Less than five minutes into S&Man (aka Sandman), director JT Petty confesses that this isn't the film he wanted to make. What he had hoped to do was tell the tale of a notorious Peeping Tom who'd haunted Petty's own neighborhood when the filmmaker was a boy; but when the subject refused to participate, Petty was forced to find some other way to spend distributor HDNet's money, with the result being this documentary about the twisted world of underground hardcore fetish horror flicks. Petty interviews a guy who happily describes the vile sexual, scatological, and violent acts depicted in his films; a delusional “actress” who expects to be a mainstream movie star; and a handful of academics. But he ends up focusing primarily on Eric Rost, the nerdy auteur behind the S&Man series, who “auditions” girls by stalking them and filming them without their knowledge. The DVD jacket breathlessly states that Petty “begins to suspect that … Eric's ‘actors' are in fact ‘victims,' placing the filmmaker in dangerous territory and making S&Man the most unsettling horror experience in years.” While that may sound titillating, a reveal in the final credits suggests that Petty's entire undertaking may be just a clever put-on. Recommended, overall. (S. Graham)
S&Man
Magnolia, 85 min., R, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $24.99 Volume 26, Issue 2
S&Man
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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