This video is being marketed as "A can't miss, hilarious entertainment experience and a truly outlandish examination of the clandestine acts, strange people and illegal activity."

I've seen "hidden camera" programming like this on television before, but this video -- unlike those seen on television -- promised scenes of nudity and the kind of hidden camera entertainment that cannot be broadcast on public airwaves.

The DVD I purchased is the first volume of a three volume collection being marketed by Madacy Entertainment Group. This color production (well, except for the black-and-white hidden camera video) is 60 minutes long but only contains about 45 minutes of orignal (not repeated) material. Disk features direct scene access, a "Top 5" video list for those interested in quickly scanning the best material, and a "preview" feature that is little more than an infomercial for the tape.

Does this video deliver on its promise? No. I found very little material here that was interesting.

Complaint No. 1 -- There are a lot of filler material, "bumps" and teases in this production. You have to wade through a lot of junk and repeated video clips before you get the view the videos.

Complaint No. 2 -- Some of these videos are not from "hidden camera" surveillance reels at all. Some are simply out-takes from field videos or news productions that never made it to broadcast.

Complaint No. 3 -- Several scenes are repeated -- or looped. I don't need video producers to do this for me. If I find something interesting, I can replay the piece using the fast reverse or fast forward buttons on my remote. That the producers do this is for one reason: to "add time" to the production.


Price and Availability:  I purchased a box-set of three "Caught on Tape" videos at Best Buy for $15. A fair price.

Verdict:  1¾-stars. A few laughs and some interesting clips. But I've already seen much of this material on television already.


For those interested, a timeline of the material featured on this video follows.

0:00 - 1:08  |   The first minute is spent setting up the background behind the series. The viewer is presented with a barrage of short 2-second video clips which pretty much serve as a preview of all the coming attractions.

1:09 - 1:28  |   20 seconds of hidden camera video showing a botched robbery attempt at a convenience store. Robber makes the mistake of presenting his gun in such a way that the clerk was able to wrestle it out of his grasp. After being compromised in this fashion, the robber scrams. Laugh factor: 2 (on a scale of 1-to-10; with a "10" being laugh out loud funny).

1:29 - 1:49  |   20 seconds of hidden camera video from another convenience store camera. A customer is seen entering the store (full face is featured on video) and then the idiot places a paper bag on his head and attempts to pull off a robbery. He is laughed out of the store by other customers. Laugh Factor: 5 -- worth a chuckle.

1:50 - 2:40  |   A long 50-second shot of two security guards apprehending a shop-lifter in an electronics superstore. Customer resists being carried out of the store. Not at all interesting. Laugh Factor: 1 -- a smirk.

2:41 - 3:49  |   A long 68-second cut; almost looks like a news piece. Man uses a baby monitor and a hidden camera to stop a car theft in an apartment complex. Person who sets the trap also makes a citizen's arrest, using a BB gun to subdue the criminals. Uninteresting. Laugh Factor: 1.

3:58 - 5:23  |   Several clips -- 85 seconds runtime -- from home videos covering several different weddings and receptions. The usual junk that can be seen on TV: grooms vomiting while on tape, some idiot grandpa dancing at the wedding reception wearing a diaper, and a groom being arrested by the police just before exchanging vows.

5:30 - 6:15  |   45 second cut. Animal control officer shooting a video to sell the public on adopting stray animals. Says the cat he is seen holding is "very loving" and just then the cat goes berserk and turns feral and ferocious. Officer gets scratched-up pretty badly. Laugh Factor: 5.

6:16 - 6:30  |   15 second clip. Video of dog eating dog chow, then lifting his leg and relieving himself on the bag of chow. Laugh Factor: 2.

6:31 - 6:53  |   22 second clip showing a cat using a toilet instead of a litter box. Big deal. Saw it before. Not funny. Laugh Factor: 1.

6:54 - 7:23  |   29 second clip; landlord enters tenants' apartment and is caught on hidden video. For some unknown reason, landlord takes a leak into some leftover food container that was left in the kitchen. Laugh Factor: 3. Not really funny. Would be more enjoyable if video were shown of the police interrogation.

7:25 - 9:04  |   69 second clip. I saw this one on TV before. Man sets up a hidden camera in his garage to catch a thief who has been stealing tools. Hidden video captures burglar, who turns out to be the man's neighbor. Laugh Factor: 2.

9:05 - 9:38  |   33 second clip. Hidden camera shows woman invading her roommate's room, using the phone to make long distance phone call. Boyfriend of roommate comes in later and steals a fistful of change. Then, woman returns to the room with a cup of urine and pours it on the bed. During the whole time, a small dog can be seen in the room, and I suppose the idea was that the woman was going to tell her roommate that the "dog did it." Pretty bizarre, but not funny. Laugh Factor: 2.

