Purely Joyful Movie!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I don't get why this movie is referred to as being black comedy. There's nothing funny in this film. In fact, the movie had me on the edge of my seat for so long I felt like I was paralyzed. Never had a film instill this much fear in me except for the night vision scene in "Silence of the Lambs."I gave it a high ranking because it created a deeply visceral response in me where few films have. I think I was sweating just to get through this film, and was finally relieved when it did end. It was like my heart was going to jump out of my chest at any time. Man, this movie was suspenseful.What's interesting is "Man Bites Dog" was accomplished on a shoe- string budget by college film students. The reason I'd acquired the movie in the first place is because it was banned in something like 21 countries. I loved banned films because, as it turns out, what's bad for "normal" viewers is good for me. Other banned films I've enjoyed were "Baise Moi," "Cannibal," "Cannibal Holocaust," "I Spit On Your Grave," etc.

Man Bites DogThe problem with video recording your murders in the 1990s was no online ad revenue.So it's hard to understand why the serial killer in this black comedy would do it.With a film crew in tow, charismatic sociopath Ben (Benoît Poelvoorde) goes about his day-to- day, detailing in-depth for the cameras the finer points of slaying strangers. He demonstrates his barbaric methods as well.While they are passive observers at first, the film crew soon help Ben restrain and dispose of his random victims. As such, they become collateral damage when someone target's Ben for revenge.A pioneer of the found footage sub-genre, this 1992 satire from Belgium takes the mockumentary style in a very dark direction. By blending off-kilter comedy with sadistic cruelty, this NC-17 rated cult hit is jarring in ways few horror movies are. Incidentally, taping your carnage will show jurors just how hot you use to look.Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

This 'film' rudely surpasses not only the point of cinema in its sheer purpose of entertainment or infotainment, but it also fails at mocking the media in its attempt to shock audiences by zooming in on rude violence on a daily basis to get viewer's attention.Labeling this film as a form of art would be similar to labeling actual violence and rape as art. Killing someone in a fashionable or seemingly emotionless manner, doesn't making killing and rape a form of art. In the same way, filming killing and rape in black and white, adding some clever sound tricks, bad lighting and philosophical lines straight from the cereal box, doesn't make these inhumanities funny.If there was a point to be made with this film, they should have made it clearly. Violence like this always demands a reason or an explanation, and what the film does without it, is exactly the opposite of what fans of this picture advocate for: it inflicts ruthless violence on people and makes them label it as fun and entertainment.As to the film effects and acting performances - many potential there. A waste of talent and a lack of intelligence. There were so many other ways and topics in which these could have rendered.

A cerebral hybrid between "Monty Python", "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" and "American Psycho", "Man Bites Dog" is one such film that certainly lives up to its underground reputation. The film's grainy black-and-white photography sets up the overall tone as the viewer goes on a violent, blackly-humorous joyride masquerading as an actual documentary.Meet Benoit Poelvoorde, a clever, cultured, quick-witted, well-liked young man. A seemingly normal man with a fondness for mussels, running down the beach in the nude and most of all, he kills innocent people for a living. Cameraman Andre Bonzel and reporter Remy Belvaux are on hand to film the mundane activities of Ben's daily life along with his friends and family. Unfortunately, the two men begin to realize that their archetypal subject is doing more than just being Mr. Nice Guy.From losing his cherished ID bracelet to accidentally killing a birthday party goer, Ben becomes more than just your garden-variety serial killer in the movies. While viewing the film numerous times, I don't know what my natural reaction would be whether to laugh or be horrified. The final reaction would be both.Yes, the film is indeed shockingly violent, offensively funny and proud of it. But thanks to Poelvoorde's naturalistic performance, we know "Man Bites Dog" will be an out-of-this-world experience filled with manic glee and intense energy. The main saying goes: "No rules, no consequences." Which reminds me of that fine American institution for censorship? The Motion Picture Association of America better known as the MPAA."Man Bites Dog" makes sense for receiving the dreaded NC-17 rating. While the latter rating is usually reserved for sexually-themed films like SHOWGIRLS, it is finally put to proper use for a movie with such realistic depictions of violence.Forget "Blair Witch." Forget "Paranormal Activity." And forget "Quarantine." Those so-called "home video" genre movies don't hold a candle to the pure down-and-dirty celluloid that is "Man Bites Dog." The best film of 1992.Viva Cinema!