Campfire Stories (2001) User Reviews

Flamin' 'eck! This is bad.

[BA_Harrison · 2/10 · 4 May 2011]

A much better title for this low-rent Creepshow wannabe would have been Bedtime Stories because it's far more likely to send the viewer off to sleep than to scare them. With three incredibly mundane tales, directed with little flair or skill by Bob Cea, Andrzej Krakowski, and Jeff Mazzola (yes, it really took three people to direct this mess), the film belongs to the lowest echelon of horror anthologies, on a par with garbage like Creepshow III.

The wraparound narrative sees a pair of guys, on the lookout for a party in the middle of nowhere, blowing a tyre after almost running down hot babe in distress Natalie (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), who has also been experiencing car trouble. Wandering into the woods in search of help, the trio meet a creepy park ranger (David Johansen), who claims to have arranged a tow truck for the trio; while they wait for it to arrive, the ranger tells some (supposedly) scary stories around his campfire...

Story one has some jocks tormenting their school janitor, unaware that he is actually an escapee from the state facility for the criminally insane; story two features a gang of thugs who kill an native American Indian, smoke his hallucinogenic weed, experience some truly dreadful CGI creatures, and finally get their comeuppance when the Indian returns to suck out their youth; in story three, two girls plan a special evening of sexy fun and games to payback their boyfriends for their bad behaviour, but things go awry when a killer interrupts their party.

Having already suffered three of the park ranger's mind-numbingly feeble tales of terror, the teens decide to make a run for it, lest there be a fourth; they make it to a strange night-club (where horror punk band The Misfits just happened to be playing a gig), but realise too late that they've made a big mistake.... as I did when I bought this dreck.

better then I thought it would be

[Zod-2 · 4/10 · 28 October 2003]

I didn't have much faith in this movie when I bought the dvd, but it was cheap and I figured it had to contain at least a couple of scares. After the first few minutes I thought I was wrong, this movie was going to suck but as it progressed it did get better.

The wrap around story is easily the worst of the bunch, the acting and production is amateurish at times. While it does contain some humor David Johansens hammy acting takes away any suspense that could possibly be being produced. The whole plot of the wrap around story is pretty flimsy as well and seems very forced, as if the producers just needed to get the film to the point where the stories are told. The resolution that comes at the end is just as forced and is pretty pathetic.

The first story, about a group of jocks picking on a school handyman, doesn't fair much better in it's acting or production values. Once it gets going there is a level of creepiness to it but the whole set up before the climax is so poorly done that you find yourself caring very little about what happens.

Aside from some poor special effects (well good in a high school class project sort of way) the second story involving three troublemakers looking to profit from the murder of a native man, fails to really grab the viewer. There isn't much wrong with the story it just doesn't do much until the twist ending. At that point everything registers and the story makes sense, unfortunately it's not much fun getting to that point.

The final, and best, story is a nice little "who-done-it". While the story, of four friends getting together for a night of "passion" which ends in murder, doesn't really set itself up as well as it could, it does contain the most suspense of the 4 stories. This entry contains the best of everything in the movie, best story, acting and suspense. The topper is that is also contains the best ending as you continue to guess who the culpret is.

I could almost recommend this movie if it had a better wrap around story to hold the rest of the movie together. Also, if you want a professional type horror movie it is best to stay clear of Campfire Stories. I realize I'm probably going very easy on this film but I did like it much more then I thought I would, it's a guilty pleasure that's worth 90 minutes of mindless enjoyment if you can find it for the right (read VERY LOW) price. Mind you, I would recommend 1997's Campfire Tales over this film any day. Campfire Stories rates a 4 out of 10.

I was expecting it to be bad. I was right. Oh, how right I was.

[jwenzl11 · 2/10 · 23 July 2005]

My story: I was in the video store, trying desperately to find something to rent, so I could just get home and end what was probably a miserable day. (It's been a long week. Don't ask.) As I've found myself so many times before, I was standing in front of the "horror" section. I thought it might be fun to rent a bad scary movie to laugh at.

