The Devil Dared Me To (2007)
Distributor: Entertainment One/FrightFest Features
DVD Release Date: 23rd May 2011
Directed by: Chris Stapp
Starring: Chris Stapp, Matt Heath, Bonnie Soper, Andrew Beattie
Review by: Ben Bussey
Randy Campbell is a young man from the south island of New Zealand. He may be surrounded by green farmland and sheep, but his heart resonates with the roar of engines and the scream of the crowd, for Randy is descended from several generations of New Zealand stuntmen. Indeed, he is one of the few surviving members of his family, having as a two year old witnessed his father killed horribly in a stunt gone wrong, and been subsequently raised by his aunt, who was hideously disfigured in the same accident, and his overprotective uncle. A chance to break free comes with a visit to his hometown from the new big name in New Zealand daredevil stunts, Dick Johansonson (Heath, also co-writer with Stapp). Sneaking out to watch the show, Randy soon meets the future love of his life in Tracy ‘Tragedy’ Jones, and gets the chance to participate in Dick’s big stunt of the night; this too soon results in a few horrible deaths and dismemberments. But it gets young Randy on Dick’s team, and soon enough Randy’s a grown man (in the form of director/co-writer Stapp), and his dreams of daredevil stardom are bigger than ever. But with the spiteful, envious Dick staring over his shoulder, it’s going to be a rough ride to the top.
As a raucous, ribald comedy that shares much common ground with your typical Will Ferrell or Seth Rogen movies – absurdly overconfident protagonists with no sense of their own idiocy – this is a decidedly unexpected choice for the fledgling FrightFest Features to distribute. Certainly, The Devil Dared Me To – or Dick: The Devil Dared Me To, as it has inexplicably been released stateside, with cover art showing Matt Heath but not Chris Stapp (Randy is clearly the lead, so what inspired that decision I have no idea) – is a grisly affair at times, with more than a few people being dismembered and/or burnt to a crisp, cheeks both upper and lower being punctured by broken glass, and a particularly eye-watering cautionary tale about the consequences of a trampoline stunt gone wrong. In spite of all this, no one could ever mistake this film for horror. That said, it did indeed play at FrightFest ’07, and as such it stands testament to the broad scope of the festival (indeed, last year’s event included such decidedly non-horrific fare as Fanboys). This would seem to indicate that FrightFest Features will be taking a similar approach with this venture into the realm of distribution, with a broader agenda than cut-and-dried horror.
What you can really expect from The Devil Dared Me To is an amusing, relatively light-hearted comedy with just enough of a hard edge to keep the bloodthirsty interested. On the one hand it’s much like any comedy that charts the ups and downs of a character’s professional life, from The Jerk to just about any Ferrell film you could mention. Stapp’s Randy is more Navin Johnson than Ron Burgundy/Ricky Bobby, however; dimwitted but for the most part innocent. The part of brash, egotistical buffoon goes to Heath’s aptly-named Dick, who quickly establishes himself as reprehensible and pathetic. As Randy steps out of Dick’s shadow and starts to steal the limelight, the inevitable rivalry escalates in a manner not too dissimilar to that of Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in The Prestige. Where the film really takes the audience off-guard is how close to the bone it gets; in amidst the madcap laughs there are moments of loss and pain that are played surprisingly straight, and lend quite an emotional weight to what might otherwise have been somewhat light entertainment.
And on top of it all, it’s a New Zealand movie. The nation that gave us Peter Jackson and Black Sheep is always going to have a place in the heart of horror audiences, and The Devil Dared Me To carries much the same vulgar/potentially offensive brand of humour. If you’re at all amused by fathers who swear profusely in front of their children, sexy female amputees (put to film pre-Planet Terror, we might add), and the obviously dire consequences of ridiculous vehicular stunts, then you’ll find plenty to laugh at. And speaking of the stunts, this team have clearly taken a leaf from the book of their Australian neighbours, as they go the Ozsploitation route of doing as much of the stuntwork themselves as possible, with health, safety and insurance given little regard. And it shows. Chris Stapp in particular pulls off a couple of really hair-raising moves, and knowing that it’s really him doing it does get the viewer that bit more invested.
And that’s really the crux of The Devil Dared Me To: it may mock the stunt world, but it clearly acknowledges that stunts are fun, and the more preposterous and unsafe they are the better. Like This Is Spinal Tap before, it’s as much a love letter as a lampoon, and as such it will likely earn the affection of anyone who loves watching things crash and burn.