Man Bites Dog



A Belgian 1992 Black Comedy Mockumentary directed by and starring Benoît Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel, following a Serial Killer as he goes about his business.

The original title is C'est arrivé près de chez vous, which literally translates to 'It Happened in Your Neighborhood.'

The film was made on a shoe-string budget and therefore made as cheaply as possible. Everything was filmed in black-and-white and the three directors are also the three main actors. Supporting actors are friends and family members, which only adds to the realism. Despite its financial limitations it became a powerful, sometimes funny, often disturbing satire on television's obsession with real-life violence. The film also became a Cult Classic outside Belgium.


 * Affably Evil: Benoit is thoroughly charming and murderous.
 * Black Comedy
 * Deliberately Monochrome: possibly as a result of the low budget the directors/producers/actors were working with.
 * Found Footage Films: Implied by the ending.
 * Leave the Camera Running: At all times the crew keeps filming, even when things get ugly...
 * Mockumentary
 * Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: Despite every crime Benoit commits the film crew keeps coming back to him and are even invited to join in, which they do without batting an eye.
 * Professional Killer: It's implied that Benoit makes some of his income this way, although he prefers to get money by ransacking his victims' homes.
 * Consequences are incurred when one of his victims turns out to be from a Mob family, who start sending other Professional Killers after Ben.
 * Running Gag: Members of the camera crew keep getting shot and accidentally killed.
 * Satire
 * Serial Killer: Benoit
 * Snuff Film: If this film were real it would certainly qualify as one...
 * Villain Protagonist
 * Wicked Cultured: Benoit has pretensions of this; he speaks knowledgeably on such subjects as architecture and classical music, and what he lacks in actual knowledge he makes up in enthusiasm.