Now see, the trick to renting a "good" bad scary movie is in finding one that's just good enough to almost justify watching. There is nothing better than finding a horror movie that walks that thin line between being at least redeemingly scary and laughably stupid. I repeat: nothing better. Not fresh baked brownies. Not sex. Not puppy breath. Nothing.

Problem with this film is my review thus far is just as frightening as the entire movie. It wasn't even good enough for me to waste my time laughing at. I saw better acting at my brother's second grade Christmas pageant. The special effects were comparable to sock puppets. And there were plot holes big enough to throw Ranger Bill's big stupid hat through. It's like the writers thought up the twists at the end and convinced themselves they didn't need to go along with the actual stories themselves. It's the film equivalent of someone tearing out the last few pages of The Grapes of Wrath and writing in "Rosasharn kills them all" in crayon on the back cover. I fell asleep for the beginning of the third story and didn't even bother rewinding it, because by that time I'd learned that seeing the whole thing still wouldn't make it make any more sense.

If you're looking for a glorious trainwreck of a movie . . . this one is not for you. However, if you're looking for a movie that drags itself along like a half-dead chipmunk, searching hopelessly for even a modicum of redemption before finally fading into a painful death that couldn't have come soon enough, maybe you should check it out.

If not, give it to someone you hate to kill them a little inside.

Feel up to an amusing horror movie....

[Vampire_Moon · 12 April 2003]

then this one is definitely for you. Just don't expect to be frightened or wake up screaming in the middle of the night. And don't expect anything extraordinary. This film wasn't meant to be any of those things. It sticks to the classic "B" horror movie genre with it's cheesy classic monster movie special effects and over acting to make it seem scary. It plays more like an hour and a half long episode of Tales From the Crypt. But is amusing in its own fashion. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting back, relaxing, and just letting this movie be exactly what it is: a corny "B" style horror movie made because they had the budget to make it. And as long as you enjoy movies like Killer Klowns from Outer Space, you can probably appreciate this movie as well. But if you are expecting an edge of your seat thriller, that makes you think, sends chills up your spine, and is guaranteed to give you nightmares, then look elsewhere.

worst. movie. ever.

[Boogenhagen77 · 1/10 · 11 April 2004]

and by ever I mean of the last 10-12 years. this movie makes jack frost look good. Believe the nay sayers. but then, if you actually are browsing these reviews to consider this movie, you probably have some semblance of what makes a good movie.

Don't rent it- you will be compelled to demand another free rental in lieu of the time & $$$ you wasted. just don't watch it. ok it says I gotta write more. ON that skull thing at the beginning: I can make better computer animations with MS paint. Go evesdrop on a random neighbor's conversation- it will provide more interesting dialouge than is in this movie.

This movie has the fake-est southern accent I have ever had the sheer chalkboard-against-fingernails repulsion to experience. The villians in the 2nd story I could have beat up in my sleep. those 3 were about as evil as marshmellow peeps.

5 stars out of respect for Charlie Day and Rob McElhenney

[kstice-25195 · 5/10 · 3 March 2022]

I usually don't write reviews for old movies. However, the current reviews for Campfire Stories (2001) fail to mention that this movie was one of the first acting roles for both Charlie Day and Rob McElhenney. If Rob and Charlie had never met when filming this movie, then "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" would not exist today. Because of this important connection, this movie shows how seemingly insignificant works can have still have a big impact on life. Additionally, fans of the show will get a kick out of seeing Rob and Charlie before they became famous. It's especially fun to see Charlie, as his character is very different from the characters he has played since 2005. And Rob's presence in the third story made me actually care about the outcome of those characters.

If it weren't for the casting of Charlie and Rob, I would give this movie either two or three stars. I won't discuss the errors in filmmaking too deeply, as I believe most of the reviews from 2001-2011 adequately cover that subject. However, the special effects are extremely low budget, the stories aren't scary, and the plot holes are big enough that you could drive a bus through them.

