a pornographic film in which a person is beaten, usually raped and then killed. Many of the snuff films out there are fake, but the one in this film is very real. This film didn't contain the most subtle performances I've ever seen. Cage is generally given to overacting, and this film is no exception. The widow really annoyed me, I think she could have starred in a melodrama.
Cage does, however, have enough charisma to carry most of the movie.
It really lost steam at the end, though, and started to drag on terribly. I think the movie ended about five or six times. I was very surprised with Phoenix's performance. The part was not written to perfection, but he had me believing it was. Gandolfini and Sotoromare, the film makers, were creepy slimballs, yet neither went as overboard as Cage did in several scenes.