Campfire Tales (1991) User Reviews

Campfire Tales (1991)

[HorrorFan1984 · 4/10 · 7 March 2021]

Three young boys are told four very eerie Campfire Tales by a creepy homeless man who make have a few dark secrets of his own..

The movie begins with three kids by a campfire, feels very much like the "Are You Afraid of the Dark" midnight society crew. An old man all of a sudden pops up looking for warmth from their fire, startling the kids. They all sit by the fire and the old man begins telling them scary stories that he claims are real.

The first story is your typical girl and guy park their car in the middle of nowhere to make out. It's Halloween night, and the young couple hears over the radio that a serial killer named "The Hook" has escaped a psych ward. The girl Susan (feeling scared) begs her boyfriend to leave and take her home, which he does. The Hook attacks the two of them leading to a bloody and very predictable ending.

The second tale involves two guys who love to smoke pot. While driving around, they pick up some guy off the street who tells them that he can find them weed off of some guy named Frank. Once they start lighting up some of his stash, they discover the pot they're smoking has some devastating results to their overall health. Easily the weakest of the four tales.

The third scary story is a holiday horror themed tale. An ungrateful man named Steve comes home on Christmas Eve. He makes a point that he needs money when his mother mentions her inheritance. Steve murders his mother by pushing her down a flight of stairs. Everything is lining up according to his plan, until an evil Santa Claus figure decides to give him a Christmas present he'll never forget. My favourite of all the tales for sure.

The fourth and final story is about a pirate who ends up shipwrecked on an seemingly deserted island. He learns that there is some buried treasure on the island somewhere, but it is guarded by zombies. The pirate of course ignores the warning and steals the treasure, only to discover that the warning was very real.

Campfire Tales is a very low budget horror film, and the quality of the movie shows how low budget it truly is. I have an old VHS tape of this movie and it's hard to see much of what is going on in the dark. I will say there was something super chilling about how bad the quality of the tape was when watching some of the scary moments, especially in the first story. The grittiness of the tape added to the overall creep factor, it looked way more like an early 80's movie and not one made in 1991.

The acting is extremely average in all of the stories and wraparound story. The best thing about Campfire Tales is the obvious passion that the writers and directors have for the horror genre. It's hard to rate the overall film higher than a 4, but a lot of credit goes to the filmmakers for putting together a decent watch on a no budget. I recommend giving it a viewing for the third story alone which I found the most entertaining of the bunch.

4/10

Worth watching

[atinder · 4/10 · 16 April 2013]

Campfire Stories (1991)

This is very low budget movie, the movie did look cheap, I don't let that get in the way, As this turn out to be really decent after all,

3 boys about 12-14 years old go camping and then Bum or Home less man Join in and then he tell them 3 Stories

The first story is about Young couple who making out, in the woods hear on the radio that a murderer with a hook on his right hand, as escaped from the local insane asylum , So boy takes to her Home.

This story wasn't to bad but It didn't feel creepy at all but there decent a mount of blood in this story, Which made it more watch able. 4/10

Next story was about two stoner's who are looking for some drug and run into this strange guy who's selling these drugs.

They take but next day, they notice them are rotting away, slowly before try to get more before they rot away.

The effect was not bad, very decent for low budget movie, 5/10

3rd story is about Man who come home for Christmas soon, he want is mother money, so he kills her by pushing her down the stairs so he leaves and goes to brother house to watch his kids

One kids tell story evil Santa Claus known as "Satan Claus look who comes and punishes those who do evil things.

When kids go to bed and then he stalked by someone, until come face to face with Satan Claus

This story sound really good, they could I have done a lot more then that, Satan Claus was not that scary at all

The acting was not that good in that story and it wasn't really that bloody at all. 3/10

The Fourth and Finally story was pirate, who been shipwrecked and another Man warn the pirate about Zombie pirate if find the buried treasure but I as didn't care for what man said , he digs anyone and finds it.

Soon Zombie pirate are out to get him and they don't look bad at all, they some make up effect looked really decent and some looks a bit odd but I don't think there scary at all.

Then boys goes sleep and there is a little small twist, which anyone could see coming.

None of the stories were that scary or creepy at all they just watch able

I give this movie 4 out of 10

Scary tales around the campfire.

