I have not had time to comment on films for a long time, but this film has aroused such passions amongst the professional critics that I feel compelled to put finger to keyboard and say a few things.

Since I am never sure exactly where to point the finger of blame, I shall merely refer to "the makers", which encompases at least the producer, director, scriptwriter and caster. Other critics blame the director for things which I feel actually belong on some of those other shoulders, so I will not be so specific.

The film is by no means perfect. Yes, the villians are cheesy and stereotyped. Yes, the plot has some serious holes in it. And yes, our hero's relationship with his wife is a little unnatural. As is her sudden decision to leave him. And although no one mentioned it, there were times when the story reminded me of Lethal Weapon.

The main bone of contention by the critics has been the actual portrayal of the "bad" porno movies. The critics objected to the fact that we the viewer did not get to see exactly what was so bad about these films, but instead had to contend with watching the reactions of the actors, and from that deduce exactly how terrible the videos were.

In my humble opinion, the makers were trying to make a point: we the general public condemn porn and particularly snuff films, and yet we harbour secret desires to actually see them for ourselves, "just to see how terrible they really are".

The makers were trying to expose this hypocritical attitude, and in so doing, let us understand exactly why there is a market for these videos and why they will continue to be made.