If you're a fan of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", I would recommend watching this movie. But if you don't care for that show, there are much better movies you can watch. 5/10.

Just plain pointless.

[TOMNEL · 1/10 · 31 July 2006]

I have no idea why people think they can make a good anthology film on a 10 dollar budget. This was awful. It had three stories. The first was perhaps the most pointless and is about a man escaping from the insane asylum. Later he works as a janitor at a school, kids make fun of him so he kills them. The second story is about some mean teens killing an Indian for no reason at all and stealing his peace pipe and getting high off of it. They have hallucinations, one of which is a REEEAALLLYY poorly computer animated snake. The third is just about some girls messing with these guys trying to scare them. It's all surrounded by this random guy named Rick, played by "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie's" James Remar. The opening to the film is a poorly animated skull that looks pathetic. The end is absolutely ridiculous.

My rating: 1/2 out of ****. 92 mins. Rated R for sex and violence and language

Campfire Stories

[Scarecrow-88 · 2/10 · 23 June 2007]

Two unfortunate college males, heading for a shin-dig with girls, flatten their tire when coming close to hitting a hitcher(Jamie-Lynn Sigler of "Sopranos" fame)on some highway surrounded by woods. She leads them into the woods "to find help" and they meet a forest-ranger named Bill(David Johansen)around a camp fire who tells them "scary" stories supposedly teaching them lessons about life.

The first is about what occurs to some idiot, scumbag jocks who mess around with a school janitor who just happens to be an escaped convict who was able to flee his asylum by murdering the psychotic doctor performing "pain threshold experiments" on him. They get in over their heads when the boys "chase" him into the woods and truly realize just who their up against.

Three criminals, leather-jacket punks, and their equally repellent chick that hangs with them, attack and rob a powerful motorcycle-riding(!) Indian with a magic bag. They start smoking his stash of wacky weed and suffer horrifying hallucinations which will effect them physically as it does mentally.

Two young couples stay at a country-house for the night for a little game of "truth and dare", drinking, and sex while a killer begins to pick them off one by one while filming the action on video camera.

Poorly produced, gore-less, and about as scary as a Sesame Street episode. The violence almost completely takes place off-screen and it is apparently(because the whole film seems shot on someone's camcorder)because of a zero budget. Each story within the film is yawn-inducing instead of gripping and the entire cast elicit little sympathy from the viewer. The second story has horrendous computer effects during the hallucination sequences. David Johansen as the story-teller Ranger Bill is laughable. Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Natalie the hitch-hiker barely registers.

Worst Movie in a long time.

[nightfalcawk · 1/10 · 21 July 2005]

The computer animated skull was the cheesiest, dumbest, most retarded thing I have seen in a long time. I couldn't even hear what it was saying. I just assumed that it was the normal crypt-keeper rip-off crap. Not that the Crypt Keeper was good.

Then we are introduced to the story of two guys with a broken down car who meet a random girl, and then, respectively, a Southern Deputy. That is the overarching plot, but it doesn't matter. It takes up less time then the sub-stories. I also was unable to hear what the zany deputy was saying throughout his five hour long idiotic rambling.

The first sub story was just unimaginative. We listen to repetitive punk rock for ten minutes before the story actually begins. A guy kills people at a mental institution that performs hideous experiments on it's charges. Then the story REALLY takes off with a bunch of jock teen kids molesting a gardener. BUT WAS HE FROM THE MENTAL INSTITUTION??? WE DON'T KNOW!!!! Well, they know that he's unstable, saying that he killed his family, and then unburied them and "killed them again." Oh, what a card that psychopathic gardener is! Then they are hanging out in a large inexplicable vacant lot with various sport equipment. The gardener then kills all the kids who are too ****ing dumb to use the golf clubs they have to bludgeon the killer from a distance OR to stick together so he couldn't possibly stand a chance since he, like this movie, sucks really bad. Oh, and he stuffs all his victims.

