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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 412338" data-attributes="member: 23">Campfire Tales (1997)

<img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BNTA2MDQ2MTAtZDdmMy00M2NhLWE0MDMtOTA2Y2U3ODI2NTgzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzU4ODM5Nw%40%40._V1_.jpg&amp;f=1&amp;nofb=1&amp;ipt=c3bc34c32db206e4b9f9ef9e82c8a465b68ed39151a5f0a641815a21fde030d4&amp;ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 651px" />

Once again, expectations were low for this one. Any immediate information about the film gave the impression of low budget, and this was apparent from the first scenes and opening titles which looked quite &quot;made for TV&quot; (or, to be more accurate about this specific film, &quot;direct to video&quot;). Still, this needn&#039;t be a bar to enjoyment, so I continued.

The timing of this one is interesting. It arrived shortly after Scream, but before the deluge of Scream-inspired postmodern slashers. As a showcase for many of the urban legends that would soon begin appearing in films (and franchises) like I Know What You Did Last Summer and, to an even greater extent, Urban Legend. With this context, it&#039;s apparent that Campfire Tales was surprisingly influential, and the reason it&#039;s surprising is that I wasn&#039;t even aware of this film, so perhaps it was forgotten very quickly while it&#039;s higher budget followers are still talked about today.

The postmodern smart-talking and omniscience isn&#039;t as prevalent here as in other films of the era. Some sections are played completely straight, with the most obvious ersatz-Scream tone being in the linking &quot;kids around the campfire&quot; scenes, with the four slasher character archetypes (the cocky, alpha male jock; the thoughtful final girl type; the smart-mouthed girlfriend who takes no crap; and the nervous geeky type who likes a joke).

Part of the reason I put off watching this film all through October was that I&#039;m not hugely fond of anthology films. There aren&#039;t that many that resonate with me (the recently-mentioned Dead Of Night being a notable exception). All the same, these kinds of stories demand to be confined in order to keep their purity, and it worked well.

The effort to tie things together a little at the end was welcome. While it&#039;s not a great film, it&#039;s certainly enjoyable enough for a cosy All Souls&#039; Day night in.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 412338, member: 23"] [CENTER][B][SIZE=6]Campfire Tales [/SIZE][/B](1997) [IMG width="651px"]https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BNTA2MDQ2MTAtZDdmMy00M2NhLWE0MDMtOTA2Y2U3ODI2NTgzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzU4ODM5Nw%40%40._V1_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c3bc34c32db206e4b9f9ef9e82c8a465b68ed39151a5f0a641815a21fde030d4&ipo=images[/IMG] Once again, expectations were low for this one. Any immediate information about the film gave the impression of low budget, and this was apparent from the first scenes and opening titles which looked quite "made for TV" (or, to be more accurate about this specific film, "direct to video"). Still, this needn't be a bar to enjoyment, so I continued. The timing of this one is interesting. It arrived shortly after [I]Scream[/I], but before the deluge of [I]Scream[/I]-inspired postmodern slashers. As a showcase for many of the urban legends that would soon begin appearing in films (and franchises) like[I] I Know What You Did Last Summer[/I] and, to an even greater extent, [I]Urban Legend[/I]. With this context, it's apparent that [I]Campfire Tales[/I] was surprisingly influential, and the reason it's surprising is that I wasn't even aware of this film, so perhaps it was forgotten very quickly while it's higher budget followers are still talked about today. The postmodern smart-talking and omniscience isn't as prevalent here as in other films of the era. Some sections are played completely straight, with the most obvious ersatz-[I]Scream[/I] tone being in the linking "kids around the campfire" scenes, with the four slasher character archetypes (the cocky, alpha male jock; the thoughtful final girl type; the smart-mouthed girlfriend who takes no crap; and the nervous geeky type who likes a joke). Part of the reason I put off watching this film all through October was that I'm not hugely fond of anthology films. There aren't that many that resonate with me (the recently-mentioned [I]Dead Of Night[/I] being a notable exception). All the same, these kinds of stories demand to be confined in order to keep their purity, and it worked well. The effort to tie things together a little at the end was welcome. While it's not a great film, it's certainly enjoyable enough for a cosy All Souls' Day night in.[/CENTER] [/QUOTE]

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