Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist

Pain brings suffering to some, salvation to others. Pain brings peace to some, penis to others. And to some, a nail for that penis. And another nail. And another. Bonus Challenge: try watching on a morning rush hour subway train in Tokyo. It actually helps you to fit in.

How have I forgotten to rate this! I tell everyone to watch it. Among the greatest, most interesting, and extreme documentaries, and it packs emotional punch too. It's not too often such a poignant balance is struck with these topics.

Learn from my mistakes and don't try to watch this while you have breakfast. Bob is a fascinating person, and this documentary offers a poignant look at, as the title suggests, life and death and their interconnected nature from the point of view of a man who confronts his own mortality every single day.

Wow! this was a really extreme documentary from a lot of points of views, you couldn't write the history that Bob had, if you have heard the phrase "reality overcomes fiction" this movie proves it. The cinematography and camera work is very uneven but is spared because of the complexity of the subject and ambitiousness of this art project, it really touched me.

Vile, disgusting, depressing, charmin'. Dry Heave: The movie.

Hard to rate since it was sometimes very hard to watch. I'm not into sm-stuff at all, but I can understand it in a way why he was into it.. kind of.. Skipped through the ending though, it was too painful

If you're capable of being grossed-out, this movie will do it in a variety of ways, so be warned. One particular shot I found too painful to look at. But it is a superb biographical documentary, touching, sad and fascinating, and as the cliche goes, but very literally hits the nail on the head for once, it is a look into the truly tormented soul of an artist.

An affecting film with a great romance at the centre of it. There's a lot of on-screen assault, but the toughest scene to watch is Flanagan on his death-bed, just a few hours from his demise.

"The title alone of Kirby Dick's alleged documentary Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist practically screams: "This is not your standard biopic!"" - Eric Henderson

This was... educational. And, in the end, as Flanagan finally succumbs to a pain he cannot conquer, moving. I have some reservations about Dick's approach (needlessly in-your-face).

Nice idea for a documentary, but the nonstop parade of self-abuse and self-mutilation is just too disgusting to watch. And this is coming from a lifelong horror-movie fan who normally doesn't blink at the most outrageous gore

A daring, very graphic, unique documentary suited to the extreme personality it portrays. It's heartbreaking by the end (as you can guess from the title), but it's also very exciting to see a man defying not only his physical limitations but also all conventions of society. The best antidote to the typical bullshit films about the struggling-against-all-odds disabled.