“HELLA CRAZY” (2006)

Produced by The Gaboff Brothers
Co-produced by Evan Hart and Bob Pyrochetts
Official Website

Polly Staffle Rating: ***

In 1995, Mike and Ryan Gaboff’s parents bought a home camcorder. The brothers, nine and 10 at the time, took a liken to the family’s new equipment more than their parents. Soon they were gathering up neighborhood friends and filming footage of pranks, stunts and other chaos in their small town of Millstone Township, N.J. From that Play Crazy Productions, otherwise known as the PCP Boys, was born. In August the crew released their first DVD chalked full of some the insanity, simply titled “Hella Crazy.”

The DVD is a mixed bag of tricks ranging from extreme sport stunts and crashes to craziness with fire, to hot chicks and downright silliness. There are scenes that seem straight out of a Tony Jaa film or a Jackie Chan blooper reel. There are other moments that are reminiscent of “Maximum Exposure” and “Girls Gone Wild.” There are clips of just about anything you could watch on the Netherlands-based Extreme Sports Channel or America’s Fuel TV, except for snowboarding. We are treated to a nice array of BMX and motocross tricks done right, as well as a bit of street bikes, four wheelers and a touch of surfing. Oh yeah, there’s some fighting and wrestling for you “Backyard Wrestling” fans. The fights are typical teenage “play fights” and the wrestling is all oiled-up women in bikinis bumping and grinding, courtesy of Slick Chix, a company Mike works for as a videographer. When it was over I had laughed, was amazed and was begging for more. “Hella Crazy” runs a bit short at just 30 minutes, but overall this is worth the watch.

What seems to really separate these guys from other similar productions is the lack of mean spiritedness. Throughout the whole ruckus DVD the viewer is treated to a party vibe. Music from Mindless Self Indulgence, Kottonmouth Kings, Dry Kill Logic and Methods of Mayhem take care of the soundtrack as the PCP Boys go about their business of having a good time - well if breaking bones, bruising and bloodying yourself up are your idea of good times. There weren’t many illegal or immoral activities that I could tell and the only people that are ever hurt are themselves. But even when that happens such as a time when Mike cuts a gash in his head, the good times never seem to stop. Mike can’t help but find the situation humorous during a scene where various crew members are bashing beer bottles against their skulls. When I first watched the clip, I figured these guys were stoned out their heads. But the Gaboffs claim the only drug that keeps them doing what they do is the adrenaline rush from pulling big stunts. Come to find out the reason Mike got such a kick out of the hole in his gourd is earlier when they filmed the same goofy stunt, fake blood was used to try and give the footage a more raw look. The crew was unhappy with how it turned out, however, and decided to reshoot it. This time, a shard of glass cut Mike’s head open and the blood pouring down his smiling face was the real deal.

Other highlights on the DVD include Mike, who sometimes goes by the monikers of “Crazy Mike” or “Mad Mike,” but probably more deserves to be called “Iron Mike,” running over a moving car, jumping over a moving car off a ladder, jumping off a house to double flip into a swimming pool and misjudging his landing during a back flip off a vending machine to end up face down on concrete. But perhaps Mike’s funniest moment is actually one of the tamer stunts that the whole PCP crew participates in – bungee jumping off a bridge. Before his turn Mike calls his mom on his cell. “I’m about to jump off a 200-foot crane,” Mike tells her with his face lit up with his charismatic smile. To which she asks, “What the hell is wrong with you?” on speakerphone. “Love you too Mom,” Mike says, subtlety kissing his phone and then making his jump.

His brother doesn’t let Mike steal all the limelight though as Ryan is featured missing his landing and slamming into a tree during a jump off a rooftop, jumping a car on a bike and landing in a tree and the DVD’s most brutal-looking crash. Ryan was attempting to jump onto the roof of his house on a bicycle and ends up smacking his head against the porch. The clip was shot when Ryan was 17 and has been featured on Spike TV’s “Most Amazing Videos.” I’m actually ashamed to admit it now that I know Ryan was knocked unconscious for 30 minutes after the mishap and was extremely close to bashing his head into concrete below, but I couldn’t help but laugh when I first saw the stunt gone wrong. Mike has also been featured on the same television show. His infamous clip was from when he was 16, trying to do a back flip on a motorbike. The incident, also featured here, lead to two broken ribs as the bike came crashing down on top of him.

Mike and Ryan’s friends Evan Hart and Bob Pyrochetts take some abuse here as well. Evan busts long halogen bulbs on his head, jumps off a crane onto a stack of mattresses and is tied by his feet and dragged by a car. Bob shoots bottle rockets out of his mouth and has roman candles shot at him. The list of “do not try this at home” stunts goes on and on with individuals lighting themselves on fire and just about any kind of bored-kids-with-a-camcorder madness that is possible.

A couple of nice touches to the DVD are the way the Gaboffs open and close “Hella Crazy.” Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” movement of “Carmina Burana,” which has been used in 30 movies or so, gets things going. Not only does it serve as a nod to “Jackass: The Movie,” but it gives the audience an early warm up to prepare them for what’s to come. Later, everything gets wrapped up with the anonymous quote, “We the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.” I found it quite fitting as the Gaboffs began performing stunts on video several years before Johnny Knoxville and company took to the airwaves. It was probably mostly boredom that propelled Mike and Ryan. Ironically, around the world the same phenomenon was taking place in many a backyard. It’s an activity that doesn’t cost anything besides an occasional hospital visit, there are no rules and the only limits are the imagination of the players. As the homegrown movement gets bigger and bigger, perhaps the mainstream will embrace it more with possible sports competition coming out of it. Or it’s possible the younger generations will become bored with it all. But that’s not likely.

At the end of the closing credits, the Gaboff’s little brother Jesse, 6, states he wants to be just like Mike and Ryan when he grows up. Jesse, who pops up on and off throughout the video as sort of a “Hella Crazy” mascot, then does a small jump onto a stack of mattresses. Mike and Ryan aren’t necessarily ready to pass the torch to him just yet as a sequel to this DVD is already in the works. But Jesse is obviously ready to take it when they are. Most likely he’ll be going “Hella Crazy” at an earlier age than they did. With the Gaboffs already backed by sponsors and turning a profit in their DVD’s first week of release, they obviously have a decent fan base, so I doubt Jesse is alone in his ambition.