I don’t know where to begin with this one. That’s not a knock on filmmakers Perry Grebin or Michael Nigro. Believe me, I’m truly impressed with their work here. It’s just that after watching this film about entertainment decadence, I feel like I need to take a shower to get the stink off me. I mean, I have never liked reality television all that much. You won’t catch me watching “Fear Factor” or “The Bachelor” or any of the network’s garish garbage posing as real life entertainment. But, folks, I never had any idea just how completely soulless the production entities behind reality shows can be until I watched AMERICAN CANNIBAL: THE DOCUMENTARY.

Grebin and Nigro originally intended to document television writing team Dave Roberts and Gil Ripley pitching and hopefully selling a reality TV show to a production company. Dave and Gil aren’t excited about pitching reality television ideas, but hey, that’s the flavor of the month and they both need a sell. After wending their way through a bunch of concepts, they come up with “Virgin Territory.” It’s a reality show about ten virgin bachelors being locked inside a house with non-stop porn playing on television sets in every room. Occasionally they are visited by sexy ladies, who are maids, or next-door neighbors, or whatever. But the catch is they can do nothing, nothing at all, about it. They can’t touch the ladies…or themselves (that means no whacking off). The last bachelor that can keep from touching the ladies or himself gets to have sex with an actual porn actress. The two writers’ tag line for the premise is, “When you win it, you lose it,” as in losing one’s virginity. Ahem…no fooling, folks. That’s their pitch.

We see Dave and Gil go through the hell of pitching to be producers that are looking for catchy “hooks” or trying to decide what’s hot or not hot. Their “Virgin Territory” pitch delights most of the producers they meet with, but none of them can green-light it because of the content. Then they meet Kevin “K.B.” Blatt. Blatt’s claim to fame is that he helped market the Paris Hilton sex tapes. Not surprisingly, his office is the back room of a strip club. So, the two guys do their pitch and K.B. loves it and immediately starts talking about a deal. Before the meeting is over, Gil jokingly offers up another pitch about a “Survivor” type show where the contestants have no food on an island and must decide whether or not to resort to cannibalism. Blatt gets a kick out of the far-fetched idea and everyone parts company for the day.

Dave and Gil figure they have a good thing going with Blatt. But wait, things change. After mulling it over, Blatt decides that the “Virgin Territory” idea is too derivative and based on too many other existing reality shows. However, Blatt would like to explore the cannibal idea and he’s not joking. That leads to a deal with Blatt to produce “American Cannibal.” While Dave and Gil start banging their heads against the wall trying to figure out how the hell they’re going to make a realty TV show out of such over-the-top subject matter, Blatt begins populating the production with people known for working in the sleaze industry.

That’s when this documentary gets good but also really twisted. It’s all incredible. Actual television execs from other shows praise the upcoming production as if it were another “Law & Order” show. However, in truth, it’s being put together with the same amount of exploitive cheese that would go into a second rate porno flick. The amount of unethical slipperiness among the producers is like shit on an ice flow. Right from the get-go they intend to dupe the reality TV contestants into believing they’re signing up for one kind of show, but once they start shooting they will let the contestants in on the joke, which is that they’re really on an island famous for cannibalism. And you know what? The contestants may have to resort to cannibalism if they want to eat at all. Ha, ha, ha! Isn’t that funny?

It gets worse. The five contestants – three attractive ladies and two men – are treated as sub-humans throughout the experience. In fact, one studio executive calls reality TV contestants “disposable celebrities,” as in they’re here today, gone tomorrow. Nice, huh? During the first night, the producers get the five shit-faced drunk and tell them to sleep it off because they have a 9 AM call. So the group goes to their rooms and tries to catch some sleep. However, the producers fool them, waking the contestants up at 3 AM with orders that they have five minutes to collect their things. Just hilarious, don’t you think? Then they’re taken to the island. Things really start going downhill from there, including the production losing their host because the Screen Actors Guild has problems with it being a non-union shoot. Gil and Dave can’t take writing credit, because of the Writers Guild, so they become story editors and producers. The production plods along unprofessionally disorganized, while the contestants appear to be confused. One lady even suffers from hypoglycemia. Worst of all, there is a bad accident where a contestant gets hurt. Soon after that the production is scrapped, with the producers refusing to acknowledge that any accident took place. You want reality? Well, there it is.

Given that AMERICAN CANNIBAL: THE DOCUMENTARY is a low budget production, the picture quality on the Life Size Entertainment DVD isn’t bad. The sound is presented in a choice between Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 Surround Sound. Both are clear, with the dialogue being easy to understand. There are plenty of extras, including two commentary tracks (one with Grebin and Nigro, one with Gil and Dave), video shorts, interviews, a theatrical trailer, and a TV commercial.

Documentarians Perry Grebin and Michael Nigro offer an interesting but disarming look at the dehumanizing side of the entertainment field with AMERICAN CANNIBAL: THE DOCUMENTARY. Sadly, the audience witnesses how the dreams of writers Gil and Dave go awry and even damage their working relationship. Most strikingly, we see the smugness, rudeness, crudeness, and low rent values of the business. Look at it this way, “Amazing Race” editor Paul Frazier talks about his fear that some day someone is going to die on one of the reality shows. After watching this film, I can understand why Frazier feels that way. The more ludicrous and exploitive the reality TV format becomes, the more it will wipe its feet on good taste. Who knows what limits, if any, the genre has?