When watching a great romcom, we all at once point have really hoped that the chemistry we see on screen is real, or watching an action film hope that the actor did their own stunts.

I think when watching a horror movie, this desire is a bit less common.

In some rare cases however, sickos will actually hire actors under sickening false pretences and kill them for a ‘movie’, often known as ‘snuff films’.

In the case of one shocking horror movie from the 80s however, it was so disturbing and well done that people actually thought it was a snuff film – even though it wasn’t.

Not only were film fans taken aback by the realistic horror and gore, the authorities were too, with the director being charged with murder.

Before we continue there is one important thing to note.

We are not recommending a snuff film to you. This is not a snuff film.

Whilst the director was arrested, he was later cleared of murder after showing the actors were alive.

The film in question is called Cannibal Holocaust, which tells the story of a group of documentary filmmakers who go missing after heading into the forest to try and find cannibal tribes.

Ruggero Deodato, the director, decided to go for full realism as much as he could with the film’s gore, and added to that by having his actors sign contracts to avoid being seen in the media, and avoid work for a full year.

This technique was one later used in The Blair Witch Project where they had actors sign agreements to stay out of the media and not take other roles to add realism with an element of ‘… did they… actually die…?’

Cannibal Holocaust is actually one of the first ever found footage films, and considered a pioneer of the genre.

It has been reported that the filming was tense, with the actors having to act in the Colombian heat, predominantly whilst nude, simulating sexual assault, murder, and the actual killing of animals took place.

The film is gruesome, gory, and deeply disturbing, and was banned on release, with Italian officials grabbing the film reels – and then later bringing in the director and charging him with murder.

Deodato was forced to not only bring his actors out to prove they were alive but show some of the filmmaking techniques to explain how he made the film look so realistic.

One of these involved how he managed to, using moviemaking magic, portray a man being graphically impaled on a spike.

All charges were dropped, and years later the film’s ban was lifted in Italy.

Collider reviewed the film two years ago after the director’s death, saying:

“To put it bluntly, one of the most intentionally distasteful and violent experiences one could ever watch. It also remains one of the genre’s most enduring, for better and worse, after all these years.”