GODS OF DEATH

Rating:
Summary: Shooting for the stars...
Review: ...this endeavour narrowly avoids plummeting to Earth.

As it is, it's just not all that good. By all means, do not pay full price for this book. Like the other reviewers, I will not spoil the 'ending', and I will also say that there is hardly a shred of evidence or compelling presentation to make you really believe this is all true.

It's not investigative journalism. It's not entirely schlock, but it certainly is not the compelling story as promised by the slipcover.

The story is littered with all sorts of events, but not a shred of documentation; he even states that he avoids a lot of truth by changing names, places, times, events. Sadly, this also destroys what little credibility the story has. Even the name-dropping he does, doesn't carry much weight (and you'd think Robert De Niro's name would carry some weight, no?)

It's not a waste of time... but it's not the gripping story that one hopes it would be.

Rating:
Summary: Over the top, lacks real insight, but compelling
Review: Admittedly reads more like a potboiler thriller at times, and I strongly suspect it was written with the big screen in mind - understandable, since much of the book is comprised of the author's financial concerns & what his obsession with finding out the truth behind snuff films drives him to do and spend, both monetarily and emotionally.

When his investigation came to end, the author had a problem (another reviewer already gives away the ending, so I don't think I'm divulging any secrets): he hadn't managed to come up with the goods - he'd finally gotten his hands on a tape, but it was stolen from him while he was detained in a Serbian police station. So what do you do? His answer is to make a book out of the subjective experience of hunting down the truth - what he goes through, how it affects his family life, his psychological state, the potentially life-threatening situations he encounters, the characters he meets & how he gets on with them. This makes some sense, because the reader wants to understand the mental and moral state of people who could actually make, enjoy, or be in any way involved with these films, as well as what effects such images have on 'normal' people - as Svoray says, once you've seen them, there's no going back. Unfortunately Svoray doesn't have the psychological insight to make much of this (a much better example of real insight into monstrosity and evil is Christopher Browning's "Ordinary Men," which looks at a single battallion in Poland as a case study to understand how so many people could have committed the Holocaust) - great credit to him for his investigative skills, but his constant efforts at casting himself as moral judge disallow him from genuine understanding, and his portraits come straight from stock characters from standard thrillers. This problem potentially undermines the book's veracity, but one can also argue that he merely understands these people on the same terms borrowed from Hollywood, or that his co-writer (a screenwriter) compressed his character portraits to make for a fast read.

The book is a very quick read and compelling at times, and the reader must admire the author's bravado. So, in the end, does his claim to have seen real snuff films stand up? What proof does he offer? Here's something: he claims to have set up a viewing for the actor Robert De Niro and a friend of De Niro's; he recounts a conversation between the two men in which they say they believed the film was real; and De Niro's press agent has confirmed the viewing. So, while Svoray couldn't come up with any hard evidence, the De Niro story is pretty convincing that such films do in fact exist, and that there is indeed pure evil (in Svoray's terms) in the world.

Rating:
Summary: if you look hard enough you'll find anything
Review: anyone whos' seen faces of death or its sequals will know that there are films of people being murdered. Take the Jim Jones cult for example. California congressman Leo ryan was gunned down in full view of the tv cameras, along with the cameraman, which was broadcast all over the world. Svorays discovery of the neo nazi movement was no surprise, because it isn't so hard to believe. If Svoray discoverd a secret lab where they crossbreed men with bears and horses and have a whole farm full of man-monsters, then I'd be shocked. But snuff films are no surprise. There are many who would kill a person on camera in exchange for money.

Rating:
Summary: Don't believe the hype!
Review: Having read the reviews here, I purchased this book full of enthusiasm for what is described as a work of non-fiction that reads like a "spy novel" or thriller. Having been blinded by that hype, it wasn't until I was on about Page 200 of 300 pages that I realized that what I was reading was/is a very boring book! Zzzzzz..... Besides, a major hurdle that I had in getting comfortable with the story is this: if the author had seen a snuff film in Germany (which he claims to have done) that gave him repeated nightmares, then why the obsession with obtaining a copy of such a film in order to "prove" that they really do exist?

