Also known by its working title of Smut.
The Cinema Snob Movie is an origin story of Brad Jones' The Cinema Snob, and was released on DVD on September 27th. 2012. It focuses on Craig Golightly (Jones), a screenwriter desperate to get his blacksploitation film Black Angus off the ground. But as it turns out, he and his friend Neil (Jake Norvell) need permission from the head of the local film club to film it, permission that is not forthcoming. Seeing no alternative, Craig attends the film club disguised as Vincent Dawn, a fellow Caustic Critic. Then suspicious murders occur with each member of the club being picked off like flies and Craig finds himself forced to solve them. Directed by Ryan Mitchelle (who also appears as the aforementioned head of the film club), the film also stars Team Snob regulars Jillian Zurawski, Sarah Gobble, Dave Gobble, Zach LaVoy and Brian Lewis, as well as Orlando Belisle, Jr. and Noah Antwiler.
A sequel, titled Another Cinema Snob Movie, was released on July 26th, 2019.
This film contains examples of:
- Author Filibuster: After The Reveal of Ted's Freudian Excuse, Craig and him talk about unfair criticism, mirroring Brad's own views of exploitation and unfair judgement of the genre.
- Becoming the Mask: Vladimir is persuaded into acting like "Black Angus" in an attempt to find out who the murderer is.
- Big Damn Heroes: Subverted. When Craig and Nancy are about to be killed by Ted, Vladimir and Neil kick down the door, only for Ted to shoot Vladimir. In the arm. And Neil treats it like Vladimir's dying. Minutes after this, Craig becomes the real hero by finally killing Ted. This is Lampshaded by Nancy.
- Blackface: Proposed as a way to get back film rights, as well as potentially a way to play "Black Angus"Gene: Good God! You're drunk! And shockingly racist! No one is wearing blackface!
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Gene is "the richest man in Springfield" and is able to secure Craig and Neil their lead actor and the roller rink very quickly for their production. After securing the roller rink, he abruptly walks away back to Springfield—five miles away—strictly because he claimed to hear "people who need me."
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Craig lets out an appreciative "Damn!" when Nancy takes off her bra before they have sex.
- Call-Back: Numerous to the original web series.
- Before Craig appears in disguise,note he comes into frame barefoot, which is a trademark of his reviews.
- Dawn's first film choice to bring to the club is Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, which he reviewed from hunched over a toilet and vomiting due to the disgusting nature of the film, yet praised its symbolism. After they watch the film, Dan praises the film as "the anti-happiness, the anti-joy, a true look at sadism with lovely landscaping." This is a direct quote from the original review, and so is much of Vincent's analogy of mass-produced food.
- The line "You're a director, be manipulative" is from Brad's second movie, Cheap.
- Derek Silver lamenting the fact that Alvin and the Chipmunks was a hit at the box office is a reference to his actor and Jake Norvell being forced to go see it for the midnight screening review.
- Craig taunts Ted by telling him that "not even the world 'sleaze' would fuck that movie." This is a similar line to one he used in his Driller Killer review.
- The "Card Sharks" concept and title were from the Chatterbox Snob review.
- Covers Always Lie: The chair from the show is on the cover, but nowhere to be found in the movie.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Everyone the murderer kills gets a disgusting mutilation after their death.
- Alex gets stabbed in the back, and then a barbed-wire baseball bat is shoved up his ass.
- Kevin gets his cellphone antenna stabbed into his eye, and then down into his throat. It's set to vibrate so much that it heats up and burns a hole through his neck.
- John Doe gets shot in the neck with an arrow, and later on a pencil is shoved into his urethra.
- Sandra is shot in the head, and her nose is removed. It's later used in lieu of Nancy's.
- Dan gets smothered with a shopping bag, and a snake is later slipped down his throat.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Craig kills Ted and ends up with Nancy. And as it's revealed in the Snob's review of I Spit on Your Grave, Craig also parlayed his minor fame into the show itself and Neil and Candy ended up together.
