An early quote from friendly sorority sister perfectly sums up the Greek experience: "Find the people that you enjoy getting fucked up with the most. That's what you want to be a part of." The bitter if unsurprising truth of Frat House is that fraternity life is just as crazed as you thought it was.

"Andrew and I had always been fans of Eighties comedies; we've always loved films like Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds," says Phillips. "We had heard stories about fraternities and their rituals and stuff, and we felt it would be cool to make a film that combined that comedy and some of the darker aspects that we hear about."

Amazingly, Philips and Gurland pull off what no one else has ever managed: They get inside the party politics and toga monstrosities within fraternity houses. Although a note at the beginning of the doc is careful to mention that the film is a composite of more than one college fraternity, they manage to distill the sweaty, epithet-laden, whites-of-the-eyes hell that makes up pledging, rush, and hell night. Ingratiating themselves into the tentative good graces of one fraternity, they are eventually run off under threats of extreme physical violence. Once the brotherhood realizes they're likely to be portrayed in a less-than-flattering light, they retaliate by trashing the filmmakers' van and literally forcing them out of town.

Unwilling to let their film die a quiet death, Philips and Gurland take things to the next level by actually enrolling in another frat that promises to allow the two to go through hazing from Step One. It's a mixed blessing, as Andrew ends up hospitalized with severe stomach problems, leaving Todd to finish out the process with only his cameraman and sound guy in tow.

So why join in the first place? As one fraternity brother (or, as you learn to think of them, "sucker") says, it's the only place in civilian society you can in effect wield the power of a god. That and the "free alcohol and pussy."

"I think some people are sort of missing the point of the film," Phillips comments. "The film was not made to stir up the frats, it's not a revenge film about these two losers who were never accepted, it's not that. Really, I think the film is as much about fraternities as it is about our journey as filmmakers. It's as much about the journey as it is the destination."