Christmas. It’s still a bit much, isn’t it? The month’s only just begun and we’ve already been bombarded with weeks of songs about drunk New Yorkers, adverts about sodding penguins and lists. Lists and lists and lists. So here at Impact Film & TV, we’re making our own list. Checking it twice. On to day two…
After yesterday’s present of Martyrs, you’re probably need in something light and refreshing. Instead, we present to you Man Bites Dog, which is at least a bit funnier than torture cults and flaying. Man Bites Dog caused a quiet ruckus on its release in 1992, with the BBFC hesitant to release it on video in the UK (the fact they were initially less willing to release the milder Reservoir Dogs says everything about the viewership numbers they expected MBD to receive).
“There’s a ballast ratio for corpses, three times bodyweight… But for children and midgets it’s different.”
Charismatic serial killer Ben leads a documentary crew around Belgium, detailing how exactly he goes about his passion. In turns equally horrific (one infamous scene involving Ben and a elderly lady who fatefully lets him into her apartment) and blackly hilarious (Ben explaining the differing weights required to bury victims in a lake). It all builds to a dark and inevitable crescendo as the filmmakers begin to help Ben out, more than just observing.
Bleakly shocking, uncomfortably hilarious and deeply incisive, Man Bites Dog is fun for the whole family…
Tom Watchorn
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