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Published on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 6:07am |
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Moriarty Says THE DEVIL DARED ME TO... And I Liked It!
I think it’s official: if I hear one more person use the word “grindhouse” as an adjective, I’m going to punch a baby. No, scratch that. I’m going to punch every baby. Alphabetically. Over and over and over.
I think it’s an annoyance because (A) most of the people using the word never heard it before six months ago and (B) most of the people using it are using it incorrectly. You can’t just randomly apply it to any film that seems a little crazy or that has exploitation elements. It refers to a specific era of distribution, a specific moment, and that age has, sad to say, passed.
But there are still films made that I think fit the mold that Tarantino and Rodriguez were using when they put their films together, films that don’t try to emulate this particular brand of low-budget insanity, but that simply embody it. And this year, at SXSW, a film premiered that is exactly that kind of movie. I was lucky enough to get a look at a rough cut of it, a print that wasn’t totally finished but that was close enough. I’m not sure when you’re going to get a chance to see THE DEVIL DARED ME TO, but when you do... buckle up. Someone’s gonna get hurt.
I’ve never seen the New Zealand show BACK OF THE Y MASTERPIECE TELEVISION, but that’s where Chris Stapp and Matt Heath first started working together. It’s also evidently where they originated the character of Randy Campbell, a daredevil stuntman who does miserable, awful stunts that inevitably end in death. And before you say “Oh, you mean like SUPER DAVE,” no... I don’t mean like SUPER DAVE. Unless perhaps SUPER DAVE had been directed by BAD TASTE-era Peter Jackson.
THE DEVIL DARED ME TO is the story of Randy Campbell (Stapp) and his rise from obscurity to abject failure to mediocrity and back into obscurity, with severed limbs and mutilated faces and dead family members littered in his path. Randy comes from a long line of daredevils, but both of his parents are killed when he’s very young, and he’s raised by his aunt and uncle who don’t want him to follow in their footsteps. He finally gets his opportunity, though, when he goes to see Dick Johansonson (Heath), an egomaniacal jackass who runs his own low-grade traveling stunt show. Johansonson is a glorious monster, and from the moment he meets Randy, he’s perfectly happy to treat him like complete shit. More importantly, Randy’s happy to let him in the hopes that someday, he’ll be able to do a stunt of his own. He wants to do that to honor the memory of his parents, and also so he can impress Tracy “Tragedy” Jones (Bonnie Soper), the girl who lost a leg at the first Johansonson show he attended.
Trying to explain this in terms of story points and synopsis is sort of futile, though. Heath and Stapp co-wrote the script and Stapp directs it with a sense of total comic abandon. There’s nothing he seems unwilling to try in his attempts to make you laugh or throw up, or in the best moments, both at once. The film is incredibly low-budget, and that’s part of its charm. There’s a great making-of featurette that was produced for THE ROAD WARRIOR many years ago, detailing the way the stunts on that film worked, and after several of the stunts where there are wipe-outs or other accidents, the narrator intones in a very serious tone, “Something... has gone... terribly wrong.” And god help me, every single time, it seems to get funnier. Well, that’s the spirit of this movie. No matter what the characters attempt, you know it’s going to go wrong, and the fun comes from watching just how awful things get. Gallons and gallons of blood are spilled, and the entire supporting cast (including the terrific Andrew Beattie) contribute to the lunacy. It’s Stapp and Heath’s show, though, and Stapp manages to create a sense of real sweetness that grounds even the most deranged moments in the movie. Towards the end of the film, I even found myself touched by the emotional resolution of the whole thing. It never quite turns into the sort of shameless attempt on your heartstrings that Hollywood would try, but it manages an odd poignancy that it actually earns.
I wish I’d actually gone to SXSW so I could have seen this with an audience. It’s that kind of film. Seeing it at home on DVD, I laughed a lot, but I would have loved to have heard the outraged screams and the gasps of horror that I’m sure greeted the film’s crazier moments. I hope I get the chance to see this with an audience in the future, and that you guys get a chance to see it, too, if for no other reason than I’m curious to see what sort of madness Stapp and Heath will come up with in the future.

Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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Reader Talkback
first by darthhirsty | Apr 11th, 2007 06:15:01 AM | Jackass / Evel Knievel story
in the hands of a by CreasyBear | Apr 11th, 2007 06:15:32 AM | In Cinemas... by antdevil | Apr 11th, 2007 06:41:23 AM | Dick Johansonson = best name
ever by ODM | Apr 11th, 2007 06:57:28 AM | exploitation by CuervoJones | Apr 11th, 2007 08:17:27 AM | nothing good ever came out of
low budget nz films by newc0253 | Apr 11th, 2007 08:30:06 AM | Moriarty, The debate of
"grindhouse" as a genre or
epoc by comedian_x | Apr 11th, 2007 08:38:17 AM | Moriarty=trust by criticalbliss | Apr 11th, 2007 08:59:42 AM | Is this grindhouse? by criticalbliss | Apr 11th, 2007 09:00:32 AM | If you imagine the line
"Something... by Childe Roland | Apr 11th, 2007 09:03:20 AM | MORIARTY=GAY SHOES by gride9000 | Apr 11th, 2007 09:33:36 AM | HOW BOUT WE START SAYING: by gride9000 | Apr 11th, 2007 09:36:55 AM | I met those guys at SXSW by Geekscape | Apr 11th, 2007 09:40:46 AM | serenity was the grindhouse of
starwars. by repligin | Apr 11th, 2007 10:13:29 AM | I'm hungry; gonna go
grindhouse me up some lunch. by Squashua | Apr 11th, 2007 10:24:48 AM | Punching babies in the face is
so... by Childe Roland | Apr 11th, 2007 10:58:34 AM | Grindhouse gotta eat... by MonkeyManReturns | Apr 11th, 2007 11:15:38 AM | Star Wars ep III by BillyPilgrim | Apr 11th, 2007 11:16:34 AM | For all you First Posters... by Johnny Storm | Apr 11th, 2007 11:21:20 AM | Grindhouse by law04230 | Apr 11th, 2007 11:30:51 AM | I waiting for 3 Kicks to the
Head, Part 3 by 12-GAUGE | Apr 11th, 2007 12:27:11 PM | I don't think Road Warrior was
very grindhousely made. by LaneMyersClassic | Apr 11th, 2007 12:31:43 PM | ...so punchin babies is
cool... by mr ahole ramirez | Apr 11th, 2007 12:55:59 PM | Johnny Storm by BigFo | Apr 11th, 2007 12:58:51 PM | I liked that opening better
the first time I read it... by SnowMann | Apr 11th, 2007 01:35:30 PM | "grindhouse" terminology abuse by JRKerr | Apr 11th, 2007 01:49:14 PM | The trailer is damn funny.... by Ninja Nerd | Apr 11th, 2007 02:05:23 PM | Id punch a fetus by EdRyder | Apr 11th, 2007 02:47:58 PM | fuck hollywood by ikkyu | Apr 11th, 2007 06:23:13 PM | these guys are in a band
called deja voodoo by slappy jones | Apr 11th, 2007 07:22:14 PM | Too Grindhouse-y by tomthumbstallywhacker | Apr 11th, 2007 07:34:51 PM | This looks great. Very
grindhousey. Not too venomy. by Bronx Cheer | Apr 11th, 2007 07:35:42 PM | You can't MAKE a Grindhouse
movie... by voxmortis | Apr 11th, 2007 07:38:57 PM | @ voxmortis by tomthumbstallywhacker | Apr 11th, 2007 07:46:15 PM | I still think the whole
grindhouse thing is overblown. by Bronx Cheer | Apr 11th, 2007 07:54:46 PM | At the risk of getting some
babies punched... by quentintarantado | Apr 12th, 2007 06:38:19 PM | Last! by DerLanghaarige | Apr 13th, 2007 05:11:07 AM | Death Proof.. by brando render | Apr 13th, 2007 10:14:38 AM | I know this is a bit of a late
comment... by Brainbaby | May 27th, 2007 12:28:31 PM |
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