America's Deadliest Home Video

I'm a huge fan of Camp Video, starting with Video Violence and Splatter Farm. So I know their type of movie, dumb and cheesy with some decent gore. So that's what I was expecting with this one. But, what I got was an insanely hardcore, intense crime thriller.

A heartbroken man goes on a vacation and records his trip when he's kidnapped by a gang and is forced to record their crimes. The character building is nothing like I've seen in any Camp Video and the brutality follows that of shock film greats like August Underground.

Slow, yet thrilling, this film delivers in gore and drama. The ending had me audibly gasping and shouting in disbelief. Any only complaint would be some of the characters were pretty loosely written, one of them mainly focusing on just killing people.

But, despite that it's a great movie.

Chris Gore, editor of FILM THREAT, said this film was "so good it was bound to be stolen by Hollywood". Joe Bob Briggs named it the "best film of 1996". Whether or not the makers of MAN BITES DOG, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and innumerable others ripped it off or not, this low-budget gem came first, and it kicks butt. A piece of cinema verite about the camcorder age that manages to be funny, violent, sexy, genuinely disturbing and strangely resonant all at once.