CKY Trilogy DVD Review
Posted by Frank Dallas on 09.17.2003
Before they were Jackass stars...
I'm a big fan of the Mtv series Jackass. Why? I like the chaotic stunts and pranks that Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera put on, and I laugh my ass off because it's not me. As a big fan of the series, I've heard others discuss an older series put on by several of Jackass's cast members called Camp Kill Yourself (CKY), with some saying it was better and crazier than Jackass. It was information for myself, and I kept an eye out on CKY 1, CKY 2, and CKY 3's prices, to see if they would ever go down in price.
However, recently, the DVD of "CKY Trilogy" was released, containing the best of volumes 1, 2, and 3, along with a documentary with a few previously unreleased clips, and I figured this would be my best first try for CKY. It's a two disc set containing volume 1 and the documentary on disc 1, and volumes 2 and 3 on the other disc. All me to review them:
-THE FILM-
CKY consists of a bunch of skaters on the road, playing pranks on each other or trying dangerous stunts. It mainly features Bam Magera, probably the brainchild behind most of it, along with a few other bit players you'd see later on at Jackass. But make no mistake, these guys are skaters for the most part, and you see a whole lot of skateboard stunts. No, not the dangerous or ridiculous ones attempted on Jackass. These were real tricks that you'd perform in the X-Games. CKY was produced during the height of the likes of Tony Hawk and the X-Games.
In between the skating, you see various skits, pranks or stunts. The stunts were probably not as dangerous as you'd see on Jackass. A few were, like one of them jumping into a moving car (ouch!), and a few jumps off of buildings and onto trees were dangerous. Some stuff was later replicated in Jackass as well. Then you have the skits which are like a bunch of high school guys just dicking around. Some are funny and some are probably funny between those guys. Then, you have the pranks...
The pranks are so cruel, insomuch that you'd be going to hell if you replicated them. At the beginning of the 2nd disc, one guy put some actual crap onto a towel and wiping it on another guy's face while he was sleeping! However, revenge was a dish best served cold when the prankster receieved a golden shower the next night. Then you had the "Shit Dollar", which had me on the floor laughing. They placed some actual crap, again, on a dollar bill and placed it near an ATM machine. A customer walks up to the machine and sees the dollar. He tries to put it in his pocket only to find a weird substance on it, and then he smells his fingers and pukes his brains out.
On disc 1, we see CKY 1. I prefered the material on 2 and 3 more than I did CKY 1. CKY 1 seemed to mostly focus on skateboarding with a few insane stuff. The disc also featured the documentary, which has various cast members discussing their favorite moments, along with a few bonus clips that didn't make the original video. Pretty good stuff.
Disc 2 has CKY 2 and 3 remixed together. I have to say that CKY 3's entrance video was pretty badass. The music was killer (Dimmu Borgir "Puritania". This one featured more insane stunts and the cruelest pranks, several listed above. Then again, they had 2 videos to choose from, making this remix look a lot better than CKY 1.
-THE VIDEO-
It's hard to say what quality this is. Various cameras were handhelds or personal cameras, along with some TV cameras, so you are presented a mix of material. However, it seemed clear to me for the most part, so it's a good VHS to DVD transfer, I suppose.
-THE AUDIO-
You have no menu options to change any audio, so it's standard audio that is on most regular DVDs. It's either dialogue or music, so no surround sound is really necessary. However, the songs do sound good on the DVD.
I'll tell you this much, though. The soundtrack to this DVD is pretty killer. The CKY band, H.I.M., and various other groups provided some badass music. Like I said above with the entrance music for CKY 3, you also had some interesting covers, such as a hard various of "Eye of the Tiger" by the CKY band and a very strange version of Def Leppard's "Foolin". I'll look into buying some of their soundtracks, to be honest with you.
-EXTRAS-
Nothing extra, besides a few clips during the documentary not seen on the original tapes. That's it, as the menus are very limited and there aren't any 'Easter Eggs' that I know of.
The 411: Watching this best of CKY video collection, I can't help but say that I enjoy Jackass better. Too much skateboarding and some material that only they, as friends, would laugh at. Then again, CKY shouldn't be compared with Jackass, for they are produced for different intentions. One is just a bunch of guys on the road from skateboarding tours and dicking off, while the other one is intentionally pulling laughs with skits and dangerous stunts. Different material. However, this is a 2 disc DVD that isn't necessarily loaded with material, for each video is relatively short and there aren't many extras. Recommended if you really like skateboarding and Jackass, but otherwise, avoid.
