I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

One of my all time favorites.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Strange movie that deals with the sexual secrets/fetishes of a young man, most of which are deviant. The movie basically follows the day-to-day sexual encounters of a man who by day is a garbage collector but at night becomes a sexual deviant. Along the way, he receives a graphic blow job in a bathroom from another young man (I saw an interview with the movie's director who described the efforts to get the actor, who is straight in real life, hard for the oral sex scene), has sex with what appears to be a policeman, frolics nude in a pool after hours, has a strange sex scene that involves a faucet/hose in a shower and a leather-type sex scene. Though filled with sex, the actor manages to form a likable, in-depth character that is trapped by his sexual identity that in many ways can be easy to relate to for many. If you watch this, be prepared for graphic sex and a strange story.

'O Fantasma' or…"My Life as a Canine." And that is no exaggeration; this main character who acts completely on animal instincts, Sergio, the garbage boy and his dog is really just a horndog. He has sex with anyone: a woman, men and a motorcycle. He has sex anywhere: bedroom, public bathroom and an alley. But, alas, he's obsessed with a surfer/biker dude he's met while taking out his trash on duty. After a routine night out, and he's taken the extra large garbage from the soon-to-be target, we really learn how Sergio can get dirty. Some of the scenes were really hard to watch, and I'm not referring to the soft-porn gay sex scenes. I'm talking about how easy it is for him to go through his obsession's garbage and tear away at the trash bags with his teeth. And it really only goes downhill from there, if you think you're still dealing with the "normal" gay youth you saw in the beginning. Okay, that's not entirely true – he's first seen in full-body leather having bondage sex. No, I don't necessarily find that strange, though I would never do anything like that; to each his own. I do, however, find opening discarded trash with my teeth odd and disturbing. He finds torn swimming Speedos and the fatal attraction begins. Along the way, you'll get your fill of very explicit sex (and extensive nudity) with both sexes, and a finale that makes you believe the first line of this review: the boy's a dog. I'm not sure how to feel about the film; one might have rooted for Sergio at first, but he'll prove to you, this "phantom" is probably beyond saving. Side note: If you rent this for the sex/nudity, you can skip directly to the extras. I think they knew who the audience would be with the "Eye Candy" special feature.

My Summary above just about says it all. This is a Portugese film directed by Joao Pedro Rodrigues, & starring in his first & only role to date Ricardo Meneses who was barely 17 when this film was made in 2000. (he went back to his home town to work his widowed mothers farm).His portrayal of Sergio shows raw, rare acting ability,Hopefully he will return to the screen.Sergio is a garbage collector,He is also very animalistic in his relations with people,He is very sensual looking & his sexual scenes are very erotic & well done, BUT are not lurid, the are very well handled.I was most impressed with the first 70 or so minutes, the last 20 or so minutes delves into a fantasy situation, that to me did not work that well. If these end scenes made more sense, my rating would have been higher.The acting by the rest of the cast is good, & the production is well done..There is frontal male nudity & male-male sex. However this is not a gay themed film.The sex scenes are just sex scenes period.Ratings: *** (out of 4) 82 points (out of 100) IMDb (7 out of 100)

I will give director Joao Pedro Rodrigues this: he has his own vision about what eroticism is supposed to be like among the disenfranchised and the forgotten and is willing to stick to his own convictions with the release of his movie O FANTASMA. He's found an impromptu performer in Ricardo Meneses who looks like a more masculine Farley Granger and moves on screen like the embodiment of carnality looking for its complement. Now, if only his movie fared better.For its first two thirds, the movie concerns in how one young man's obsession starts to creep out of its known boundaries. Sergio is the sanitation department worker who seems to have a fascination with communicating only through grunts. His closest attachment is a dog that he's made his. He even imitates the mannerisms of the dog, and when a female co-worker clumsily flirts with him, he retreats into this "canine" behavior in a sequence that goes on for too long and brings practically zilch into the story, but makes its point: our Sergio cannot communicate well. He's the taciturn type.Not that there's anything wrong with that. But even in the laziest of erotic stories there is a vague internal life within the main character. There's some description as to who this person is, what he wants, where he comes from. Sergio is given none. Nothing except his overpowering desires, although this isn't such a bad thing if the story had something plausible to say. I've read volumes of gay erotica in my time and even the raunchiest had something to hold onto, however vague, to sustain my interest in the story being told, even if it dealt with themes of debasement like this story does.Why we're made to believe that he has some interest in his female co-worker I don't know. It looks like filler and would have fared better if the character had been male, and someone real as opposed to idealized. His encounters, while believable on paper, seem ridiculous on screen: his dog leads him to a car where he finds a man in handcuffs. He makes no attempt to help the man but decides he might as well "give him a hand." Nice citizen! But there's no mention, no explanation as to why this man is even there, who he may be, or even if this is just Sergio's imagination gone wild since later a cop finds him curled up against the object of his lust's motorcycle.As a matter of fact, another person's objects become Sergio's focus. Since he can't have the guy he's pining for (and he knows it), he decides to start collecting the guy's properties. Someone call for a restraining order, especially since he "marks his spot" by peeing on the guy's bed, but apparently this may not work out in Portugal. Anyway... the more Sergio delves in his desire, the more brutal his sexual "encounters" become. The problem is, none of them have any relation to the real world and happen for the sake of happening. Or at least, to bring forth the erroneous idea that BDSM is a lifestyle for the sick and twisted.Which is exactly what this movie becomes once it hits its last 30 minutes. If at least it had managed to sustain my interest through its disjointed sexual encounters, out of the blue, with no warning, I was hit with one of the worst transitions I've seen on film. Whether the director has a fetishism with the superhero of which this story is named after I cannot say but it made my skin crawl. I just can't believe I sat through this protracted end, but there it is, I did it, and I took a shower right after seeing this. Because for a film that looks and feels like an open toilet in a dingy bathroom, this is all I could do.