S&Man - Production

Production

We have to react to real violence and real snuff footage all the time, news channels show decapitations and bodies dragged in the streets.

S&Man's director J. T. Petty originally intended the film to focus on a man who lived near his childhood home; the man often spied on, and filmed, his neighbors. The footage led to an indictment towards "the peeper", who recorded 191 videotapes of Petty's childhood neighborhood. The indictment implied the footage should be viewed in court, but the people in the neighborhood opposed this owing to privacy concerns. Petty said of the 191 videotapes, "I admired the peeping tom; he had made movies that were frightening and titillating and real." The idea of using a camera to record his neighbor's house for hours fascinated him so much that he decided to direct a film about it. Although he had already secured funding, Petty was left without a subject since "the peeper" wanted nothing to do with the film. Petty decided to focus on three directors, who did not direct films aimed at the general public; they directed simulated snuff films, involving murder and sexual assault. Petty found the directors — Zebub, Vogel, and Marcisak, Petty's friend who played the fictional director Rost — at the Chiller Convention, an underground horror event.

The film's title comes from the fictional S&Man video series directed by Rost. In the videos, Rost stalks women for a long time and, after learning about them, he asks them if they want to be a part of his films. All of the videos are first person with no dialogue. The film references other films, including Peeping Tom, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Kill the Scream Queen, and The Crucifier.