It warrants special attention that in this particular story, the lead teen jerk has a fake ear for half the sub-story. Not a good fake ear, one that doesn't have an ear hole. It looks like it's falling off every time he falls down. I mean, nothing actually happens to his ear after it is originally attacked, and it isn't even a fake bloody ear. Just a regular flesh colored, hole-less ear. I hate this movie for that.

Next is the story of some kids who steal a Native American's pot, have a bad trip and become old. I need say no more, as my IQ score drops in a negative exponential curve each second I think about this story.

The last is a whole bunch-o-fun! This girl is making out in the car, okay? We'll call her No Name, since I don't know or care what her name is. Now get this, she is afraid of some guy stalking her! Got that, 'cause that actually almost matters. Now her girlfriend starts talking about revenge on their boyfriends, because the boyfriends taped them having intercourse without their permission. MORE SUSPENSE!!!! And then a deputy who is southern (even though nobody else in the scene is) agrees to investigate the stalker for No Name. And then the stalker is forgotten in lieu of a fake teen sex scene. See, the girl's plans are to get the guys drunk so they can films the guys doing stuff. Then they all get killed except No Name, WHO IS ALSO THE KILLER!!!!!! o_0 OMGWTFBBQ????!!!!1!!!! It also shows the fakest kill ever, as No Name kills her girlfriend by playfully tapping her in side of the head with a poker. Not with the sharp part, the dull part. Hitting her at .0000000000000000000000000000000001 attometers per mega second! Her girlfriend keels over like drunken decapitated moose who gave up on life. Did I mention how much I hate hate hate hate hate this movie?

Oh, And in the over arching plot, the random girl they find is evil. We don't know why, but she is. And all the people from the stories come back and kill the two guys from the broken down car. No reason is given for why any of this happens or why this movie made me want put my foot in blender, but hey, that's CAMPFIRE STORIES!!!!

Not THE worst film ever made....but down there.

[Matt_Layden · 2/10 · 14 February 2005]

Not as bad as "Carnivore", this low budget film is still sh*t, but I have more respect for it then I have for "The Worst Movie Ever, Carnivore". Anyways...Two teens on their way to a backwoods party come across a beautiful young woman (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) having car trouble, so they go into the woods to find campers she said she saw, they run into Ranger Bill, and he starts telling them these campfire stories. There are 3 stories, one involves a lunatic killer, the other a haunted Indian/weed pipe and the last one is yet another killer story. Personally I liked the last story the best, but that is not saying much. I mistakenly bought Carnivore in a 5 dollar bin at Wal mart, I got this at Christmas. There was a deal if you buy one movie, you get another one, my mom picked it while she was getting the "Awesome" Dog Soldiers.

The acting is mostly high school level and the music is really lame. The worst performance is "Ranger Bill" played by David Johansen, he really sinks this movie. I will admit, at the beginning I had hopes for it, it was going alright, then they meet up with Bill and it goes downhill from there. Now the acting is as bad as Carnivore (I'll be making lots of references to it) but it is worse than Evil Dead. So you get the idea, the best performance is from a guy who has 2 lines it, the escaped lunatic mental killer in the first story.

The first story, about a group of jocks picking on a school handyman, doesn't fair much better in it's acting or production values. Once it gets going there is a level of creepiness to it but the whole set up before the climax is so poorly done that you find yourself caring very little about what happens.

Aside from some poor special effects (well good in a high school class project sort of way) the second story involving three troublemakers looking to profit from the murder of a native man, fails to really grab the viewer. There isn't much wrong with the story it just doesn't do much until the twist ending. At that point everything registers and the story makes sense, unfortunately it's not much fun getting to that point.

