The 'accident'


Well, I just finished watching this atrocious mockumentary and I have to admit that they had me going for a while. During the last 30 minutes of the movie I just stared at my television screen in perplexed silence as a series of super-surreal events unfolded before me.

Now as far as the "accident" is concerned, it's an obvious dead giveaway that this is not a genuine documentary. I've seen the YouTube video, and it also seems like an obvious setup meant to create buzz and shock only the most gullible viewers.

A couple of other posts cited the movie's reference to an accidental death on a reality show being an inevitability as a clue, but there are a lot of other clues that foreshadow the ending of the film:

- At one point the producers are talking and one asks if any measures were being taken to ensure that each of the contestants were psychologically "fit" for the show. The topic is just passed off with a shrug like, "eh...I think that someone else is taking care of that business." Oh sure, I'm certain that such matters are completely minimalized on true reality programming.

-Patrick warning that when he's starved he turns into a totally different person. Yeah...a homicidal maniac. Or so the makers of this movie would like you to believe.

-The porn guy saying over and over that they should do the show just to see what type of crazies would be attracted to such a bizarre premise. Obviously homicidal hungry people, like Patrick...duh!

Also, when the two creators are at the meeting discussing what their official titles would be, they get into a conversation about using psuedonyms as not to interfere with Writer's Guild regulations. An obvious hint that the names of all the "contestants" are nothing more than psuedonyms. Hence everyone's inability to find any info on Kristin Kerr and Patrick Camp.

Anyway, the reason that so many real producers, reality stars, etc., are used in the film is to lend it an air of authenticity. It works for a while, but becomes apparent satire towards the end.




The leaves are changing colors...

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Yeah, it's a fake alright. And it's pretty obvious at that. I wouldn't call it a 'satire' though. It wasn't funny enough to be a satire. It tried to be funny, but it fell far short. I've seen 'faux' docs before, and some of them are really quite good. This one fell apart at about the 30-minute mark. Pretty boring and, jeez, predictable. How bad is that when a faux-doc becomes predictable?

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yeah i have to agree and i only say its a fake documentry cause a lot of hyper real crap goes down while in actual production that should of sent atleast 2 contestants home both with serious medical issues... or so we were led to believe... unless kristen was both the hypoglysimic girl and the one that got attacked...

they are shooting a reality show in whats possibly the worst time for the atlantic islands and east coast HURRICANE SEASON!!! which means if they went down there in the dead middle of it *cough* september 05 *cough* they just dodged a few of the most terrible storms on record which also included packing up and evacing the pirates of the carribean film shoot at the same time on grand bahama island and serounding islands. (well no *beep* you cant get boat landing shots jerk off theres a massive storm to the north of you!!!!)

yeah i'd like to think that no scratch that I KNOW that health and safety is priorty 1 for location shooting... for them to go down there in spetemebr of all the times to go ment they were only ment to be there for just a few days get in get their shots and then get the hell out!!! and as anybody that deals with shooting film will tell you ocean, water and outdoor shooting is a bitch mother nature doesn't play nice at all!!!

then they started haveing legal issues while down in the islands from the unions.....yeah i would think that the hosts problem would of been found out about during pre-porduction as well as a final location shooting spot.

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Thanks. I watched it last night. I believed it all but was puzzled about some details (maybe I was tired). I woke up this morning with the thought... "Ohhhhhh, dummy! It was a fake." From beginning to end. I stepped up to imdb and found all those conversations about the reality of "the accident." Missing the point. Yes. A mockumentary. And really well done. But I feel like a moron for believing it. I love documentaries 'cause I think I'm looking at the real world. Maybe this is the era of total endless fakes. Look at those writers who wrote fake books recently. We're all a bunch of rubes after all.

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I have to say that I am so seldom taken in that I really enjoyed this movie and the fact that it did fool me.

***SPOILER ABOUT TO BE HAPPENIN'***
It wasn't until I read the board here that I even realized the possibility of the whole thing being faked. But I didn't understand the comments about "the accident" because the youtube addresses were no longer active or had been pulled.

I did find one, though, and it's short, sweet and to the, er, point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZNCMGUHico

While you're there, check out the CourtTV interview of Kevin Blatt. He's talking up the show "Virgin Territory."

I don't know what the objective of the filmmakers was on this project, but I think that when you've infiltrated Catherine Crier's show, you've accomplished something.

Kudos from North Olmsted (just in case KB still pokes around in here.)
***WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR OWN REALITY***

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Optims129, while you're totally right it IS fake (I had already heard by the time I saw it last night). I also took the valid points you made to be a comment on how inept and clueless the people running this reality show were.

All of your points are right on and any halfway desent production company would have known all that and handled things diffrently but the thing I saw going on was a bunch of people who were clueless just trying to hurry and slap something together and make a quick buck. Always, a bad combination (greed, stupidity and either recklessness or just not caring, take your pick).

In any case the thing that stood out to me is if this really happened it would have been all over the tv so fast (especially with a documentry about it coming out). So you're right it's totally fake. :)

http://dawnofthedeadfanfiction.bravehost.com/index.html

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Even if it this documentary is a fake, it captured a reality of show business that should be discussed more often.

A production company that is ill-prepared + ill-informed + a low budget + greedy = people getting hurt.

I've been involved in a few productions (events and film) where people got seriously injured because of that same dangerous combination. Participants, workers, patrons, etc., trust the production company, and the production company has its head up its a*s. This is perhaps more prominent in the film industry because so many people jump in without any experience or qualifications. This mockumentary captured that well, if nothing else. People who are involved know something is off, but they muddle through hoping for their big break. I've seen this over and over.

As whores for fame, we allow ourselves to become infantilized. We say things like "They'll take care of it" or "They wouldn't let us do it if it wasn't safe." Wrong. This movie is like an extended version of the scene in Bruno where the parents of "TV Babies" are willing to subject their children to anything for fame and fortune.

If no other reason this documentary points out that "they" don't always have our best interests at heart; "they" don't always know what's going on; and "they" are not capable of preventing disaster.

I am not a Frankenstein. I'm a Fronkensteen.

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