I'm going to be scared next time I walk the streets in the dark that 16K++ people loved Man Bites Dog.
~ Observe, and act with clarity. ~
Seeing it is one thing; living it is quite another. Perhaps this is a thinking-person's anti-violence art film? It makes for brutal viewing, but it certainly drives it points home, though occasionally I found it tedious. 7/10 stars from me.
It was released kind of at the peak of art house cinema, at least in terms of availability and interest. You'd had the entire second half of the 1980s where the American art house directors had gotten traction and there were more and more venues to watch them, plus the ability to get these films on VHS. Reservoir Dogs kind of broke through the entire art house/indie concept to the mass public.
The side effect of this was it was possible to see a ton of foreign films that wouldn't have otherwise been available, often in the cinema itself. I think in my city we had at least 4 screens that ran art house stuff full time, and I'm pretty sure I saw this one during a brief run on one of those screens.
Although I'd be surprised if anyone under maybe 30 has seen or heard of this film. It's low profile, foreign language and kind of shocking.