Camera Thrills: Watching People Do Dangerous Things for No Reason

If you have any interest in how cameras were shoved into the faces of people doing genuinely stupid things a hundred years ago, you might actually like Camera Thrills. If you are looking for a plot, or characters, or even a reason to care about who is falling off a bridge, you are going to hate this. It is basically just a series of things happening, one after another, with very little rhyme or reason.

It feels like someone just grabbed a bunch of leftover reels from the cutting room floor and glued them together. There are moments where you catch a glimpse of someone’s terrified face right before they jump off a building, and it feels uncomfortably real. You can almost smell the old film stock and the ozone from the projectors.

The Good Kind of Mess

There is a weird, hypnotic rhythm to the whole thing. It is not trying to be The Eagle and the Hawk or anything that requires you to follow a narrative thread. It is just raw footage of people risking their necks for a few feet of film. At one point, a guy tries to balance something ridiculous on a high wire, and the camera just stays on him way longer than it should. It gets quiet. You realize you are holding your breath, not because it is dramatic, but because you are worried he is going to actually die right there.

Sometimes the film cuts away so abruptly it feels like someone tripped over the power cord. It is sloppy. I kind of love that about it. 📽️

• Some of the stunt guys look absolutely bored, which makes it even funnier.
• The editing is basically non-existent.
• There are shots of crowds that look like they were filmed by someone who was actively running away from something.

It reminds me of the chaotic energy in Goofy Movies Number Eight, though this is significantly more dangerous and less interested in being funny. The movie doesn't bother with introductions or context. You just show up, and suddenly there is a fire, or a plane crash, or a guy on a bicycle where he definitely shouldn't be.

I found myself wondering if these people knew the footage would be watched a century later. They probably didn't. They just wanted to see if they could survive the stunt. It’s strange and disconnected, but honestly, I couldn't look away. It’s not for everyone, but if you want to feel the history of cinema being built on shaky ground, give it a look.