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Released by: Camp Motion Pictures
Released on: May 10th, 2016.
Director: Jack Perez
Cast: Danny Bonaduce, Mick Wynhoff, Melora Walters, Molena Williams
Year: 1993
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The Movie:
An early (and surprisingly effective) take on the 'found footage' concept, Jack Perez's 1993 low budget camcorder epic America's Deadliest Home Video stars a fresh out of jail Danny Bonduce doing what he's got to do to pay the bills. Hence, he's cast in the lead here as Doug, a guy who is really into camcorders. When the movie starts he's trying to talk his wife (Gretchen Bonaduce!!) into letting him make a homemade porno, which is probably what a lot of people were doing when they got their first camcorder, but she's not having any of it. When he later finds out that she's screwing around on him behind his back, he takes his beloved camcorder and goes on a road trip, presumably in an attempt to find himself.
What he finds is not himself, but trouble! Big trouble! See Doug captures some footage of The Clint Dryer Gang trashing the car that they've used to escape from their latest heist, and when they catch him in the act, they basically hold him hostage and force them to document their exploits. Clint (Mick Wynhoff) is a greasy looking ponytailed rat bastard who mistreats his pretty girlfriend, Gloria (Melora Walters) and who also tends to boss around gun happy Vezna (Molena Williams) as they cruise around knocking over convenience stores, high jacking Jet-skis and stealing people's weed. When Doug and Gloria start falling for each other, Clint can't help but notice it - but will he take action against them or is his own ego big enough that he'll want Doug around to keep shooting, eventually forcing this innocent man to get in on the crime spree action himself?
Pre-dating things like The Blair Witch Project, Man Bites Dog, The Last Broadcast and even Tim Ritter's Dirty Cop No Donut, Perez's film does a pretty good job of breaking some fairly original ground despite the fact that it was clearly made for peanuts. It's amusing to see Bonaduce playing the role he does here. He's actually not bad at all as the regular guy thrust into some irregular situations and it's interesting to see how Bonaduce's character reacts to all of this. Mick Wynhoff is awesome to watch as Clint, the leader of the small gang that he's named after himself, and Melora Walters (who has gone on to a solid career in front of the camera) does a fine job as the Bonnie to his Clyde (a reference made very clear during a scene where he chastises a video store clerk for never having seen Bonnie And Clyde). Molena Williams is a little over the top in her part but she makes it work and once she starts waving her gun around, her character seems even more dangerous than crazy Clint himself.
As to the direction, Perez should be congratulated for making this look exactly like something shot by an amateur with a camcorder would look and abiding by the logic that would be inherent in that. When Doug appears on camera, there's a reason for it and the camera is setup in such a way that either someone else has been given it to hold onto or it's positioned in a way that it really could capture the shot that it does. This might sound like a minor thing but in 2016, there are countless 'found footage' films that can't be bothered to pay attention to this important detail, and it does make a difference when you're trying to posit something as 'real.' Continuing down that road, everything that happens in the film also seems like it could happen in real life. Some of the events are unlikely, but none of them are impossible. The movie is a little longer than it probably needed to be but we can let that slide - this is quite well done and offers up an entertaining mix of horror, humor, suspense and drama.
Video/Audio/Extras:
America's Deadliest Home Video makes its worldwide DVD debut from Camp Motion Pictures in a transfer that would seem to be pretty accurate and true to source. The quality here is better than you might expect for a low budget, shot on video production. Colors are well produced and appropriately garish in spots and black levels aren't bad either. Detail can only get so good when working with source material like this, you'd have to be a bonehead to expect HD quality from an analogue source, but this is definitely way more than watchable so long as you go in with your expectations in check.
The only audio option on the disc is a Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track, there are no alternate language or subtitles options provided. There are a few spots here where the levels jump a bit - the screaming during the rape scene and the moaning during the subsequent sex scene probably had my neighbors wondering what was going on in my apartment - but outside of that the audio is fine. The score sounds pretty good, most of the dialogue is plenty clear (a few shots are a little muffled but that's not a common problem) and again, considering the technology used to make the movie, the DVD sounds fine.
The main extras on the disc come in the form of two commentary tracks, the first of which is with writer/director Jack Perez. He starts off by talking about how it's odd to be doing a commentary for a movie he made more than twenty years ago, and then goes on to talk about how he and his collaborators needed to make a movie at this point in their lives, shooting the movie first person style and the importance of the compositions in the film, working with Bonaduce, as well as the rest of the cast members, shooting the movie in Wisconsin, and quite a bit more. The second commentary gets Mick Wynhoff in front of the mic to talk about his experiences working as the producer and as playing Clint Dryer in the movie. The levels on this track are WAY higher than on the first one so adjust your volume accordingly, but once you do that you get an interesting scene specific examination of the movie. She talks about how it was important that Gretchen Bonaduce was on set as she was able to kinda-sorta keep him under control, what it was like working with him during this particularly unstable part of his life, his thoughts on the other cast members in the film, Perez's directing style, the locations used in the feature, the difficulties of staging a convenience store robbery and a fair bit more.
Aside from that we get a trailer for the feature, trailers for a bunch of other Camp Motion Pictures DVD releases, menus and chapter selection. There's also an insert inside the case that contains some liner notes from Josh Schafer of Lunchmeat Magazine that offer up his thoughts on the film and its history.
The Final Word:
America's Deadliest Home Video has been pretty though to see, given that it's VHS release wasn't particularly widespread or easy to come by. Camp Motion Pictures have done a fine job bringing it to DVD with two interesting commentaries and a bunch of bonus trailers. As to the movie itself, it's quite well done and it makes for a pretty intense watch.