[michaelRokeefe · 4/10 · 28 January 2009]

William Cooke and Paul Talbot share director/writer credit for this entertaining low budget film about three boys camping out in the woods with their horror magazines. Feet propped up by the fire and schoolboy banter back and forth...and a scroungy town tramp named Ralph(Gunnar Hansen...of Leatherface fame)wanders over and trades four tales of gore in return for food and the warmth of the fire.

One tale is the old retread of "The Hook", two teens on lover's lane attacked by a demented killer with a hook for a hand. Another story has a couple of tokers needing to score some weed. They stumble upon a guy that knows a guy that has some great s#@t. As they smoke a couple of bags full their skin begins to turn gray and green before it bubbles up and falls off. One of the better stories is about an unhappy man returning home for Christmas, who can't wait for his mother to drop dead and enjoys telling his nephew and niece about Satan Claus. The fourth campfire tale is of a greedy sailor that washes ashore upset about an empty treasure chest and ends up being chased out to sea by zombies.

Without a big budget for special effects, CAMPFIRE TALES gets the point across and really could have been a lot worse. A bit corny, but fun to watch except for maybe the sailor tale. The acting is understandably not award worthy. Cast members include: Tres Holton, Courtney Ballard, H. Ray York, Johnny Tamblyn, Walter Kaufmann, Kevin Draine, David Avin and Paul Kaufmann.

Very cheap, but entertaining

[Hellraiser-1 · 25 October 2002]

When I watched this movie three years ago at TV I thought it was going to be a turkey. that´s was perhaps the reason why I enjoyed it. This extremely cheap but effective movie is divided in several stories and I can remark specially two of them: "Satan Claus" a terrific Christmas story and one chapter in which a guy arrives to an island searching for a treasure and becomes the victim of a group of pirate zombies, but the other two stories are also funny and you can watch some gore here(not very much), so, what more can you expect? If you are a fan, rent it and you will have a lot of fun.

Definitely worth a watch!

[KEmerton1992 · 3/10 · 14 September 2013]

This movie is NOT well made, let's make that clear right from the beginning. But it is obvious (to me) were horror fans that were trying to make a horror movie. It is EXTREMELY fun to watch. It's ridiculous, but it's SO ridiculous, that it makes it worth watching. Unlike most B-Horror flicks made by fans, it seems to have a budget. The writing and acting are awful, and yet it somehow comes off as a horror fan's fantasy film. Rock music throughout make it look like an 80's music video. For the lack of a better word, I continued saying "Awesome" throughout because I had never seen anything quite like it. The killer in the first segment actually TRIPS ON A PIE! It's just insanity, but worth a watch.

Another uninspired horror anthology.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 25 October 2011]

In this very low-budget horror anthology, Gunnar Hansen plays Ralph, a booze swigging homeless guy who joins three young horror fans around their campfire in the woods and recounts a series of scary stories, which, as one might expect from a guy who has rotted most of his brain cells with cheap alcohol, aren't very good. In fact, all four stories are so elementary that they can easily be summed up in a single sentence: 1) An escaped maniac with a hook kills people. 2) Two guys smoke bad weed and melt. 3) On Christmas Eve, a heartless yuppie receives a visit from Satan Claus. 4) A mutinous pirate is attacked by his zombie shipmates.

Although writer/directors William Cooke and Paul Talbot's obvious energy and enthusiasm for the genre does result in some cheap and cheerful, unsophisticated entertainment along the way, particularly whenever the blood is being thrown around, it is the film's weak script that prevents it from being a success, with each uninspired story notably lacking any satisfactory resolution (whereas most anthologies strive to deliver a neat pay-off or cool twist ending, these tales are happy to just peter off at the end). By the fourth and final story, the least enjoyable of the bunch, I found myself seriously struggling to stay awake.

Silly

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 12 August 2021]

Yes, there are two movies called Campfire Tales. One was made in 1991 and the other in 1997. They are both anthology films. They both start with the urban legend "The Hook." One has Amy Smart and James Marsden. The other has Gunnar Hansen, which is why we picked the 1991 Campfire Tales.

Yes, life is weird that this type of coincidence would happen.

