Huffington Post Loves American Cannibal! - GoFuckYourself.com

TheAmericanCannibal · 03-18-2007, 08:27 AM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tobi-e...x_b_43549.html

Media Cannibal Redux
READ MORE: New York, Paris Hilton
Chomping away at the jerky shenanigans of reality TV show productions never tasted so good.

A little less than a year after their film debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, the directors of the indie documentary "American Cannibal: The Road to Reality" pull the trigger today on a national release via Lifesize Entertainment. The film, whose auspicious TFF debut was chronicled here, finally premieres in New York at Cinema Village. The directors are angling on a decent weekend box office in New York in order for the film to cruise beyond its 12-city/12-screen debut to a wider, national release.

Written and directed by Perry Grebin and Michael Nigro, the film follows two embattled TV writers who get swept up in the reality TV show craze, wending their way down the food chain to a project funded by Kevin Blatt, best known as the distributor of the Paris Hilton sex tapes.

Blatt mounts a production called "American Cannibal" where contestants are forced to survive on a desert island competing in physical challenges a la "Survivor". The only thing more extreme is the fact that "Cannibal" dangles the ultimate survival challenge by suggesting the show might end in actual cannibalism. But it never got to anyone actually gnawing on a toe: Action on the trainwreck of a production halts abruptly after a few days when a contestant becomes injured.

The viewer is left to question whether the entire story was staged as a surrealistic comment on the reality TV-craze and what passes for entertainment in our culture. In fact, we don't know whether the injury was real or staged. To this day, Blatt doesn't acknowledge the injury occurred on the set. On the show's beachfront set, we find out that she suffered from hypoglycemia but somehow managed to squeak through the contestant selection process. Mmm, maybe something's not right here...

The directors manage to weave in plenty of acid commentary from reality show producers, academics, and other experts on the lengths to which people will go to get their 15 minutes or less of D-list fame. For starters, the film focuses on the vacuous hyperbole potential contestants use to market themselves?how strong they are, how physically fit, how willing they are to not only consume spiders but fingers, heck maybe even an eyeball. They have no problem removing their clothes. As the contestants mug for video auditions, the filmmakers appear to relish exposing the grotesque stupidity, the lurid spectacle.

Eventually, the selected contestants are flown to the island where they party down until they are abruptly awakened at 3 a.m. to start the twisted adventure. They arrive on the island set exhausted, broken, and hungry ? one having puked her guts out crossing the choppy seas to the beachfront set. Since the filmmakers were prohibited from actually filming the challenges, the viewer never actually sees what went down, including the actions that led up to the alleged injury that befalls one of the female contestants.

Meanwhile, back on the island of Manhattan, the directors last week admitted they set up situations to ensure the writers entered situations designed to provoke maximum weirdness. They set up pitch meetings for the writers and filmed them, concocted meetings and conversations with Blatt, among other situations. "Everything eventually got away from us," Grebin says. "Gil and Dave [the writers] were like a control group for us," Nigro adds. While last year at Tribeca, the directors expressed outrage over the injured girl, now they say they couldn't trace the facts, couldn't prove what happened. Taking a page from the playbook of reality programmers, they're working whatever angles possible to sensationalize the film and fill seats. But can you blame them?

Despite the strange brew where one never quite knows who's playing who, (both within the context of the film and outside of it) which lines were crossed, as well as how and when they were crossed, "American Cannibal" is a wickedly sardonic, funny, hyper-real piece of entertainment. Sadly, I think it will remain startlingly relevant for a long time ? or for at least as long as our culture and media types remain intent on reveling in the freakish and the salacious. The film is worth seeing if only to remind us of the pervasive insanity of what passes for entertainment and the media's role in drumming up stories out of it. The more stories, the more eyeballs. The more eyeballs, the chance for better ratings. Better ratings translates into advertising dollars.

And the reality drumroll continues: Blatt's currently backing a show called "Virgin Territory" about a house of all male virgins locked in a house with porn stars and models. In an interview with Adult Video News, Blatt claims "one lucky virgin will be de-flowered on national television" by series end. Auditions for the series took place in New York this week. Word is, SpikeTV is interested in the project.

crockett · 03-18-2007, 08:31 AM

Wouldn't mind seeing it, but it's not playing in any of the local theaters. How long b4 it's on DVD?

tASSy · 03-18-2007, 08:31 AM

nice review!

can't wait for it become available closer to me.

JFK · 03-18-2007, 08:33 AM

and the Hypemachine is starting

GO KB

TheAmericanCannibal · 03-18-2007, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JFK

and the Hypemachine is starting

GO KB

The hype machine works 24/7
It just had to have it's oil changed, and it's plugs tuned up!

It's now firing on all cylinders JFK...

I hope all of you who wish to see this film get to see it soon.
The box office numbers for this weekend determine if you will see it longer on the big screens or not-

If you have friends in NY and Orange County, CA PLEASE PLEASE TELL THEM TO SEE IT TODAY!!!