The final, and best, story is a nice little "who-done-it". While the story, of four friends getting together for a night of "passion" which ends in murder, doesn't really set itself up as well as it could, it does contain the most suspense of the 4 stories. This entry contains the best of everything in the movie, best story, acting and suspense. The topper is that is also contains the best ending as you continue to guess who the culprit is.

If you are the kind of fan who likes low budget campy kind of stuff, then be my guest. If you thought carnivore was at the very least okay, then give this one a try, it has a lot of of screen gore, like chainsaw scene in Scarface. For instance, the lead jock's neck and a saw come to meet, but all you see is the blood drip onto his chest. There's no nudity, hardly any language this movie doesn't feel like a real horror movie to me, just some kind of thriller, with one or two horror elements thrown in.

Hello, I'm Ranger Bill and you're watching my sucky movie!!

[anxietyresister · 2/10 · 31 August 2010]

Come and sit by my campfire lads and lasses. Take a load off. Let me terrify and tantalise you with my tales. No, not of demons and ghouls and zombies, but how horrible a film can be on a 4 for £1 disc. This film in question is called Campfire Stories and like Creepshow and it's ilk, has three segments of 'scary' horror with a back-ended plot, in this case being of two young men suddenly getting a flat tyre on a road in the middle of nowhere at night when almost running over a girl who is having similar motoring difficulties. Together, the three sitting ducks try to find help in the surrounding woods.. and stumble across me and my charming little blaze!! Now at this point you may think you're in line for some terrifying tales of nastiness and woe, but you couldn't be more wrong!! The real horror is in how pathetically low budget each one is, and the dreadful acting will scare you out of your wits!! Because I like to be methodical, lets take each one at a time..

Part 1: A mad dude in an asylum murders the head doctor and his nurse after a lot of mistreatment. Flash forward 20 years later, said psycho is now working at a caretaker at a school. Unfortunately a bunch of youths push him too hard, and when they go hunting him in the forest, Rambo has nothing on this guy's resourcefulness!! Apart from the visceral pleasure of seeing a bunch of jock a**holes get their just desserts, the predictable chase scenes and the cheesy blood-letting make this an instant flop. The killer is LAME too. 2/10

Part 2: This is the best of the lot, though that's like saying drowning is preferable to being buried alive. Three kids on the run from the law for murdering a couple of pensioners spot an Indian in a cafe, follow him back to his trailer and kill him too.. just for his top class ganja. While smoking it though, they start to see some very weird hallucinations, and a transformation is about to take place.. The 'highlight' of this short film-within-a-film is seeing some truly awful PS1 quality special effects of a computer generated wolf and some snakes. Apart from that, it's the same old crap part deux, though the ending is a good idea which could have been scary if it was handled right.. Guess what? It isn't. 3/10

Part 3: Last but not least (that would be part 1) four teens go to a house for a night of debauchery. The guys wanna get drunk and have sex, the gals are looking for revenge for some perceived misdemeanor. And there's a strange deputy hanging outside with the IQ of a walnut. What is going to happen? Well I won't spoil things for you, but sufficed to say the person you THINK is the killer isn't the killer and the murders only take place in the last five minutes. Before then you'll have to tolerate the slowest build up since World War II, and a lesbian kiss which is a fake as plastic doggy-doo. So much for the grand finale. 2/10

So that's it, apart from the conclusion to the bookended plot which is too stupid to even dignify with a comment. No serious gore, no nudity, no surprises, not even a teeny weeny sliver of camp value. Just a gigantic waste of time, all perpetrated by yours truly. You see, I made this film.. and I did it as bad as I could as an experiment to see how many punters would snap it up without reading reviews or asking their friend's advice first. Gullibility wins every time!! Now I know I can churn out as many crappy horror films as I want, safe in the knowledge that I will make a huge profit regardless of their awfulness!! Sleep tight y'all.. HA Ha ha ha ha.. *laughter fades to echo* 2/10

Come on people, it wasn't that bad

[NateF88 · 10/10 · 13 November 2003]

Why does everybody hate this movie so much. I mean, it's not a masterpiece like Halloween or other popular horror movies, but I thought it was fun to watch and the third story was actually kind of clever. I think this movie should get credit for some of the effort they put in to making this movie. It was great in a campy sort of way.

