Campfire Tales is not a spectacular movie, but I do enjoy it. It was originally slated as part of our Anthologies week. This was the one from 1997, not the 1991 movie of the same name starring Gunnar Hansen.
Campfire Tales is interesting in the sense that out of the rest of the Anthologies this one is only retellings of classic scary folk stories and urban legends instead of original stories. The framing story, as far as I know, is mostly original but relies heavily on a darker version of a very common TV and early film trope. I like it because it's fun, not because it's particularly good.
Eschewing the Anthology format I've been using thus far, I will talk about the framing story then mention the classic stories included. These are classics so I won't be spoiler tagging them.
After an opening classic tale from the 50s, our intrepid heroes are driving wrecklessly along a country road, probably drunk, before crashing their car. They setup road flares and light a fire in the woods then wait for rescue. To pass the time, they tell each other scary stories. I understand the need to set the lead up as the irresponsible one in order for the reveal to drive home the appropriate moral epiphany on the repercussions of your actions, but it was just a bit trite. Oddly, despite the obvious moral I never felt the movie was terribly preachy, which was pretty welcome. The framing story otherwise is the least entertaining but most interesting segment in the movie.
The other classic stories are:
"The Hook": Set in the 50s, two teens are at makeout point in a car when the radio announces an inmate from the local prison has escaped. He has a hook for a hand that he's used to kill people. The girl claims she hears a noise and forces the boy to take her home, but instead he takes her to the local burger/shake/diner at which point he steps out of the car and is horrified to see a bloody hook embedded in the side of the car.
"The Honeymoon": A newlywed couple is driving in an RV to Las Vegas for/as their honeymoon. Eventually they stop to rest for the night but are confronted by a nervous man with a shotgun telling them the area isn't safe because "they" (heavily implied to be werewolves) come out at night. The couple leaves, but runs out of gas shortly and the husband decides to walk to the nearest gas station. During the night the RV is attacked, but the wife manages to lock herself in and defend against the attackers. When she wakes in the morning a police officer has arrived and attempts to escort her away from the RV without her looking at it, however she turns around and sees her dead husband hanging from a branch over the camper...his wedding ring scraping the roof.
"People Can Lick Too": A young girl lives with her older sister, parents, and dog. The dog will often sit under her bed and lick her hand if it drops over the edge of the bed. One night her parents leave her alone at home, which she mentions to another young girl she's chatting with online. This girl turns out to be a creepy older stalker who breaks into her house that night. When she drops her hand over the bed, she assumes it's the dog licking it but then sees "People can lick too" written in blood on the window and sees the reflection of a man under her bed. She flips out and runs away. When her sister returns and checks the scene, she finds the dog's corpse under the bed.
"The Locket": A younger guy decides to go on a cross-country motorcycle ride in search of adventure. He runs into engine trouble outside of a country home and seeks help. A pretty girl answers the door, but she is mute. They seem to connect and she allows him to stay the night while her father is away driving cattle. A brutal fight, and possibly a murder/suicide are played out by ghostly figures and voices throughout the night, until the guy runs away with the girl. They wake up under a tree in a field and he removes a locket she wears around her neck. Opening it, he reveals a picture of both of them, dressed in obviously 1800s clothes. The girl wakes, asks what's happening, and then her head falls off. A cut forms where the locket was originally tied.
It's kindof lame and camp, but for some reason I've enjoyed watching it. You can see some actors before their famous roles and they're decent adaptations of classic urban legends.
Tomorrow Shit We Missed concludes with Misery from Stephen King week.
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