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Released by: Magnolia Films
Released on: 10/12/2010
Director: JT Petty
Cast: Fred Vogel, Erik Marcisak, Bill Zebub, Debbie D.
Year: 2006
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The Movie:
After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, JT Petty's 'documentary' S&Man finally gets a long overdue DVD release from the good people at Magnolia Films. When this movie begins, an opening segment explains how it was originally intended to be a look at a specific case of voyeurism that was covered up when it was found that a court case would lay wide open the details of the lives of those who were victims. From there, we learn about how voyeurism has always played a part in horror cinema, citing Peeping Tom and Halloween as two perfect examples and showing clips to back this theory up.
And then it changes gears. We start to delve into the world of underground sex and gore films as a trip through the sales floor of a Chiller Theater convention showcases a few different dealers specializing in low budget productions which cater to a certain kink. This leads to a look at the work of filmmakers like Bill Zebub, who makes movies not for artistic intent but so 'perverts will give me money' and who is quite open about his penchant for drinking too much before a shoot. He makes films like Jesus Christ Serial Rapist, where we see Christ fuck the whole in his hand left by the nail that held him to the cross. Then there's Fred Vogel, the main man behind the faux snuff films in the August Underground series, some of the harshest and nastiest films you'll ever see. We also meet Debbie D., a charming and buxom lady who makes low budget 'request' films in which she'll film pretty much anything you want happening to her for a fee, so long as it's not hardcore. Interviews with authors and experts on sexual issues explain what it is about human nature that draws a certain segment of the public to films like this and the film begins to explore whether or not advances in practical effects work has made it seemingly impossible for us to distinguish the line between what is real, a snuff film for example, and what is fake.
It's here that the film starts to focus on Eric Rost, a young man who lives in his mother's basement in a quiet Queens neighborhood and who makes a living as the director of the S&Man series of low budget pictures. In these movies he follows around a specific girl he finds on the street without her knowledge, finding out where she lives, where she works, and what she does for fun. From there, he gets to know her a bit, and then eventually has her agree to let him kill her on camera. The details behind all of this are shady, and Rost's sanity and moral hygiene can certainly be questioned, a fact that isn't lost on Petty, who serves as a narrator and Michael Moore style on camera guide through this odd world. While Petty is exploring Rost's work, Rost is becoming more obsessed with Petty, hoping to use this documentary as a springboard to a more lucrative film career - there's some rich irony there.
S&Man is a movie you need to pay close attention to. There's more to this than just a look at a bunch of nasty clips from semi-notorious underground gore films and there's more to this than just some talking heads explaining why people like you and I enjoy seeing tits and blood on screen. The film makes you think about the concept of voyeurism on film, about whether we as a society have gone too far in our cinematic portrayal of sex and death on screen and whether we can ever go back to a time when we were not completely desensitized to such things - and it's also very funny. It might not seem so at first, in fact, on the surface, it's pretty disturbing, but stick with it. All the way. Right up through the end credits. You'll get the joke eventually, though you might have to watch it more than once to figure it all out.
Petty is due some pretty hefty credit for pulling this one off as well as he does here. It couldn't have been an easy job, trying to keep the right tone on a project like this and balancing the different portions of the production that all come together quite perfectly at the end, but he does just that and on a modest budget to boot.
Video/Audio/Extras:
S&man looks fine in this 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer save for the fact that it crops a lot of the films that it pulls clips from. There's nothing to really complain about here. The newly shot footage is crisp and clean, there aren't any problems with dirt or debris though there are a few minor any problems with compression artifacts from time to time. Some of the archival clips from various low budget underground films look understandably worse than the newer footage, but you can't fault anyone for that. Expect some softness as this was shot under less than perfect conditions at times, but overall it looks fine.
Audio is supplied in a nice Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track with optional subtitles available in Spanish only. Again, the quality of the presentation varies from scene to scene but the interview footage sounds just fine and you won't have any problems understanding the various interviewees as they speak. The score stays in the background and never overpowers anything and there are no problems with hiss or distortion to be concerned about. There isn't a ton of surround activity here, most of what you'll hear comes from the front of the mix, but the movie doesn't need more than what it has here.
There are two commentaries found here, the first of which puts writer/director JT Petty in front of the microphone alongside Erik Marcisak which talks about how this project evolved from Petty's initial idea of doing a documentary on a peeping tom he'd heard about to the underground gore/sex film expose that it turned into. It's a pretty interesting and intelligent track that lets Petty talk about what he wanted to accomplish with this film, how he feels about the project as a whole, and about some of the people that he worked with on the film. The second commentary once again uses Petty but here he's joined by Eric Rost, the man we see in the feature who makes the S&Man movies. Here, Rost is angry with Petty for the way that he's been portrayed in the film and he basically lets him have it. You'll either see the humor in these two tracks or you won't, and I'll leave it at that.
Aside from that, check out the unedited version of S&Man Episode 11, which we see clips of in the feature, an unedited clip from August Underground's Mordum which, again, we see in the feature, a trailer for the movie, trailers for other Eric Rost movies, trailers for other S&Man entries, and some moderately interesting deleted scenes. Menus and chapter stops are included and there are previews for other Magnolia releases that play before you can get to them.
The Final Word:
S&Man is very clever and without wanting to completely wanting to explain just why that is for fear of ruining it all, I'll also note that it's also very interesting. Having an interest in underground gore and fetish films will probably aid in your enjoyment here, but the humor behind all of this is hard to miss. Magnolia's DVD looks and sounds about as good as it needs to and includes some good bonus material to help round out an all around very strong package.