"The Hook" is a story that has been told around campfires for years: a murderer with a hook on his right hand has escaped from the local insane asylum and is killing boys and girls on lover's lane. This story really started being told nationwide in 1950 and some believe that they were influenced by the 1946 Texarkana Moonlight Murders, which also are the inspiration behind The Town That Dreaded Sundown. Bill Murray also tells the story at one point in Meatballs and the story also inspired the beginning of He Knows You're Alone and the killer in I Know What You Did Last Summer.

None of those adaptions have the hook killer murder the girl's parents or have her use his own weapon against him, however.

The second story - "Overtoke" - warns of the evils of drugs with a dealer's product not only being the stickiest bud of all time but one that turns users into slime. "The Fright Before Christmas" has a very easy concept: Santa Claus has an evil side called Satan Claus who punishes people on Christmas. Finally, "Skull and Crossbones" has a shipwrecked pirate that discovers gold and zombies on an island. And by zombies, I mean straight up Fulci zombies. Or zombis?

"The Hook" was a student film that writer/director team William Cooke and Paul Talbot filmed. Then they added the other tales, hired Hansen for some name recognition and took advantage of the Shot On Video era. They'd work together again to make Freakshow, which also has Hansen in it, and Talbot would make the portmanteau in prison Hellblock 13, which has Hansen as an executioner and Debbie Rochon as the death row inmate telling the three stories.

A few hit and misses

[JimmyL5555 · 4/10 · 6 January 2020]

The first story written before I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER was made, gave the hook for a hand the hook for the story. Too predictable, and the guy is such a jerk, being abusive toward his supposed girlfriend and his attitude in general, we almost cheer when he meets his fate.

My favorite is the second story about the unknown marijuana. The fate of everyone involved is well-done production-wise and deserved as it accentuates my personal feelings about doing drugs. There are a few funny, ironic sight gags throughout the story. The guy's basement room is adorned with a NO SMOKING sign and a STOP sign as if the signs are warning these two against what they're doing. The ironic twist at the end involving the older brother and the poor cat, solidifies this piece as a high-budget horror movie that makes you forget you're actually watching a low-budget film. It seems unrealistic the older brother is not horrified by what he finds nor reacting to the odor that was mentioned a few times before. Also, it seems this movie was shot with a 16mm camera because several shots of the TV shows scanning lines with the TV image because 16mm cameras run a different frames-per-second ratio to TV illumination.

At first, I did not like the Christmas story as the guy's frozen demeanor is not questioned by his mother which is bothersome and unrealistic and his motive toward matricide is unclear outside that with him grown as an adult, there's no more any reason to give him "everything" he wants, and he's acting out like a spoiled child. It does take an interesting turn as the story goes on, and I later found I do like it.

The final story about a pirate's encounter with ghosts/zombies is a good story as it has a touch of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in it.

All in all, an unforgettable journey into the human nightmare.

Very Entertaining Low Budget Film

[CMRKeyboadist · 7/10 · 26 March 2006]

It was many years ago that I saw this movie and I haven't seen it recently so I am working off of old memories here but I seem to remember that this was a fairly gory, low budget, short story movie with Gunnar Henson (Leatherface) telling the stories. The first story is an old classic about a guy and a girl in a car going out to a lovers lane type place. They get attacked by a man with a hook and you can probably guess the rest. The second story is about two guys who smoke too much weed and end up falling apart because of it (litterally). The second story is about a killer Santa Claus (always hilarious) and the last story is about a pirate looking for lost gold on an island filled with zombies. This was a rather entertaining film even if it is blatantly obvious that it was on almost no budget. I enjoyed it and I am sure if you took the time to look the movie up you will enjoy it also.

Enjoyable low-budget horror anthology

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 6 February 2019]

Grizzled derelict Ralph (genre icon Gunnar Hansen in fine creepy form) relates a quartet of scary stories to three boys around a campfire: A hook-handed psycho embarks on a murderous spree, two potheads smoke toxic weed with dire side effects, an evil yuppie receives a late night visit from fearsome demon Satan Claus on Christmas Eve (this one boasts a great gruesome punchline), and a pirate finds himself stranded on a remote island that's overrun by zombies.

