J. T Petty's S&Man

If just received an e-mail release from J. T Petty telling me that his film S&Man - pronounced Sandman - and "a study of voyeurism and underground horror" will be screening in the Midnight programme at this year's Toronto FilmFestival (September 7th-16th).

The film's offical site is up and features "info, reviews, links, trailers, and a soundtrack from the always brilliant On Fillmore."

J.T's words, not mine. The film is a documentary, first and foremost, but there do seem to be some fictional elements creeping in at the edges. To say much more would possibly spoil the film - and I haven't even seen it myself.

Soft, For Digging was J. T's first film, Mimic 3: Sentinel was his second, and now S&Man is his third. I rather liked both of his first two films and before Soft, For Digging was available on DVD I tried very hard to track a copy of my own down - to no avail. Hopefully S&Man will get a good release and I won't be trying to beg, borrow or steal a bootleg for months to come.

It seems that much of the film's study of voyeurism, gender, brutality and violence in horror films comes courtesy of interviews with Carol J. Clover, author of Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film - yet another book I've been meaning to read but always put aside to watch movies instead. Sigh.

Good luck, with the film, J.T. I hope to see it soon.