[Editorial] Exploring Fear and Extreme Film in S&Man (2006)

Where is the line between real and fake? What scares you the most?  What boundary will you not cross? We always love a bit of nasty at Ghouls Magazine, so I thought S&Man (2006), read as “Sandman,” was the perfect movie to help us meditate on these questions.

The film has an original point of view, in that it’s part documentary, part mockumentary. It’s framed as filmmakers who set out to make a documentary about voyeurism, and accidentally stumble into extreme filmmaking and possibly murder. The documentary portion explores the extreme film industry, particularly underground, independent exploitation films. There are interviews with industry names such as Dr. Carol Clover, author of Men, Women, and Chainsaws; Fred Vogel of the August Underground films; Debbie D, a scream queen; and Bill Zebub, an independent filmmaker. They are asked about their opinions on extreme films and their place in society. There are also interviews with psychiatrists, offering explanations for voyeurism and other paraphilic disorders. 

Intertwined with straightforward interviews about real topics are the mockumentary scenes. The documentary filmmakers interview Eric (Erik Marcisak), a friendly, quiet guy, who makes and sells his movies at underground horror fests. He calls himself the S&Man. His movies are stalker fantasies, in which he follows women and kills them, with very little production or acting. His films are starkly different from the films of Bill Zebub, which are campy and heavily acted. As the documentarians are talking to Eric, they start to wonder if he’s actually a murderer. They cannot contact any of the women starring in Eric’s films, and Eric is defensive and shifty when the questions about his filmmaking become too specific. 

It’s the woven pattern of “real” and “fake” that makes this film such a wonderfully uncomfortable watch. In one scene, we are hearing from Debbie about how acting may be uncomfortable at times, but she always feels safe. In the next scene, Eric is vaguely talking about following women who can’t see him. And in the next, Fred Vogel is talking about the actual cutting and vomiting that happen in the August Underground films. My brain could not rest in one place. Each time I settled into the safe place of “this is a horror movie, it’s not real” I was pulled back out into “this is a documentary about the horrors of filmmaking” and next, suddenly wondering, “wait, are people getting hurt, am I accidentally watching something I don’t want to see?” 

There are different kinds of fear, some we seek, and some we never want to experience. Dr. Clover makes a great point in the film that “the audience for horror and the audience for snuff are not the same.” It’s certainly harder for me to watch real violence than horror movie violence.

I remember the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America. I was 14, and in school the morning it was happening. The school was buzzing as we were changing classes, and I remember just arriving at my English class in time to see the second tower get hit. It’s the most horrible thing I have ever witnessed in real time. I watched so many people die, all at once, on what I thought would be a regular school day. The fear I felt at that time was on a bigger scale than I could imagine, and I couldn’t process it. But I wasn’t afraid for myself. The most afraid I have ever been for myself was when a boyfriend threatened me with a knife when we were at his house and his parents weren’t home. I was 13. I was in fear for my physical safety, and afraid of getting in trouble if I told anyone.

My heart was pounding, my senses somehow both heightened and dampened, mind racing for a plan. This is different from the fear I experienced when my father died when I was 16 - that was a slow, burning, humming fear, wrapped in grief and confusion. All three situations scared the hell out of me, but they all felt completely different, and not at like the fear I feel watching a well-made horror film. The fear I felt in those real situations - witnessing mass murder, being personally threatened, and losing a parent - is different from the fear I seek when I watch, read, or listen to horror. 

Thankfully, no media experience has ever made me question my safety, but the feeling I got when I first watched S&Man was close. Not because it was the most extreme film I’ve ever seen - far from it, it’s shot like a documentary - but because it made me question the reality of what I was watching and explore the type of fear I seek. I highly recommend S&Man to all horror fans, to explore why we like what we like, and where we draw the line. 

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