Jay R. Ferguson

Christine Taylor

Christopher Masterson

Kim Murphy

Ron Livingston

Jennifer MacDonald

Hawthorne James

Alex McKenna

Devon Odessa

Jonathan Fuller

Glenn Quinn

Jacinda Barrett

James Marsden

Amy Smart

Rick Lawrence

Stewart J. Zully

Paul Salamoff

Bill Zahn

Gary Jensen

Ben Jensen

Suzanne Goddard-Smythe

Michael Dempsey

Otin

Denny Arnold

Meleva Barbula

David Cooper

Eric Fleeks

Mike Terner

Matt Cooper

Larry Weinberg

Eric Manes

Martin Kunert

Lori Miller

David Semel

John Peters

Roy Knyrim

Paul Lowe

Nicole Arbusto

Joy Dickson

Katy S. Fox

Shay Austin

Luis Colina

Steven Nevius

Rick Fields

Gary DePew

Louis Shaw Milito

Richard J. Levin

Jennifer Anderson

Jerry Macaluso

Sylvia Vega-Vasquez

Sandra Cannon

Colin Anderson

Ian Dodd

Joel Schwartz

Bruce E. Nadeau

Brian Peck

Jan Fead

Daniel Bosler

Marshall Wiemer

Kevin Wilson

Adam Blantz

Carol A. Ellison Fleming

Brett S. McCarthy

Billy A. Fox

Tom Schmieder

Arthur D. Whitehead

Joaquín 'Kino' Sánchez

Halo Amrani

Matt Alafetich

Gary L. Brennand

Jeff Nobel

David Winner

Fritz Weber

Curtis Smith

Sacha Bowling

Tomislav Culina

Cary Symmons

Melisa Sánchez

Gary Dickman

Cynthia Bornia

Monica Vasquez

Susan Matheson

Matthew Goodman

Casey D. Eberhart

Jay James

Lynell Bangs

Tom Bellfort

Chris Scarabosio

Bob Edwards

Gwendolyn Yates Whittle

Kevin Sellers

Dennie Thorpe

Jana Vance

Tony Eckert

Frank 'Pepe' Merel

Jamie Forester

Christopher Lewis

Renata Yvette Ray

Tanya Titus

Peter Carnahan

Yaniv Bashan

Gregory Meadows

Eric Smith

Shiuvaun Egan

Stan Lanich

Jeff Christenson

Teddi Rice

Eric Blough

Dan Burton

Michael Burnette

Chris Sharff

Alex Kivlen

Joe Broderick

Eric 'Jetson' Pfoutz

Whitney Alderson

Andrew Rose

Horror

Campfire Tales

Campfire LLC

United States of America

Anthological Urban Legend Blast!

The horror anthology movie has been a popular source of enjoyment for horror fans for a number of decades. As is pretty much always the case, the quality of each segment of the films varies - and this always will be the case. Case in point Campfire Tales.

Something of a little treat for those inclined, this offers up four main stories and a wraparound device which involves four teenagers telling the tales around a campfire after their car has crashed. In my own anthology experiences, the main stories have tended to improve in quality as each story plays out, Campfire Tales is different, it opens weakly - has two great stories in the middle - and then closes on a damp boring squib. leading into the big - if unsurprising - reveal at films end.

The poster for the film puts Amy Smart and James Marsden up at the front, which is a bum steer given that their screen time is not massive. Their story, "The Hook", opens the film and it's poor, devoid of scares and tension, and it obviously gears itself up for a chilling reveal but it ends up more funny (even baffling) than creepy.

"The Honeymoon" is up next and things significantly improve. Based on one of the most famous of urban legends, this finds a young couple of honeymooners stranded out in the woods when their camper van runs out of petrol. Choices are made, menacing terror begins, which all leads to a genuinely shocking finale.

Next up is "People Can Lick Too", which finds a young girl home alone and stalked by a paedophile she met on line. The whole episode has a sinister eeriness to it, with some reveals sending chills down the spine. The ending is heart stopping and blood curdling.

The last segment is "The Locket", which is well acted but ultimately more wistful and ethereal than anything scary or unnerving. Though the denouement is sure to appeal to many. Nice musical score here as well. And on to the reveal, straight out of The Twilight Zone and from any number of films of the same ilk. Great fun even if not all the stories knock it out of the park. 7.5/10

English

Campfire Tales (1997) Official Trailer