Every ticket purchased this weekend counts!

03-18-2007, 08:27 AM	#1
TheAmericanCannibal Confirmed User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 3,086	Huffington Post Loves American Cannibal! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tobi-e...x_b_43549.html Media Cannibal Redux READ MORE: New York, Paris Hilton Chomping away at the jerky shenanigans of reality TV show productions never tasted so good. A little less than a year after their film debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, the directors of the indie documentary "American Cannibal: The Road to Reality" pull the trigger today on a national release via Lifesize Entertainment. The film, whose auspicious TFF debut was chronicled here, finally premieres in New York at Cinema Village. The directors are angling on a decent weekend box office in New York in order for the film to cruise beyond its 12-city/12-screen debut to a wider, national release. Written and directed by Perry Grebin and Michael Nigro, the film follows two embattled TV writers who get swept up in the reality TV show craze, wending their way down the food chain to a project funded by Kevin Blatt, best known as the distributor of the Paris Hilton sex tapes. Blatt mounts a production called "American Cannibal" where contestants are forced to survive on a desert island competing in physical challenges a la "Survivor". The only thing more extreme is the fact that "Cannibal" dangles the ultimate survival challenge by suggesting the show might end in actual cannibalism. But it never got to anyone actually gnawing on a toe: Action on the trainwreck of a production halts abruptly after a few days when a contestant becomes injured. The viewer is left to question whether the entire story was staged as a surrealistic comment on the reality TV-craze and what passes for entertainment in our culture. In fact, we don't know whether the injury was real or staged. To this day, Blatt doesn't acknowledge the injury occurred on the set. On the show's beachfront set, we find out that she suffered from hypoglycemia but somehow managed to squeak through the contestant selection process. Mmm, maybe something's not right here... The directors manage to weave in plenty of acid commentary from reality show producers, academics, and other experts on the lengths to which people will go to get their 15 minutes or less of D-list fame. For starters, the film focuses on the vacuous hyperbole potential contestants use to market themselves?how strong they are, how physically fit, how willing they are to not only consume spiders but fingers, heck maybe even an eyeball. They have no problem removing their clothes. As the contestants mug for video auditions, the filmmakers appear to relish exposing the grotesque stupidity, the lurid spectacle. Eventually, the selected contestants are flown to the island where they party down until they are abruptly awakened at 3 a.m. to start the twisted adventure. They arrive on the island set exhausted, broken, and hungry ? one having puked her guts out crossing the choppy seas to the beachfront set. Since the filmmakers were prohibited from actually filming the challenges, the viewer never actually sees what went down, including the actions that led up to the alleged injury that befalls one of the female contestants. Meanwhile, back on the island of Manhattan, the directors last week admitted they set up situations to ensure the writers entered situations designed to provoke maximum weirdness. They set up pitch meetings for the writers and filmed them, concocted meetings and conversations with Blatt, among other situations. "Everything eventually got away from us," Grebin says. "Gil and Dave [the writers] were like a control group for us," Nigro adds. While last year at Tribeca, the directors expressed outrage over the injured girl, now they say they couldn't trace the facts, couldn't prove what happened. Taking a page from the playbook of reality programmers, they're working whatever angles possible to sensationalize the film and fill seats. But can you blame them? Despite the strange brew where one never quite knows who's playing who, (both within the context of the film and outside of it) which lines were crossed, as well as how and when they were crossed, "American Cannibal" is a wickedly sardonic, funny, hyper-real piece of entertainment. Sadly, I think it will remain startlingly relevant for a long time ? or for at least as long as our culture and media types remain intent on reveling in the freakish and the salacious. The film is worth seeing if only to remind us of the pervasive insanity of what passes for entertainment and the media's role in drumming up stories out of it. The more stories, the more eyeballs. The more eyeballs, the chance for better ratings. Better ratings translates into advertising dollars. And the reality drumroll continues: Blatt's currently backing a show called "Virgin Territory" about a house of all male virgins locked in a house with porn stars and models. In an interview with Adult Video News, Blatt claims "one lucky virgin will be de-flowered on national television" by series end. Auditions for the series took place in New York this week. Word is, SpikeTV is interested in the project.

03-18-2007, 08:31 AM	#2
crockett in a van by the river Industry Role: Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 76,806	Wouldn't mind seeing it, but it's not playing in any of the local theaters. How long b4 it's on DVD? __________________ In November, you can vote for America's next president or its first dictator.

03-18-2007, 08:31 AM	#3
tASSy Spread The Pink! Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: pinktown! Posts: 8,229	nice review! can't wait for it become available closer to me. __________________ tassyPINK ICQ ~ 318097066 *

03-18-2007, 08:33 AM	#4
JFK FUBAR the ORIGINATOR Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: FUBARLAND Posts: 67,374	and the Hypemachine is starting GO KB __________________ FUBAR Webmasters - The FUBAR Times - FUBAR Webmasters Mobile - FUBARTV.XXX For promo opps contact jfk at fubarwebmasters dot com