Not really so bad

[pumaye · 7/10 · 15 October 2002]

A direct-to-video (I think) trilogy of tales based on a comics book: the first story is a classic tale of a few stupid kids that goes after the wrong guy (an insane handyman) and pay for the disturb. The second tale is the story of three young criminals that try to kill an Indian but are punished with the loss of their young age. The third tale is a psychotic trip in a the deranged mind of a young girl. The movie is not great, far enough from it, but it's not really bad and it is good watching for the fans of horror anthologies.

Waste of time and money. TRUST ME-DO NOT WATCH THIS CRAP!

[thadevilworshipsme · 1/10 · 2 August 2002]

Let's start with the way this pile of garbage was shot-VIDEO. They didn't even use digital video or filmlook or anything. They didn't even attempt to make this horrible movie look like film. Second, I wasn't scared for a minute. My 7 year old watched it with me and SHE wasn't scared for a minute! ALL of the three stories sucked! Horrible acting and script. Even worse make up effects. They never showed any of the wounds being inflicted and the stage blood looked REALLY fake. I've seen "goosebumps" episodes that were scarier than this horrid home video footage. About the only good thing in the whole thing is at the end when the credits roll. No I'll take that back, The Misfits (a legendary punk rock group) were in it towards the very un-scary climactic ending. That's about the only good thing in this video. It's a wonder what the hell Jamie Lynn Sigler was doing in this thing when she's on THE SOPRANOS. Trust me, DO NOT RENT THIS GARBAGE OF A VIDEO! If you do, remember this: I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really didn't think it was that bad.

[Jack the Ripper1888 · 16 January 2003]

Movies like CREEPSHOW 2 were just not good movies, but at least they were fun gore fests. Well, CAMPFIRE STORIES is a much better version of it. I love low-budget horror films, and I truly think that some of the lower budget horror films are actually some of the creepier ones, this film was not that bad in my opinion.

There were not very many authentic scares and that acting was nothing to brag about, but the acting was believable enough. It is far better than some of the other crap films I have seen (BLOODY MURDER for example). There are not much usages of special effects or much blood or gore for that matter, and I think that is one of the things that adds to the creepiness of this film.

The "Ranger Bill" character was pretty laughable, but otherwise I thought CAMPFIRE STORIES was decent enough. Not the typical story of serial killer slaughters people, people get naked, people get killed, etc. This film was different. Very low-budget, but good to watch one a dark night when you're all alone. Recommendations include CREEPSHOW 2, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and BLOODY MURDER. Give this film a try when you have nothing better to do.....4/5.

These stories belong in a campfire, all right...

[Htom_Sirveaux · 1/10 · 29 March 2007]

I'd like to start off as saying that I, like so many horror film buffs, enjoy the cheap laughs to be acquired from B-grade trash. The film "Campfire Stories," however, isn't even amusing accidentally. I'd love to know how badly Jamie-Lynn DiScala, David Johansen, and the Misfits needed money to partake in this utter waste of celluloid.

I knew this one was going to be trouble when I saw a talking skull engulfed in flames at the beginning. From there on in, we have two annoying young men who can't tell a joke correctly get lost in the woods with a beautiful "Sopranos" girl, where they come across Ranger Bill, Buster Poindexter's evil alter-ego. He proceeds to bore them to death with three generic horror tales with relentlessly inane twists at the end of each.

The first tale is of a nameless lunatic who escapes the Corbin Bernsen Institute of Dentistry, reestablishes himself as a Catholic high school janitor, and takes out four of the young men they randomly pulled off the street to play the most annoying bullies I've ever seen. The second tale involves three career criminals who rob a Native American spiritualist, smoke his peace pipe (which was obviously filled with whatever the filmmakers were smoking), and are tormented by legions of computer animations created by first-year graphic arts majors from a community college. The third tale involves a homicidal maniac whose identity you'll probably figure out long before it's "revealed."

