S&man

A polarizing film that hovers on the boundary of being factual and non-factual as it delves into the dark world on voyarism and S&M as seen through the lens of a horror filmmaker - JT Petty (director of The Burrowers and Hellbender). This is a dark film that may turn away some viewers while hooking others into drifting into the world contained within. It may leave you unclean afterwards but it's a film that will leave an impression on you, even if it's not a clean one. If you've seen enjoy films that go to dark places then this might be the film for you.

When the narrator/director of the film begins with praising a neighborhood peeping tom for "getting away with it" you can pretty much guess what this is all about. Ostensibly an attempt to uncover the world of proto-snuff and other depraved 'underground film making', it becomes a numbing vehicle for it- tarting itself up with intellectual deconstructions and interviews with the participants of these movies and and ultimately revealing itself as another sad exercise of the... form.

Bitter, sociopathic white males acting out their inner rage by staging graphically detailed depictions of the murder of one woman after another may be a lot of things, but one thing it will never be is *art*. Gaspar Noe's movies are better-produced versions of the same thing, and just as unworthy of your time. Proceed accordingly.

2 Stars for genre fans' ability to harvest anecdotes/background information on these movies and that's about it.

I watched this movie because it sounded like a cool idea for a film playing up the documentary but subtly including a fictional element. Unfortunately, it's pretty boring despite all the horrifying content. Skip this one. There are better ways to spend two hours of your life.

I'm surprised there are not more reviews also. Movie kept my attention and was informative; creepy at times and funny. It's not a masterpiece but I liked it better than "Perfect Host" which bored me at times.

If you paid attention, you can see where the ending is going but it is done well and actually scarier than some the the high budget movies being produced.

I never knew about the "Chiller" Festival - certainly opens your eyes to different strokes for different folks...

Horror movies are such large part of society. There are so many TV shows and police dramas focusing on killing and we are obsessed with it. S&Man delves into the psychology of this, but I do think there was much more they could have discovered or analyzed.

S&MAN is a real documentary -or is it?- about the very nature of horror films, using interviews with psychologists, an author / horror movie historian, and some (in)famous underground filmmakers (Bill Zebub, Debbie D., etc.). Everyone is interesting, genuine, and in the case of Mr. Zebub, hilarious!

The best thing about S&MAN is the way that J. T. Petty weaves a fictional character into the narrative, making him every bit as believable as the factual subjects. This gives it a sort of MAN BITES DOG feel.

If you love horror movies, or mockumentaries like THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES, then this belongs on your watchlist...