Back home

8MM

2179 votes

A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1999-02-26

Runtime: 123 mins

Director: Joel Schumacher

Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker

Spoken language: English

Genres: Thriller, Crime, Mystery

Original title: 8MM

Production Companies: Global Medien KG, Hofflund/Polone, Columbia Pictures

Production Countries: Germany, United States of America

Cast

Nicolas Cage

Joaquin Phoenix

James Gandolfini

Peter Stormare

Anthony Heald

Chris Bauer

Catherine Keener

Myra Carter

Amy Morton

Norman Reedus

Jenny Powell

Anne Gee Byrd

Jack Betts

Luis Oropeza

8MM Collection

3.2

8MM

1999-02-26

A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an i

2.4

8MM 2

2005-11-22

Entering a seamy underground world of peep shows, nude clubs, and live Internet sex is David Huxley,

Reviews

GenerationofSwine

Joel Schumacher does it again. Look into how this film was made, what went into it, the intended directors, the intended stars, the intended budget. It started as a low budget "Dark and Gritty" film that was going to be "hand held" and star Russel Crowe and be directed by David Fincher... that would probably have worked. Look at the release date, 1999, when audiences welcomed low budget movies done well. Back in the 90s audiences accepted low budgets and dark and gritty films. It could have been the sleeper success that Se7en was. Instead you got Schumacher that lightened it up, and Cage that brought in more of a budget that in turn brought in more studio interference that wanted it lightened even more... with a director that agreed. And what could have been a great movie turned to be throwaway junk... that Joel was "Still proud of" decades later, but saw the writer throw up his hands, walk away, and disown the mess. And this was written by Andrew Kevin Walker, he tells a good story, especially if you keep things on the darker side. This COULD have been a moody, dark, thriller with a tone so ominous that it stays with you decades later. A film that took off out of nowhere like Se7en did... ... instead it was junk and a film so forgettable that I had to be reminded that I had seen it, and, after 15 minutes, reminded why I blacked it out.

2023-09-05

SoSmooth1982

Another one of Nicholas Cage's crazy movies. Like all the rest of his movies, this one was good too.

2023-03-17

tmdb44006625

8MM probably only got greenlit due to the success of Se7en. Like Se7en, 8MM explores the existence of people who are simply pure evil while the main character wants to know why they are like this. 8MM doesn't provide many answers but it also isn't thematically complex. It follows a standard whodunit plot. While Nicolas Cage gives a solid performance, there are times where he takes us out of the story with his signature freak outs. Joel Schumacher manages to create a gritty tone but he has a rather bland style. Regardless of its flaws, 8MM is still a decent movie. It prefers plot over exploitation and story over violence. For those reasons, I recommend it.

2019-03-09

Wuchak

Into the perverse underworld of smut, S&M and snuff films RELEASED IN 1999 and directed by Joel Schumacher, "8MM" chronicles events when a private investigator (Nicolas Cage) is hired by an aged wealthy woman whose husband recently passed away. A snuff film was found in his safe and she wants to see if the girl in the movie (Jenny Powell) really died or not. Amy Morton appears as the girl’s mother while Joaquin Phoenix plays a wannabe rock musician in Los Angeles who works in the porn trade. Catherine Keener is on hand as the P.I.’s wife. The movie combines the basic plot of “Hardcore” (1979) with the style of late 90’s crime thrillers, like “Kiss the Girls” (1997). The first half involves the P.I.’s tracking down the makers of the snuff film. While it’s tedious work (which I wouldn’t want to do) this part of the movie is gritty and compelling. The second half of the movie goes into material that’s difficult to pull off with a straight face, like the smut-obsessed underbelly of Los Angeles & New York. The main villains come off cartoonish somehow rather than gritty realistic, but it’s a fine line. Still, I like the message of the movie. My wife & I knew a wealthy man who passed away a few years ago. He often didn’t pay the people he did business with, not to mention his employees who were living paycheck to paycheck. Someone asked him how he could own two Cadillacs and regularly go on globetrotting vacations while treating people like this and he arrogantly responded: “Because I caaAAAN.” The low-lifes in “8MM” have a similar attitude. THE MOVIE RUNS 2 hours 3 minutes and was shot in Miami, Pennsylvania (Wormleysburg/Harrisburg), New York (Hastings-on-Hudson, Elmsford, Yonkers, Queens & Long Island) and S. Cal. (Los Angeles & Long Beach). WRITER: Andrew Kevin Walker. ADDITIONAL CAST: Anthony Heald plays the rich woman’s lawyer while James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare and Chris Bauer appear as smut pervs. GRADE: B

2018-04-29

Recommendations

2.6

Wander

2020-12-04

After getting hired to probe a suspicious death in the small town of Wander, a mentally unstable pri

A Violent Life

2017-08-09

Despite the life threat hanging over his head, Stéphane decides to go back to Corsica for the funera

Women of Whirlpool Island

1960-02-27

2.9

It Comes at Night

2017-06-09

Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a t

3.9

My Fault

2023-06-08

Noah must leave her city, boyfriend, and friends to move into William Leister's mansion, the flashy

2.9

Borderline

2025-03-14

After escaping from a mental hospital, a violent sociopath named Paul begins a dangerous rampage tar

3.1

The Alto Knights

2025-03-19

Two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, vie for c

3.8

Get Out

2017-02-24

Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads

Talk to the Gun

2022-09-01

Bryce Turner, a former bounty hunter loses everything even his 8 year old daughter taken by a corrup

2.9

The Woman Is a Stranger

1968-01-17

The psychotic son of a film producer becomes obsessed with a beautiful blonde starlet while in Canne

Disappearance

2019-06-18

After the Author George Boulangé disappears from his sailboat one night, Detective Kenny Park must t

3.9

Deliria

2018-01-27

A slow, hot summer afternoon. A father sleeps while his child is drawing with pencils in a cross wor

3.1

Apartment 7A

2024-09-20

A struggling young dancer finds herself drawn in by dark forces when a peculiar, well-connected olde

3.6

Good Time

2017-08-11

After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Connie Nikas embarks on a twisted

3.1

MaXXXine

2024-07-04

In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But

Both Eyes Closed

An alcoholic private detective faces her biggest challenge yet when a married couple hires her to fi

Lost and Found

2024-06-19

Two detectives search for a missing person, hidden under layers of dark secrets.

Harm

2021-04-13

When a lonely estate agent sells a house to Alice, a charismatic social media influencer, the two st

3.1

CHiPs

2017-03-23

The adventures of two California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers as they make their rounds on the

3.6

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

2025-11-26

When young priest Jud Duplenticy is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks,