Rarely do I refer directly to another reviewers review when I put my own take on a film, but I agree 100% with FERTILECELLULOID's opinion of this film and of the other films he references when comparing them to this one. MAN EATER had the potential to be a truly great film, but got lost somewhere along the line and the emotional response that the viewer initially feels becomes clouded by a "rushed" feeling second half.
The film tells the semi-biographical story of Li Hui Huang (or Zee-Oui as he is "re-named" by customs officials when he reaches Thailand...) - a sickly and slow-witted Chinese immigrant to Thailand after WWII, who works odd-jobs and steals when convenient in order to support his existence. Plagued with a violent case of asthma that he constantly suffers from - Huang is often berated and picked-on by other adults and children alike due to his weaknesses, both mental and physical. His mind-state goes from bad-to-worse based on a combination of this relentless bullying, a string of insufferably bad luck, and his deteriorating health. Unable to consistently afford proper medicine, Huang resorts to abducting and killing children to secure a "remedy" that was originally introduced to him as a young boy by his mother. Meanwhile - a female reporter is on the case of the child-killer, and is eventually able to peg Huang for the crimes after a slip-up at one of the murder scenes...
MAN EATER started off as a very strong film that showed the inner torment of a man plagued by many factors that caused him to go insane. Unfortunately - the film didn't keep with this tone and towards the second-half turned more into a typical "good-guys-chasing-the-bad-guy" type of film. Even so, MAN EATER is quite a bit above average in almost every respect (hence my still giving it a pretty high rating...), but I felt that focusing more on Huang and his "journey" would have made this a near perfect film. The acting is great, the sets/locations are superb, and the basic subject matter is interesting and thought-provoking. There are some relatively "graphic" scenes of child-violence, but most of the actual violent acts are portrayed off-screen, thought the aftermath of Huang's deeds are shown pretty unflinchingly. But again, as FC mentioned - MAN EATER never quite reaches the exploitative graphic excess of THE UNTOLD STORY, or the extremely dark tone of IN A GLASS CAGE (both films that deal with somewhat similar subject matter) - and personally I would have liked to have seen MAN EATER get taken to those extremes. Regardless - this is a very solid film that I would still recommend. The story is apparently based on a true-crime case, though I have never researched it to see how well the film follows the real-life events - but it's fascinating stuff nonetheless...7.5/10
The film tells the semi-biographical story of Li Hui Huang (or Zee-Oui as he is "re-named" by customs officials when he reaches Thailand...) - a sickly and slow-witted Chinese immigrant to Thailand after WWII, who works odd-jobs and steals when convenient in order to support his existence. Plagued with a violent case of asthma that he constantly suffers from - Huang is often berated and picked-on by other adults and children alike due to his weaknesses, both mental and physical. His mind-state goes from bad-to-worse based on a combination of this relentless bullying, a string of insufferably bad luck, and his deteriorating health. Unable to consistently afford proper medicine, Huang resorts to abducting and killing children to secure a "remedy" that was originally introduced to him as a young boy by his mother. Meanwhile - a female reporter is on the case of the child-killer, and is eventually able to peg Huang for the crimes after a slip-up at one of the murder scenes...
MAN EATER started off as a very strong film that showed the inner torment of a man plagued by many factors that caused him to go insane. Unfortunately - the film didn't keep with this tone and towards the second-half turned more into a typical "good-guys-chasing-the-bad-guy" type of film. Even so, MAN EATER is quite a bit above average in almost every respect (hence my still giving it a pretty high rating...), but I felt that focusing more on Huang and his "journey" would have made this a near perfect film. The acting is great, the sets/locations are superb, and the basic subject matter is interesting and thought-provoking. There are some relatively "graphic" scenes of child-violence, but most of the actual violent acts are portrayed off-screen, thought the aftermath of Huang's deeds are shown pretty unflinchingly. But again, as FC mentioned - MAN EATER never quite reaches the exploitative graphic excess of THE UNTOLD STORY, or the extremely dark tone of IN A GLASS CAGE (both films that deal with somewhat similar subject matter) - and personally I would have liked to have seen MAN EATER get taken to those extremes. Regardless - this is a very solid film that I would still recommend. The story is apparently based on a true-crime case, though I have never researched it to see how well the film follows the real-life events - but it's fascinating stuff nonetheless...7.5/10