Scare Tactics is a Sci-fi/Horror themed reworking of Candid Camera from the SyFy Channel. The hidden camera show is one of oldest concepts in television. Candid Camera, which first aired in 1948, secretly recorded people as silly parlor tricks were played on them. After a little while, host Allen Funt would walk up to the person and say; “Smile! You’re on candid camera!” Whether they know the history or not, everyone understands the basic formula of hidden camera shows. Scare Tactics is a great idea on paper: Let’s take the basic “Candid Camera” formula, but take the stunts to a whole new level using elaborate costumes and special effects. The problem is that, despite costumes, make-up, and an absolute commitment to the joke that is sometimes astounding, the amount of effort put into each scenario rarely yields a matching result. There’s a result, don’t get me wrong. But there’s rarely a fit of screaming that seems appropriate for a werewolf attack or murderous midget pretending to be a baby.
Candid Camera shows have a baseline humor, Scare Tactics tries to raise the stakes, but by doing so, it sets itself up for failure. The variation on the basic camera show theme Scare Tactics uses is elaboration. The stories are more elaborate. The characters are more elaborate. The prank is more elaborate. All of these things should illicit a more intense response, which should make the viewer laugh really hard. The problem is that they don’t, and because they don’t, we’re left unsatisfied. There’s nothing with anyone on the show: the actors overplay their parts, but that just sucks an unknowing player in further. The pranks are all good, ripped from horror and sci-fi scripts. What kills the show in the end is the lack of response by the prankees.
The show theoretically chooses superstitious people, people who won’t simply throw their hands up and rip the head off a bear costume when confronted with a paranormal situation, or at least a murderous one. No matter what the prank is, or what back-story is given, when the pranked person is told: “You’re on Scare Tactics”, they instantly start laughing. It’s like flipping a switch: scared, then laughing. It’s a testament to the enduring nature of the archetype, really. The show is on a middle-level cable network, there's no way all of them know what Scare Tactics is. But, using a phrase whose basic concept is the same as Candid Camera’s immediately lets the person know what’s just happened. They’ve been scammed, goosed, etc. Admittedly, it must be hard to truly convince someone that a man just blew up a car with his mind. The description of the show concedes that editing does occur and I’m inclined to believe, purely on assumption, that each skit has an extra half hour of the subject being cynical about the whole situation.
On the matter of time, some of the skits also tend to become a little boring. Because each plan is so elaborate, featuring a story and some shocking moments, they have to be played out. These five minute skits don’t have time to build mood the way a normal horror movie does, but they try anyways and all it does is give the viewer an opening to go do something else.
Scare Tactics does an admirable thing: trying to take a time-tested formula and mixing it with elements that were, until this point, completely foreign to it. The problem is that those elements are counter to each other. Candid Camera is light fare, meant to illicit a chuckle and a smile. Pairing that up with such heavy themes of death and evil requires a lot of investment from the viewer, which is one of the reasons the genres aren’t as mainstreamed as others, especially in television. The people at SyFy should stick to what they know because, just like Candid Camera, the best parts about it come from being uncompromising.
DVD Bonus Features
For those of you who are really into the show, the Scare Tactics set has a lot of content. In addition to a blooper reel mostly revolving around host Tracy Morgan, the show boasts four episodes that never aired on cable. Unlike deleted scenes, which often were cut for a reason, these episodes are complete and every bit as good as the others.
"Scare Tactics: Season 3, Part 1 - Uncensored and Too Hot for TV" is on sale October 6, 2009 and is rated NR. Comedy, Horror. Directed by Mike Harney. Written by Doug Perkins, Russell Arch. Starring Tracy Morgan, Sarah Colonna, Nicole Gordillo, Sven Holmberg.
