TIFF Report: S&MAN review

Thwarted in an attempt to make a film about a local perversion scandal director JT Petty turns to another passion, underground horror films. As he interviews filmmakers, actors and field professionals for his film he comes across a very intriguing filmmaker, Eric Rost and his movie series S&MAN [pronounced Sandman]. Eric's series of films feature stalking, torture and murder- perfect for the underground horror film scene. Yet, Eric is awfully mum about his subjects and he avoids Petty's attempts to dig deeper into his films, creating an uneasiness about his film projects, a raising questions about what is real and not real in Eric's films.

So then the question remains, where was your line before you watch S&MAN and did it extend out a bit further by the end? It’s not so hard to disassociate yourself from typical Hollywood fare before you know it is not real. You know at the end of the day that it was a clever [or not] mix of rubber latex, fake blood and camera trickery. But, with his bare bones approach to filming this documentary what Petty has accomplished is making a horror film that feels more real and looks more real. I think it humorous how unpolished digital video seems more real than professional film, something that many, many talented artists work on for months and months just to make it look real. This style also compliments the production style of these underground horror films exampled in the doc. So much that the documentary material blends in with the sampled films and that inhibits your ability to keep the both separate.

The power of S&MAN is that it draws you in perhaps extending your own line at little bit further without you even being conscious of it. It itself perches you a little more precariously on the edge of that cliff. You believe you have morals and standards and yet the power of S&MAN is that you’re committing yourself to finding out if Eric and his video series are real. The segments of the S&MAN series that are shown are so inconclusive and tightly edited, from its source material, which you are left to imagine that what you are seeing is real. Death is alluded to. All of Petty’s attempts to interview the subjects of Eric’s series are shooed away further leading you on to think that something is amiss, that something isn’t quite right. And then Petty has you. You have become the voyeur. You’re waiting to see more of Petty’s subject, Eric, and his pet projects. If you like it or not you’re hooked. Petty also cleverly keeps you away from turning on Eric, or, that you don’t clearly see his most horrid nature. By also introducing other underground filmmakers as Bill Zebub and August Underground’s Fred Vogel your more appalled by there films and their garish films of horror and torture. And isn’t that just the truth of it all- it’s the person you least expected. Bill and Fred are out there getting their kicks and Eric is getting his. Who is the biggest horror?

But I also see an inherit danger in voyeurism of such sort. While I understand the standing from the outside looking in premise to horror films I still don’t know how healthy and unhealthy it is to do so. It could be healthy in a sense that you’re getting out your aggressions. But it could very well be just as unhealthy by feeding those aggressions. Ever read in the news about murders where the perpetrator did it just to know what it feels like? The concern of course is that you can always push the line out a little farther. Yes you can stand out of the edge of the cliff and not fall over but how soon will that cliff edge corrode away each time you stand at it? How much longer can delve into this underground world of horror film making before you are completely immersed in it?

S&MAN is a clever experiment in manipulation. You question what is real and what is not real. And no matter what you may have heard and read prior to viewing this movie, if you can forget about that while watching it you become a part of this experiment and you may or may not see your personal line take a few paces ahead of you.