9:40 - 10:55  |   75 second clip showing about 20 different scenes following college students during Spring Break. Some flashing, brief nudity, and scenes of drunken behavior. Not at all funny and presented in several fast, short cuts that prevent one from really appreciating what was happening. Laugh Factor: 1. I've seen it before.


     -- Pause in the presentation while the narrator talks about advances in video technology. Viewer gets to listen to a boring lecture and is shown a variety of some pretty small spy cameras, some that are disguised or hidden in common, everyday items like pens. --


12:00 - 12:55  |   55 second clip. Husband uses hidden video to record shots of wife being a bad mother -- snorting cocaine at home. Uses the experience to launch his own business selling spy cameras and surveillance gear. Laugh Factor: 1.

13:04 - 14:42  |   Long 98 second clip. Not hidden video. Man invents a "super suit" to use for police work (riot control, etc.). Demonstrates the suit's "real world" application by wrestling with a bear, having his aids beat him about the helmet with bats and pick axes. Laugh Factor: 3. Goofy.

14:43 - 15:04  |   21 second clip. Farmer in Europe brings tractor and manure wagon to city hall and spreads manure all over the walkway. Laugh Factor: 3. I laughed because the idiot got caught on tape and performed the stunt in broad daylight.

15:05 - 15:23  |   18 second clip. Hidden camera video of a botched store robbery. Kids trip over themselves.

15:24 - 15:52  |   28 seconds. Various clips, some repeated a few times, of backyard "wrestling" stunts. Video quality is poor. The stunts are dangerous enough: back flips from roof tops and ladders, high kicks to the jaw, garbage cans over the head... stuff like that. No examination of the injured parties. Laugh Factor: 2.

15:53 - 17:10  |   77 second clip. Oil wrestling, cream wrestling, mud wrestling, and wrestling in Spam®, and bikini-clad women wrestling in 50,000 gallons of cole slaw. Scenes of people diving in a pool of yogurt and a vat of Jello®. Laugh Factor: 1. Boring.

17:11 - 17:57  |   46 second clip. Several shots of a streaker/flasher in New York City. Full frontal nudity is censored. Laugh Factor: 1. Staged material.


     -- Break in action, bumper set up for what would have been a commercial break. Video resumes with a recap of previously viewed material and action yet to come. --


19:15 - 19:40  |   25 seconds. Would be thief at a liquor store gets clobbered over the head, several times, by women clerks who beat him over the head with a whiskey bottle during a robbery attempt. The robber flees the store in a bloody mess. Laugh Factor: 3.

19:41 - 20:18  |   37 seconds. Customer attempts to steal cigarettes from the counter. Store clerk pushes button and the store goes into an automatic lock-up mode. Customer can't get out of store. Laugh Factor: 2.

20:20 - 20:25  |   5 seconds. Some video of a guy's butt crack as he bends over to buy something at a convenience store. Laugh Factor: 1.

20:26 - 20:46  |   20 seconds. Students vandalizing school property throwing rocks and breaking windows. Get caught on tape and are busted. Laugh Factor: 1.

20:52 - 22:34  |   102 seconds. Several different shoplifting reels from a department store video. Store detectives bust shoplifters as they attempt to walk out of the store. Laugh Factor: 1.

22:39 - 22:53  |   14 seconds. Man sets garbage in dumpster on fire. Uninteresting. Laugh Factor: 0.

23:00 - 24:52  |   112 seconds. Perhaps the most interesting sequence of videos. Kids video tape their exploits in setting fires, destroying mailboxes, breaking windows, etc. In setting a trap to videotape a new crime against an unsuspecting victim, their video camera is caught, is viewed, and is turned over to the police. The tape becomes evidence in a criminal case against the boys.

24:54 - 27:27  |   153 seconds. Hidden security camera surveillance loops from building stairwells, elevators, parking lots and parking garages catch couples in compromising situations. Several scenes are repeated.

27:29 - 30:20  |   171 seconds. A long collection featuring brief scenes of nudity. Some video of college girls at Lake Havasu, Arizona. Mild strip tease, flashing, wet t-shirt contests, etc. A few seconds of nude skiing. More flashing, mooning, and spring break activity. A topless car wash. Some Mardi Gras revelers. A drunk, nude woman holding up traffic on a busy highway.

30:21 - 31:36  |   75 seconds. Some wedding disasters. Drunken best man. People fainting. Bouquet toss hits person. Not particularly funny. Laugh Factor: 2.

31:43 - 32:30  |   47 seconds. A couple of botched convenience store robberies. Kid tries to shoplift in a convenience store; drops stolen merchandise; bystander makes away with the goods. Armed gunman enters liquor store with rifle, but losses rifle to store clerk as he attempts to picks up some loot using both hands. Laugh Factor: 1.

32:40 - 32:48  |   8 seconds. Work place surveillance camera catches. Parking meter clerks pocket some of the day's receipts in the counting room. Busted.

33:00 - 33:33  |   33 seconds. Man captures video of person who had been vandalizing his truck -- throwing bricks through the window, setting fires, etc.