- Embarrassing Last Name: When Craig tells Nancy his full, real name, she laughs and says that his real name is even less convincing than his fake name.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Neil's nickname in high school was apparently "The Peeping Tom." Subverted in that Neil doesn't seem to show aversion to it, though Craig does.
- Eye Scream: Kevin is stabbed in the eye with the antenna of his cellphone.
- Fanservice:
- There are two instances of female nudity in the film, including one with Brad's then-wife Jillian.
- Another scene has Sarah Lewis in a bikini.
- Faux Symbolism: Attacked viciously In-Universe.Neil: Crash. The good Crash. The Cronenberg Crash.Craig: They watched it two weeks ago. The car crashes symbolized Auschwitz.
- Friendly Address Privileges: Subverted.Craig: Mr. Phillips?Dan: Please, call me Dan. Because after I tell you this, I don't think you're going to respect me very much.
- Homage: Of Giallo Murder-Mysteries.
- Lame Pun Reaction:
- The film club meetings in the wake of the passing of Arch Keating and Derek Silver are, respectively, "The Golden Arches" and "The Silver Lining". Even Craig groans at these.
- "Play It To The Bone? Well, I've got a bone to pick with this movie, which should be put to sleep at the doggy pound pronto!"
- Lampshade Hanging: Craig and Neil thank Gene for helping secure the roller rink, and say that without him "we'd have to resort to shooting in their parking lot." Guess where the scene takes place.
- Only Sane Man: When the Film Club holds meetings to mourn the loss of their recently-murdered members, Craig is the only one that reacts accordingly when the details of their deaths are revealed...namely, shouting "Oh, my fucking God!" and "Jesus Christ!" Everyone else simply sits there and listens.
- Origin Story: Of the title character. Specifically, as they're trying to figure out a disguise, Brad discloses the true (to real-life) origin story of the costume. He'd gone to a screening of Monkey Shines with a Q&A with George A. Romero afterwards. One of the people present - described as wearing an all-black suit, slicked-back hair, and "Jeffrey Dahmer glasses" - described an analogy of the relation between the main characters (a man and a chimp) as analogous to Man's relationship with evolution. Romero laughed him off.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Craig lampshades this in regards to his minimalist Cinema Snob wardrobe, since Dan Phillips has seen him personally and would be easily able to recognize him. Dan later admits that he fell for it completely, but his wife is the first to notice that "Vincent Dawn" is a pseudonym also used by Bruno Mattei. Subverted when Dan points out why it worked: Craig is just some random film maker he doesn't really think about and barely knows.
- The Peeping Tom: Derek Silver masturbates to a naked girl while watching her from the street, then calls up Candy and tells her he's been "bad" and asks to be "scolded."
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: "I woulda brought some eggs if I knew there was gonna be some bacon!"
- It's subverted when he's immediately shot in the arm.
- The Quiet One: Chester, a lonely man who attends the film club only because he likes seeing porn of Jesus.
- Running Gag:
- "Where's Candy?"
- Whenever Craig comes back from something, Neil is always on the couch eating something (ranging from cookies to bologna slices)
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the second murder, Candy leaves, seemingly for a more tropical locale.
- Side Bet: In the beginning of the film, Craig pays Neil $20 because he'd bet that Dan would remember Craig's pitch for "Card Shark".
- Straw Critic: The Cinema Snob character "Vincent Dawn" as well as the various members of the Film Club each represent the various faces and ideals of the High-Brow, mainstream film critic community, almost to the point of being self-aware.
- Take That!:
- Craig is not thrilled at the prospect of seeing Being John Malkovich.
- When discussing the identity of the killer, Neil suggests that there might be two killers, which Craig immediately dismisses. This is a dig at Scream (1996), a film Brad (at the time) didn't much care for.
- Before settling on the Snob persona, Craig dresses as Gene Shalit. Neil's reaction - "Fuck. You".
- Theme Music Abandonment: It's not surprising to find out that no, a dinky little independent film couldn't afford to license the theme from The Greatest American Hero. (The commentary reveals the best they could do was slip the first three notes into the Snob's leitmotif.)
- What Have I Done: Craig after shooting the murderer: "...I just killed a man."