Writers/directors William Cooke and Paul Talbot ably craft a fun ooga-booga spooky EC Comics-type atmosphere, display an utterly engaging wholehearted affection and enthusiasm for the horror genre, maintain a constant pace throughout, deliver a handy helping of graphic blood-spurting gore, and top everything off with an amusing sense of pitch-black humor. The pirate yarn features some pretty gnarly zombies and a strong 17th century period flavor while the wrapround segment has a decent twist at the end. A cool little fright flick.

Quite watchable, for such a low budget affair.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 7 May 2019]

Horror icon Gunnar "Leatherface" Hansen is on hand in this horror anthology, as he essays the role of Ralph, a rough-hewn stranger who materializes out of the night before three young male campers. He proceeds to spin a quartet of horror tales, and for the most part, they're actually pretty entertaining; this little film does live up to the word "horror". It gets pretty damn disgusting at certain points, so it will appeal to gore fanatics, and the stories are entertaining and succinctly told. This little film was the product of the imagination of William Cooke and Paul Talbot (if the second name rings a bell, it's because he's a Charles Bronson expert who's written books and recorded commentaries for a number of Bronson vehicles).

"The Hook" is pretty standard stuff about a couple who run afoul of the title maniac. It's decent, but is basically just a warm-up for the tales to follow.

"Overtoke" is good, gruesome fun. Two stoners come into contact with a supplier who gives them some VERY strange stuff indeed ... stuff that has dire consequences when ingested.

"The Fright Before Xmas" has the appeal of a "just desserts" sort of yarn, as a resentful, greedy son experiences his own consequences of a murderous act. As you can expect, the ending is very satisfying.

Finally, "Skull and Crossbones" is a solid, atmospheric tale of a pirate shipwrecked on an island. He's determined to unearth whatever treasure may be there, but is warned that he won't be successful if he tries to get off the island. This segment is pretty talky for a while, but it has a VERY fun payoff.

Overall, Cooke and Talbot do a good job with this little film, well worth seeing if slowly paced at times. Hansen makes the journey(s) worth taking; one might think that as the token "name" actor, that his cost made up a substantial part of the budget, but he proved to be quite reasonable, to the filmmakers' delight.

Horror anthology aficionados should dig this.

Seven out of 10.

Cheesy Low Budget Fun

[bayardhiler · 7/10 · 10 December 2012]

"Campfire Tales" (1991) is no where near being a great horror flick: the acting is- for the most part- not the best and one can clearly see right off the bat that it is a low budget picture. And yet, the movie manages to somehow be entertaining. The movie centers around three teenagers who are camping out in the woods when town drunk Ralph (Gunnar Hansen who manages to play the role of storyteller pretty good) tells them four tales: one about a murderer with a hook for a hand, one that is an obvious tribute to "Reefer Madness" (with a more graphic image, mind you), another about Satan Claus (my personal favorite of the bunch), and one about a marooned pirate who learns the price of treachery. Even with the shoe string budget, the film crew manages to do a decent production job with each individual story in the areas of tone, lighting, bizarre music, and (again, considering that this is a low budget movie) very well done makeup. I'll admit, I'm a sucker when it comes to anthologies (especially now that nobody seems to make them anymore) but if you're like me and you like to see the filmmakers put some effort into their work (especially if they're working on a low budget) then check out "Campfire Tales". PS: Not to be confused with the 1997 version. Also, this movie is available on you tube but just to give fair warning, you will have to put up with a software water mark on the screen. However, with the movie's charm, you might not notice it after a while.

Grade Z Gold!

[therealcmr · 8/10 · 10 February 2024]

If you made it to this review, you are either looking to see every film Gunnar Hansen played a part in, or you somehow stumbled across this movie hoping to find a decent little anthology film. Regardless, Campfire Tales is quite a little known "Grade Z" no budget horror anthology film with Gunnar Hansen telling "scary tales" at a campfire with some bozo teenagers. Being an anthology, the stories are a little bit of a mixed bag. However, for no budget enthusiast's, even in the films weaker moments, it finds a way of being surprisingly entertaining. In a wildly unintentional sort of way.

Gunnar Hansen plays a hobo who stumbles across several dopey teenagers having a campfire. They reluctantly invite him to sit at the fire, where he proceeds to tell a wide array of classic urban legends.