33:35 - 34:36  |   61 seconds. Work place camera showing woman pulling on pantyhose while trying to answer phone (she falls).

34:38 - 35:38  |   60 seconds. Out-takes from an exercise video production. Instructor is a klutz and repeatedly falls or fails to properly demonstrate an exercise routine. Not particularly funny.

35:40 - 36:20  |   40 seconds. Police camera video of a car that runs away during a traffic stop due to the driver's failure to set the gear to park. Saw it before.

36:21 - 37:31  |   70 seconds. Women gets hit by lightning while videotaping a thunderstorm. Looks like a news reel production.

37:33 - 38:10  |   37 seconds. Fascinating video of a navy worker getting sucked into the turbine/engine of a Navy A-10 aircraft. The guy survived the accident, but it looks horrific on tape.


     -- Break in action, bumper set up for what would have been a commercial break. Video resumes with a recap of previously viewed material and action yet to come. --


38:38 - 38:58  |   20 seconds. Some video clips from a fire eater/street performer.

39:00 - 39:45  |   45 seconds. Some clips of people snow sledding in the nude. A clip of a guy putting on his wife's clothing.

39:50 - 41:30  |   100 seconds. Animals caught on tape. A monkey rides on the back of a dog at a rodeo. An animal control officer attempts to apprehend a stray alligator. A cat eats his food with a fork taped to its paw.

41:35 - 42:17  |   42 seconds. Space shuttle astronauts are caught on film goofing off. Pulling on their pants, playing with yo-yos and gyroscopes (actually, these were onboard science experiments).

42:22 - 44:37  |   105 seconds. Police tapes of people being arrested for being intoxicated. These were pretty funny. Man puts traffic cone on head and tries to pass a field sobriety check. Woman is advised of her right while she performs a striptease for the camera. A suspect is handcuffed and needs to scratch his nuts. He asks the arresting officers for their help in scratching his nuts.

45:08 - 46:01  |   53 seconds. Driverless car is running in reverse, in circles, and police officers try to break in and stop it.

46:02 - 46:12  |   10 seconds. Looks like a staged clip of a barber demonstrating her technique for the camera, and then clipping her customer's ear with a pair of scissors.

46:24 - 48:55  |   151 seconds. An attempted robbery at a convenience store. Robber is distracted and leaves rifle on the counter, which is then snagged by the clerk. The action is repeated for a second time. In next sequence, a robber is frustrated while waiting for the clerk to open the register so he nabs the cash register off the counter and makes a run for it. A customer at an ATM is caught on tape giving the one-finger salute after being denied cash. A robber enters a jewelry store, accidentally locking out his partner.

49:00 - 50:50  |   110 seconds. Some videos featuring fisticuffs at governmental and city council meetings. Plus some video footage of a mayoral candidate in Hermosa Beach, California, that ran on a platform that endorsed toplessness on public beaches. Some hidden camera footage of one candidate tearing down the bootlegs, bills and campaign posters of another candidate.

50:55 - 53:16  |   141 seconds. Caught red-handed. Private detectives hired by one spouse to spy on the other. Cheating spouse are caught on film.

53:32 - 53:58  |   26 seconds. The bums get busted. Some of the best hidden video work on this set: people who run workers compensation insurance scams are seen collecting their "assistance" checks using crutches and walkers, and are next seen running, dancing or chopping wood.

54:05 - 54:41  |   36 seconds. Video bloopers. A product test that fails (a backup warning device brake a truck during a demonstration recorded during a blind reversing maneuver) and rap music video has to be re-shot after the singer walks into a tree.

54:42 - 54:58  |   16 seconds. Hidden camera clip of a delivery boy exiting an elevator. He drops his food, spilling food everywhere, and he hastily reassembles and re-bags everything for delivery.

55:02 - 55:35  |   33 seconds. Some videos of animals in action. Sheep running through a corral, one jumping head long into door overhang (not funny). Some TV commentator reporting in a field of cattle, and a bull can be seen attempting to mount another cow. A snail drinking beer, falling off the rim of a glass.

55:40 - 56:22  |   42 seconds. A TV reporter in taped out in the wild, tripping several times during a search for a wild animal. An old piece of military film showing a beach landing and a soldier falling into the surf. Some home video of a kid trying to learn how to pole vault (pole snaps in two).

56:30 - 56:48  |   18 seconds. Firefighters video-tape their activities while trying to put down a small house fire. The occupants come out of the building and punch out the videographer.

56:50 - 58:03  |   73 seconds. Company surveillance camera catches workers sleeping on the job, having sex with secretaries.

58:05 - 59:00  |   55 seconds. A couple of guys getting blitzed at a home party, acting stupidly, passing out, and taking advantage of each other.

59:02 - 59:20  |   18 seconds. Firefighters rescue man who has his hand stuck in his car's gas pipe.


A little over 3000 seconds of material -- about 50½-minutes, with some scenes repeated.



Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age