Review of Man Bites Dog (1992) by Andy P — 22 Mar 2015

I didn't really know what to expect when I randomley decided to rent it at the video store. It caught my eye, the box sounded interesting, and I had remembered hearing it was "shocking" and "disturbing".

I guess I wasn't expecting the whole film to be a fake documentary, so I was taken aback for a minute. But I like movies that are different, try new techniques, break new ground, so I stuck with it.

And well, it's really not a very good movie. I think the main problem lies in that the film is utterly unconvincing at all times. I love being shocked by movies, and movies certainly still have the power to shock even a jaded viewer like me.

A good movie makes you forget what you are watching is all staged, but you react to it as if it were real because you are engrossed within the movie. But here, the fake documentary style, which is supposed to make the film seem more "real" and "shocking", just makes it seem more fake.

Everything about the movie looks and feels fake, from the murders to the tedious ramblings of the serial killer. It all feels so manufactured, and it was impossible to get into the movie when it all just felt so staged.

The movie does feature content that normally might be very upsetting to watch, like the viscious gang-rape and murder of a woman and the suffocating of a child. But because everything about the movie looks and feels so completely unreal and unconvincing, none of it fazed me in the slightest.

It doesn't look like a deranged documentary, it looks like a movie trying to simulate the feel of a deranged documentary. And then they have lots of interviews with the killer being philosophical and wise and his parents and friends talking about what a wonderful man he is, even though he's a serial killer.

All of this may have been interesting if it were a real documentary, but since it's all been scripted and performed by actors, the movie has a "who-the-fuck-cares?" additude to it. The movie isn't really eye-opening or intelligent because it's all so fictionalized.

Who cares about the daily activities of this fake serial killer and the fake film crew that ends up participating in his murders. Maybe the film would have been more effective if they had built a more traditional film around the premise; make a regular film about documentary filmmakers that sacrifice their integrity and morals.

Then maybe the slaughter of so many innocent people would have seemed more real and packed more of a punch. As it is, it's a fake documentary whose style gets old after about 20 minutes and then continues on for what seems like an eternity.