Spikeopath 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

FredWinner This was on the Saturday before Halloween this year (today, at the time of this writing) and it has to be the best horror anthology out there. I am normally not a fan of horror movies - largely due to the volume of crap that's been recently released. However, the director of Campfire Tales has the Hitchcock-esquire gift of suspense - unlike other contemporary films, it doesn't take every opportunity to scare you silly, instead using foreshadowing and 'near-misses' - incidents that seem like the instant that the climax will occur in the instant before, but turn out not to be.I didn't catch 'The Hook' or the first main segment, but from what I have read here, they were the two you could afford to miss.'People Can Lick Too' was full of suspense - this short keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for something to happen to the little girl as she wanders about her yard and house looking for her soccer ball and later her dog. She encounters so many near-misses that the suspense reaches heart-stopping proportions before the climax of the short, when the girl gives up and goes to bed, thinking her dog is underneath it. She reaches her hand down to let him lick it, and she feels the touch of a tongue on her hand...before noticing that on her mirror, written in blood, is 'People can lick too'. I'll leave the last few seconds for you to find out, my reader, for at this point the short could have taken any number of turns.'The Locket', however, was the unarguable masterpiece of this film. It begins with a man on a motorcycle, simply driving...towards what he does not know, but he can feel himself getting closer. As he's driving along, a storm breaks out, and he's forced to find shelter in the house of a mute girl. The two quickly cozy up to each other, but before they can do anything besides kiss, the girl reveals through writing that ghosts inhabit her house. They quickly begin packing up to leave, but they are caught in the middle of a reenactment of a scene decades past - a father, coming home to his daughter and her boyfriend preparing to elope, murders the both of them and then commits suicide. I'll have to leave you to discover the ending here as well - I couldn't hope to do the story justice in any case, and what I've said so far is just a brief summary of the story - I couldn't hope to convey the nuances and sensory details that add to it.'The Campfire', being the connecting thread between all of the stories, is a fairly interesting rehash of the car accident theme, and the girls are very much attractive - in fact, most of the girls in this film are good-looking. Anyway, despite the fact that it's chopped up, the story is given justice, and the ending is difficult to predict if you're preoccupied with the other stories. However, if you pay enough attention to the segments of The Campfire spread through the film, it's certainly possible to predict the ending, especially if you've seen movies based on the same premise. (MST3k fans, remember Soultaker? Same premise, but without the god awful writing of Vivian Schilling, and the bulk of the movie. If you've seen the first 30 minutes of that you should be able to predict the ending.) All in all, the best horror movie I've seen in a LONG time, and the only horror anthology worthy of a buy.

LondonOnMyMind Definitely not only for urban legend aficionados, Campfire Tales is an often scary and always fun ride through several popular stories. It is also a film that exceeded the (low) expectations I had. A horror film I had never heard or read about, a straight-to-video release (granted, the latter often presents us with a pleasant surprise, but with horror films nowadays it can be all or nothing), a cast of mostly unknowns... well, I'll leave the math to you.The film proves to be an entertaining, suspenseful and overall very enjoyable experience. The four stories are well-paced and satisfying. The only one I felt was a little weaker was "The Locket", for the simple reason that it offers almost no explanation for its plot or the characters' actions; however, I still loved the tale, its atmosphere and ending. My favorite one was the third story, "People Can Lick Too" - the suspense in it is not only palpable, but also educational.I found Campfire Tales to be one of those horror gems one discovers by chance, and then goes on recommending it to everyone.7/10

Mr_Ectoplasma "Campfire Tales" is basically made up of three spooky stories that a group of friends tell after they get into a car crash in the woods after a concert. The film begins with the classic "Hook" story, and then we're introduced to the group of friends driving home from the concert. They crash their car, put out some flares, and start a fire in a little abandoned chapel, waiting for someone to arrive with help as they warm themselves by the fire. To pass the time, they decide to start telling classic horror stories, about terrorized honeymooners, a girl who falls prey to an Internet predator, and a motorist who takes refuge in a haunted house. As they tell the eerie tales, each story becomes increasingly terrifying, but the real shock that awaits them is yet to come...In my opinion, the last story they tell is probably the scariest and had some genuine, frightening effects. The first story was alright, and the motorhome sequence near the end was a little creepy. The second story built a lot of suspense, more than either of the others did, but it's unoriginal plot was it's downfall. I remember watching this movie a long time ago when I was like eight years old on HBO and the third story scared the crap out of me, although it's not scary to me now. You'll probably recognize some of the cast here, particularly Amy Smart from the opening "hook" interlude story, and Christine Taylor as one of the main actresses in the film. The twist ending was kinda interesting too, I know I didn't see that coming, I thought it was all cleverly pieced together.To sum things up, if you're looking for a horror movie that is worth the while, rent this, you should be happy. It's a great anthology of some classic urban legends, and the whole film was tied together neatly. It is much better than what one would expect. 7/10.