http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Death-Yaron-Svoray/dp/0684814455/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262529289&sr=8-1Legal scholar and anti-pornography activist Catherine MacKinnon approached journalist Yaron Svoray about "snuff films," because he was the only person who'd said in print that he'd seen such a film (while undercover investigating neo-Nazis for his book In Hitler's Shadow), in which a girl was raped and murdered. "It is my misfortune," Svoray says, "to have been born with a need to look under the carpet." After a bit of soul-searching, he undertook the investigation described in this book--a series of adventures with many dead ends and mishaps, some of which are quite funny. (This reviewer was impressed by his tenacity.) The writing, while sincere, is overdramatized and synoptic, leaving the reader to decide whether to believe Svoray's hair-raising tales. This book is important for what it says about how (in Svoray's words) "blood sells," and it will no doubt spark much discussion among those who doubt the existence of snuff films. (amazon.com)
Investigative journalist Svoray, a former Israeli detective, described his infiltration of Germany's neo-Nazi movement in In Hitler's Shadow (LJ 10/15/94). The present work launches a one-man investigation into the netherworld of the "snuff" film?a pornographic video in which someone is actually killed. Hopscotching around the world, Svoray finds scant evidence, barely described and none of it retained. Given that almost all the names have been changed (Svoray's claim that he showed a snuff video to actor Robert De Niro is a startling exception) and that other omissions are admitted, credibility becomes an issue here. There is much padding with cloak-and-dagger and family-life episodes. Because the author concludes that there was "no source" for what he was seeking, his material might have worked better as a feature article. Not a necessary purchase for most libraries.
-?Gregor A. Preston, formerly with Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. (library journal)
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Serious Investigation of a Deadly Subject, May 4, 2000
By A Customer
I am getting a little tired of reading reviews written by people who go into a reading experience working on the assumption that what the writer has chosen to write about simply doesn't exist--i.e., snuff films, ritual abuse, etc. Certainly the author presents serious credentials as an investigative journalist. It is extremely frustrating to read through the book and not have him come up with the object his search--absolute proof. But that, after all, is what separates nonfiction from fiction--the answers are rarely neat and satisfying. This writer made a commitment to the victims of the darkest side of the pornography industry, and he went as far as he could. Finally, for those who dismiss snuff as an impossibility--do you remember that little historical event known as the Holocaust? If the Allies had not reached the camps in the time, the Germans would have destroyed every trace of the concentration camps and the atrocities that took place there. Watch the documentary "Anne Frank Remembered", in which a camp survivor remembers standing outside naked in the snow in Auschwitz II. A Nazi officer stops to speak to him, saying, "You know, you're never going to survive this. But even if you do--no one will ever believe what we did to you people." Those who traffic in evil count on the refusal of the unvictimized to believe what human nature is capable of. (amazon.com)
Bin drauf gestoßen, da Joel Schumacher es in seinem Audiokommentar in
8 mm im Bezug auf den Mythos Snuff angesprochen hat. Er hat es wärmstens empfohlen (und auch selber gelesen), allerdings sind die amazon-Reviews eher schlecht. Die Frage ist, ob der israelische Autor wirklich auf Snuff-Jagd war oder sich zu viele Dinge aus den Fingern saugt. Mein Interesse ist dennoch geweckt.