After sitting through these three sessions of ungodly torment, we're finally punished with a "surprise ending" which tries to tie everything together but fails miserably along with everything preceding it. "Campfire Stories" has no scares, no humor, and over all, no redeeming value whatsoever. If you want a real scare, light up a campfire and tell your own stories; they'll be a hundred times scarier than this melted marshmallow.

Makes From Justin to Kelly look like Shakespeare

[miguelsanchez69 · 1/10 · 19 April 2004]

This is the worst english language movie I've ever seen ("Zombie Doom", a German "film" is worse). Considering I've seen pretty much everything that's won a raspberry award, that's saying something.

I was expecting something bad after realizing I'd been ripped off and had spent 5 bucks on "Campfire Stories" rather than "Campfire Tales" (a good anthology horror film). But I was expecting something that was low-budget but had production values of at least ten dollars along the lines of tales from the hood or the dozen other direct to video titles in the genre (which I enjoyed). I figured well it has some b/c-list actors so maybe it will be OK (it wasn't like the cast is all unknowns). I'd say it's fair to say Jamie-Lynn Singler's film career has jumped the shark after watching this "film".

First off, it's shot on video. It looks like something that would air on public access TV. The direction is utterly awful, the editing is worse. The script is generic, cliched, disjointed and just plain bad, like Plan 9 from Outer Space bad. Most of the acting is abominable (which is probably mostly the director's fault in all honesty). The worst thing of all is the "cinematography". Awful. It's like they gave a drunk 10 year old a camera.

I enjoy bad movies, and I thought this movie was barely watchable, despite being unintentionally hilarious. It's just so bad. This movie is quite possibly the Plan 9 from Outer Space of the 21st century. If you like really really bad movies or are a masochist, it might be worth a rent, other than that - avoid like the plague.

Terrible. Not Recommended at all.

Dumb, but light-hearted dumb

[noizyme · 3/10 · 2 September 2004]

OK, by the title screen of any of these thrown-together-DVDs for horror, you should know that the movie is gonna be crap. This movie was entirely. Buster Poindexter (I can't even think of the guy's name, because that's all he ever plays is that "character") plays a ranger in the woods (who wears a boy scout leader uniform) who helps pass the time in a creepy fashion along with 2 guys and a girl who both have very poor maintenance of their cars. They stick around for his stories (why? I dunno...at the end it kinda reveals why, though) starring horribly contrived characters and too many twists for your head to remember.

I enjoyed seeing the Misfits play at the end, even though the camera was flying about all the time so you couldn't quite get a grasp on them being there. And the movie altogether was light-hearted, making some of the longer sequences with nothing but music in the back of these montages of killing or whatever a little bit watchable. Overall though, the movie is trying to show you that there was a comic book put out called Campfire Stories and here is the movie based on these stories. The ranger was annoying, the actors are all annoying and not convincing, and you wanna smack the director in the head for telling the camera to go closer towards the wall in many shots (in the 1st story). All in all, watch it if somebody owns it and you don't have to pay money to rent it.

Average Slash/Mash/Cut&Stab

[srmccarthy · 4/10 · 25 May 2003]

Four or Five stories (Guess the number)! Normally I like these mini-stories, but this one stinks, BAD!! Major rip-off of "The Twilight Zone". My summary says it best! Unless you just like to see mortal mutilation and nudity, this movie has nothing to offer!

Predictable and Poorly done.

[vanimanarvinye · 2/10 · 18 May 2003]

For the most part the acting was poorly done (especially on part of the Park Ranger), and the stories were anything but scary. Predictable and rather poorly shot, even if there was a low budget. The idea for this movie was a good one, it just wasn't pulled off.

