Movies / Movie Reviews

S&Man at the Fantasia Film Festival

By Al Kratina
July 16, 2007 - 22:52

S&MAN

2006, USA

Director: J.T. Petty

Writer: J.T. Petty

Cast: Carol J. Clover, Debbie D, Erik Marcisak, Fred Vogel, Bill Zebub

Producers: Jason Kliot, Lawrence Mattis, Joana Vicente

Web: www.sandman-movie.com

Running Time: 84 minutes

 
There’s a side to horror even die-hard fans may be unfamiliar with. Sure, you may be able to rattle off the make and model of every killer car of the last 50 years, from Christine’s 1958 Plymouth Fury to The Car’s modified 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III, but have you ever seen Jesus Christ pleasuring himself through the hole in his palm? That’s the question that S&Man asks, along with the companion question, “why the hell would I want to see that?” S&Man is ostensibly a film about voyeurism, about people who make and watch ultra-low budget films that simulate the mythical snuff movie. Those of us whose morbid curiosity has driven us to troll the Internet for films featuring real life murder have no doubt come up with nothing but a computer full of horse porn and an IP address being tracked by the FBI, but while the real stuff might not exist, there’s plenty of fake snuff out there, and director J.T. Petty brings us into that world.

It’s relatively impossible to accurately review this movie without revealing some of its secrets, so let it be noted that there are some spoilers ahead. What makes this documentary succeed is the fact that a solid third of it is faked. Of the three directors Petty interviews, Bill Zebub, Fred Vogel, and Eric Rost, one is a somewhat bleary journeyman, another is a pleasant but mercenary capitalist, and other is an incredibly natural actor playing a role. The scenes when Rost, played by Erik Marcisak, interacts with Petty are perfectly tuned to increasingly unsettle the audience. Until a reveal at the end, which still deliberately allows some ambiguity to remain, the viewer is never sure if Rost is an actor, a shrewd businessman, or a serial killer. This part of the film is masterfully created. However, the rest seems somewhat slapped together. The interviews with the other two pseudo-snuff filmmakers don’t reveal too much about the motivation and production process. Sections with film historian Carol Clover provide some insight into voyeurism, but not enough. It feels almost like Petty didn’t have enough good material for the documentary to carry itself, and had to pad it out. Ultimately, S&Man is half an unfulfilled documentary and half a creepy fiction film, which isn’t enough to let it succeed, but it’s certainly better than those horse films clogging up my C drive.

 

Rating: 6 on 10

 

alkratina@comicbookbin.com

 

 

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