Rating:
Summary: What nonsense
Review: I read this and I'm skeptical -- this guy managed to uncover something that has eluded all the major law enforcement organizations in the West for over twenty years, offers no solid proof, and I'm supposed to believe him? If there are snuff film producers out there, they couldn't be so stupid as to let just any idiot who claims to be a big timer in on their operation. Even more suspect is the people he claims to have met -- they all fit the snuff film urban legend to a tea -- the super-predator criminal elite, the idle rich, profit-minded pornographers from socially unstable nations...

More than likely, because he had previously claimed to have seen one, he hacked out a book to preserve his credibility. I think it's reasonable to say that a publisher would grant a huge advance if it guaranteed hard evidence of a snuff film, certainly many police agencies would -- why didn't he approach any of them so he could purchase one and had hard evidence? Simple logic is that if he could, it would be groundbreaking enough to guarantee a best-seller and an international media blitz. Instead, we are left with what is essentially hearsay. The fact that the publishers let it go out of print out to say something about the authors' credibility.

Rating:
Summary: Entertainment=1 star, Information=0 stars
Review: That "Gods of Death" [is] a sensationalist puff-piece written like a very slow spy novel.
There is a lot of speculation over the validity of snuff films and while there's certainly a possibility that they do exist Mr. Svoray doesn't present a very compelling argument. The one thing he NEVER acheives is to convince us of a worldwide underground for this stuff. More to the point, he actually acheives the opposite with his bumbling investigation, which is convince the reader that snuff films are not so much an industry unto themselves but rather an isolated occurance.
Throughout his investigation he askes the reader to accept a lot without giving us any real incentive. The "I know it doesn't look like much but you'll just have to trust me" method is the main device that is employed throughout this book.
While you certainly won't find any meaty informative value in this book one might be so inclined as to read it just for morbid curiousity, especially in the light of recent movies like "8mm", and I can tell you in all seriousness that it falls flat in that avenue as well. "Gods of Death" [is] more or less like a pulp spy novel. The only problem is that it is too dreadfully paced and full of macho bravado to even entice the most desperate spy novel geek. And as it pertains to its main character, Mr. Svoray, he tries to put himself over but instead comes across like an irredeemable [idiot].
While I'm certain that some reviewers are of the skeptic camp I'm also sure that there were a great many more that were like myself who went into it with a "show me" attitude. I was willing to accept a possible theory as long as there was sufficient evidence to back it up. Needless to say, there wasn't. As it seems "Gods of Death" makes its entire case on hearsay.
If you are waiting for an intelligent and believable look into the world of snuff pornography I suspect you'll have to wait a while longer. If it's just perverse entertainment you're into then rent "8mm". It's more enjoyable and ultimately more realistic than Yaron Svoray would have you believe.

Rating:
Summary: Pure fiction
Review: With thousands of words written on the subject of death films, one would feel this is a tired subject. A true snuff film has yet to emerge, and Yaron Svoray's Gods of Death, does little to shed any light to the subject.

The book is a great read if treated as fiction. However, the author wants us to believe what he is telling us, no matter how extreme, is true; yet presents not one shred of hard evidence. In one of the closing scenes Svoray has a snuff movie stolen from him, therefore depriving the reader proof. This is par for the course, as the author gives nothing but his own word as to the reality of these type of movies.

This Catherine McKinnon, "snuff movies are real, I know, but I can't tell you how I know," philosophy is seemingly shared by Svoray. The book will be grist for the ultra-feminist extremists who will flaunt any piece of literature, no matter how faulty, to prove their points. With this disgraceful piece of "journalism," Savroy has played right into their hands.

Read it if you want cheap thrills.