release, writing, "Man Bites Dog defines audacity. An assured, seductive chamber of horrors, it marries nightmare with humor and then abruptly takes the laughter away. Intentionally disturbing, it is close to the last word about the nature of violence on film, a troubling, often funny vision of what the movies have done to our souls.... The deserving winner of the International Critics Award at Cannes ..." Film critic Rob Gonsalves called the film "[an] original, a stark and (sorry) biting work far more complex, both stylistically and thematically, than first meets the eye." Stephen Holden of The New York Times called the film "a grisly sick joke of a film that some will find funny, others simply appalling." Holden concluded his review by stating that the film "gets carried away with its own cleverness. It makes the audience the butt of a nasty practical joke." Box office The film grossed $1.2 million in Belgium and more than $2 million in France. In the United States and Canada it grossed $205,569. See also Truth In Journalism References Bibliography Roscoe, Jane (2006): Man Bites Dog: Deconstructing the Documentary Look. In: Rhodes, Gary Don/Springer, John Parris (eds.) (2006): Docufictions. Essays on the intersection of documentary and fictional filmmaking. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, p. 205-215. External links Man Bites Dog: Cinema of Entrapment an essay by Matt Zoller Seitz at the Criterion Collection 1992 films 1992 comedy-drama films 1992 crime thriller films 1992 independent films 1990s French-language films Belgium in fiction Belgian black-and-white films 1990s black comedy films 1990s crime comedy films Belgian black comedy films Films about filmmaking Films set in Belgium Films shot in Brussels Found footage films Belgian independent films 1990s mockumentary films Belgian satirical films Self-reflexive films 1990s serial killer films Films about snuff films Obscenity controversies in film Film censorship in Belgium Film controversies in Belgium Censored films Torture in films French-language Belgian films