THE DEVIL DARED ME TO

THE DEVIL DARED ME TO

(A.k.a. DICK: THE DEVIL DARED ME TO)

Charting the rise of crazy stuntman Randy Cambell ...

We start with an earnest voiceover introducing us to Randy Cambell, the only person brave or foolish enough to ever dare attempting to jump New Zealand’s Cook Strait on a bicycle.

Archive homemade footage shows us Randy’s first attempt: the cigarette-smoking teenager gets nowhere fast. But, we learn, it soon becomes an obsession of Randy’s ...

The narrator (Paul Casserly) continues to inform us, over loud rock music, of how the most profound influence in Randy’s upbringing was his stuntman dad Flaming Reg Cambell. Unfortunately he died when Randy was aged two, after one of his public stunts went wrong.

The film then settles into a fast-paced rites-of-passage account of Randy’s journey from curious child to experimental teen, following his instincts and volunteering to be a stooge in local drag star Dick Johansonson’s (Matt Heath) latest stunts. Alongside the young Randy, a little girl called Tracy also volunteers ... when Dick fucks the stunt up, she loses her leg in the ensuing mess and Randy is also hospitalised.

Dick visits the kids while they’re recovering in hospital and reveals his true colours as a total fucking snake.

Meanwhile, Randy (Chris Stapp) makes a full recovery and grows up to be an employee on Dick’s team. This is where he meets Tracy (Bonnie Soper) once again and the pair instantly reignite the flame they shared briefly as youngsters. They also both realise as adults that their childhood hero Dick is actually a self-serving wanker.

Eventually, of course, Randy tires of his mentor’s arrogance and remembers what his ideals are: he wants to be a stuntman – and, following Dick’s repeated bottling out of daring stunts, seizes his opportunity to show people what he can do ... and becomes a celebrity in the process.

The gags are crude in that they concern profanity, sexual intimations and minor gore. But, all told, there is an innocence about the film that lends it a naive charm: it’s never vulgar, it’s just vying for your laughter. A self-effacing nature, akin to the brilliant PRIVATE PARTS, doesn’t harm matters.

Coming on like a THIS IS SPINAL TAP of the daredevil world, THE DEVIL DARED ME TO is an occasionally amusing proposition. Cambell is portrayed as the underdog from the start, affording him serious gravitas in the hero stakes once he begins turning the tables on those who previously held him back.

More so, the film is rife with characters. Every member of the speaking cast is given their own quirks and moments to shine; it’s a real team effort in this respect.

Well-shot and visually attractive as a consequence, THE DEVIL DARED ME TO has many one-liners and enough funny characters to pull it off as a major comedy. It’s also brisk at only 77 minutes in length. What it lacks, though, are stand-out set-pieces (the gags just merge into one), energy (for all the shouting, this feels lethargic by the midway point) and warmth (who gives a fuck about Randy and Tracy, ultimately?).

Still, Stapp (who also directed this and co-wrote it with Heath) should be viewed upon as a potential star. The film has its limitations, but there are signs that he could grow from here.

The film is presented in 16x9 widescreen and looks great. Images are sharp, detail is fine, blacks are stable and colours are bouncing.

English audio comes in 2.0 and 5.1 options. Both sounded really good on these ears. The bass kicks off more on the latter; the former is arguably the more natural-sounding. There is no option of subtitles available.

We get some decent extra features here. They start with a 15-minute Making Of documentary. This is as fast-paced and amiable as the film itself, but without ever sacrificing information as a result. It’s very well put together.

Oddly, a very similar 15-minute Making Of featurette follows. It’s duplication, so you can skip that and go straight to the 12 minutes of fairly interesting behind-the-scenes footage.

Two music video clips from Deja Voodoo follow: ‘Can’t Do’ and ‘Shotgun’. The videos themselves are ordinary. As for the music: imagine a poor man’s The Hives ...

Next up are a couple of TV spots, a teaser trailer and the original official trailer for the film. All are good, high energy offerings.

Finally we get a couple of "Back Of The Y" TV clips. The best of these is the second one, which includes has-been rapper Ice T singing the faux stuntman’s praises while his wife looks on bemused.

The extras sub-menu includes the easy option to "Play All" extras in one run.

FrightFest Features’s disc opens to an extremely colourful animated main menu page that is complete with rocking sounds.

The scene-selection menu offers 12 chapters and is split across 4 static pages.

Available at a ridiculously low price from online retailers, THE DEVIL DARED ME TO is a fairly funny and entertaining film that has been given a nice special edition from the folk at FrightFest Features.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by FrightFest Features
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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