Rish Outfield's reviews
A coupla years back, I tried to convince my buddies that it would be fun to make short film versions of our favorite urban legends. Unfortunately, the makers of Campfire Tales beat me to it. I hope it was fun, you bastards.
The story went this way: A group of teens, stuck in the middle of nowhere after a (off-camera) car accident, tell scary stories around a campfire. There is a little resolution to their situation at the end that left me pretty apathetic, but at least they tried. This was an obviously cheap film, but some of it worked very well. I like these little anthology movies, over all, they manage to entertain me with very little effort, but they're rarely classics or hold up to repeat viewings. It begins with the granddaddy of horror urban legends--"The Hook" and ends with a hip garage band cover of "Monster Mash." I leave it to you to decide if those are good things. The main problem I had with this movie (and just try and tell me I'm wrong), is that urban legends typically have a ‘punchline'--a final twist or payoff that makes the listeners gasp or laugh or at least react in some way. Campfire Tales tells us four urban legends, and only the first one ("The Hook") gets the punchline right. Why, I can't say. "The Honeymoon," "The Locket," and "People Can Lick Too" (in which THAT is the punchline) all blow it on that crucial element. And those punchlines are the reason we all love to retell these tales.
Best Scare: "The Honeymoon" actually got somewhat scary, with unseen monsters hunting people in the woods.
I'd Recommend It To: People who like these so-so little horror anthologies.
Note: James Marsden is in it. Time will tell if he's a Future Celebrity or not.