Can't find this movie anywhere

[arianaloader · 1/10 · 15 September 2021]

I remember watching this movie when I was younger & loved it wish I could watch it again but I can't seem to find it available to rent anywhere therefore the 1 star.

Campfire Stories

[HorrorFan1984 · 2/10 · 9 May 2021]

A group of teens stranded in the woods get told three Campfire Stories by a creepy forest ranger who may not be all that he seems.

The wraparound starts with two young guys driving in the woods and get into a mini accident trying to avoid a woman standing in the middle of the road. She introduces herself as Natalie. They decide to go wandering through the woods to find help and that's when they run into a strange man who identifies himself as Ranger Bill.

The first story revolves a psychiatric hospital being run by a madman for a doctor. The doctor was using his patents for a pain threshold experiment. One of the patients kills the doctor and escapes the facility. We fast forward 20 years and the man is now a school janitor who gets picked on by the teenage students. After some scenes of torment, the man gets revenge in a very deadly way. This wasn't a very creative or well executed segment. Poorly acted all around (including a very young Perez Hilton) and provided little scares.

The second tale involves an offensive depiction of a native man who is attacked and killed by a group of racist white kids. When the supposed spirits of his ancestors possess his dead body, the revenge begins. A very typical story that has been done to death for years.

The third and final tale is the best of the bunch. It's about a group of 4 young people spending the weekend together at an old farmhouse. The main girl Melissa is convinced she's being stalked by someone outside who is wandering around in the dark. After a game of truth or dare, the teens start getting knocked off one by one. This tale had the best actress of the entire movie in Abigail Spencer, she did a great job.

I went into this one with low expectations and they were met. The filming quality was so poor in 'Campfire Tales', it definitely brought my rating down a notch. It was obviously low budget, but it didn't bother caring about the quality despite that. The killings in the first story for example were so badly done. We get zoom-ins of stab wounds and glitchy looking scenes of blood splattering. All very cheap looking. The acting outside of Abigail Spencer was atrocious, none of the other actors are worth mentioning.

Campfire Tales was a dud. I've given it a 2 only for the third tale which was mildly entertaining. I'd skip this one all together.

2/10.

Stop hating this movie so much

[eehtenn · 8/10 · 28 March 2021]

Did I watched this only for Mr. Charles Peckham Day? Yes. Did I enjoy this mainly because of said Charlie Day? Yes. Man, I dont know what else to say other than this is dumb fun and Charlie Day being an asshole is hilarious to see. Joe being a jackass punk is the best character choice.

Worst horror movie I´ve seen in years

[PeterRoeder · 7/10 · 21 January 2004]

This is a totally inept movie. I cannot believe that it was released. It is eerie in its own horrible way. The girl is who plays the lead character is very cute - but where´s the horror? Where´s the humour? This is such an insult both to the genre and to any decent viewer.

do i even need to say it?

[luckyfoshizzle · 1/10 · 21 May 2007]

The whole reason I picked up this movie in the first place is that I just adore low budget made horror movies because in my opinion they normally turn out to be better than the big budget horror films (examples: "Campfire Tales" and "Dead End"). This movie just gives ALL low budget films a bad name. Many people before me have talked about how horrible it is, but it was just so bad I can't resist to write about it.

Where do I even begin? The acting. Wow. Just plain out HORRIBLE. Even Jamie Lynn's performance made me sick and from what I hear she's supposed to be good. But just, wow. I am just blown about how horrible it was. Then, there's the "special effects", my saying is, "if its not good don't even bother with them". I mean, the background of a full moon in the second story didn't even look real at all. Next, the cameras. Whatever type of cameras they used just made the movie worse. It looked like I was watching a documentary at times because it was so horrible.

The plot line wasn't even that good. The only story that even made me a little creeped out was the third one. Thats only cause I put myself in the girl's position. And even that one had a thousand plot holes. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if you like watching horrible acting, filmed with horrible cameras, with horrible effects, about a horrible plot line this is will be your new favorite movie.