The first story being the classic Hookman tale about an insane asylum escapee who terrorizes a girl after he brutally murders her boyfriend by disemboweling him and repeatedly beating him in the face with his hook hand.

This story is the most standard of all the stories here. The plot is absolutely nothing original. It simply plays as a platform to showcase some gruesome effects. And that it does. Aside from that the filmmakers do attempt at some lighting that is reminiscent of Dario Argento films from the 70s. Everything else falls flat though.

The second story is a bit more engaging featuring two moronic potheads trying to score some weed in the city. They meet up with Dealer Frank who sells them some supreme reefer. It's so supreme that it causes physical deformities, and continued use ends in one rotting away to nothing. This story is hilarious. It makes potheads out to be angry scumbag losers who need a fix like they are addicted to heroin. The weed they purchase literally looks like grass that was pulled out of an overgrown lawn. Seriously, this one needs to be seen to be believed. It makes Reefer Madness look like kindergarten class (Reefer Madness is even featured in a brief segment). It takes that kind of anti weed exploitation and turns it into such an over the top exercise, even anti drug groups would be mortified. Whether this was intentionally made as an antidrug short, or as a parody of one, it's one of the most memorable stories out of the bunch.

The next is a, surprisingly, Christmas horror story that seems to have jumped right out of an old EC Comic Book. Featuring all the classic elements of those old comics, including a deceitful family member who murders his mother over inheritance money, on Christmas Eve. The twist in this one does not feature an escaped maniac dressed as Santa. Instead, this one features a truly horrific Monster Santa, known in the tale as "Satan Claus". According to the children in the story, if one has been bad Satan Claus comes and "chops you to pieces", or something like that. Well, you can imagine where this is all going. Aside from the mostly lousy acting, Satan Claus actually is again one of the better stories. Technically, it appears to be light years better than the last two stories, in terms of just about everything. I imagine this is probably because the young filmmakers were finding there "groove" at this point in the production. Not a bad outing with Satan Claus himself being the major highlight. We even get "Satan Reindeer".

Last of the stories is one about a pirate shipwrecked on an island inhabited by zombies. The nod to Lucio Fulci's Zombi is clear as day here. Hideous zombies on a remote island isn't exactly new territory. However it is the way the filmmakers technically made this story that becomes more tribute to Fulci. Specifically in its zombie carnage towards the end of the story. It clearly cost the most. It is also the story with the longest running time. Almost serving as a short film compared to the length of the other stories. These guys loved Fulci and wanted to make this one the best of the bunch, and across the board it's the best of the shorts.

I always have had a soft spot for this film. My father loves a good anthology film and we rented this one way back in '91 or '92. And we both were dying by the end of the second segment. But as a guy in his early 40's now, and having made a few really crummy movies as well, I really admire this one. It really isn't that bad. Especially if one compares it to some of the SOV fare of the 80's. This is light years better than some of those films. The big thing here is to remain patient. The first story is a drag, but that second story should have you hooked if you like this sort of thing.

Entertaining anthology

[smellthecult-com-1 · 7/10 · 29 November 2009]

Extremely low budget horror anthology that is surprisingly entertaining. I have to admit, I am a bit of a sucker for a horror anthology. Let's face it, most horror films only have enough plot for 20 minutes anyway, so this format really seems to work well.

Okay, the plot - three young lads set off into the woods for a sleepover and chance upon a 'bum', who proceeds to tell them four tales to chill the blood:

1 - The Hook: serial killer with a hook.

2 - Overtoke: two guys become addicted and then infected by cannabis. Eventually they start melting and are rendered into dribbling skeleton's due to the power of the 'sh1t' they were smoking. Plenty of bubbling, liquefied flesh kept me happy.

3 - The Fright Before Christmas: a morality tale about Xmas. An Evil Santa, complete with black Santa outfit and mutant reindeer(!), murders a yuppie for lack of spirit of Christmas. He is the Anti-Santa.

4 - Skull & Crossbones: A pirate abandons ship and leaves his crew mates to die, whilst scarpering with the loot. Needless to say, they are not amused, and return as Angry Pirates. Angry Zombie Pirates. Angry Swordfighting Zombie Pirates. By far the weakest of the bunch, and the reason this didn't get top marks.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this a lot.