S&Man (2006)

Truly Dreadful Film

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Beautiful, moving film.

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

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 first saw this a year or so ago while browsing the Movie/Free Movie section of Comcast's On Demand. Scrolling through the pages of films, I saw Fred Vogel's name appear in the cast listing and became fascinated quickly. I took a look at the trailer of the strangely titled feature and was engulfed with curiosity. The film had a look of a documentary with directors and actors in films from horror's "underground scene".While we meet different celebs talking about movies like "Peeping Tom", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Henry" to name a few, we meet with a fellow behind a line of videos called S&Man, a voyeur and stalker who films people.I enjoyed this as a filmmaker who would casually look for grand terrors in said "underground scene". I would recommend for anyone who has an interest in film, horror movies and the weird.

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.

What have I just been watching? Good movies are supposed to make you think and that's what this one does. If you have the opportunity to see this movie do. Anything else I write would spoil the fun, but when you've watched it, I'm sure you'll be asking yourself the same question. So look for answers afterwards. You'll want to. The human soul is complex. We are horrified by tragic accidents, but we want to watch too. Every killing is a waste of human life, but the dangling and twitching of Saddam Hussein is one of the most viewed clips in history that's forever imprinted in our collective memory. It didn't make me feel any remorse and I certainly wasn't horrified. There are worse ways to die and he deserved it, I guess... But I digress, go see the movie, rent it, buy it and you'll find yourself surfing the net for answers, movies and clips!!!