Campfire Tales
Tags: cult

Plot synopsis:
The first story involves a young couple returning home after hearing on the radio that a murderer with a hook on his right hand has escaped from the local insane asylum and is terrorizing the countryside. Upon returning home, the girlfriend discovers that her parents have been decapitated. As she runs to get help from her boyfriend she discovers that he has also fallen victim to the hook. A battle ensues and she comes out victorious, killing the escaped prisoner with his own hook.
The second story involves two stoners searching for marijuana. Upon finding a large quantity, and a very strange drug dealer, they return home to smoke it. When they awaken they are sickly and appear to be rotting. They return to get more and notice that the dealer is suffering from the same symptoms. But they take no notice and return home to indulge once again. Again, they awaken more sickly than before. Instead of seeking medical treatment they return to the dealer, only to find that he is no longer there. His plants are still in the apartment and the two take all of the plants with them back to their place. They indulge once again. As they smoke, they begin to fall apart and eventually turn to slime.
The third story has to do with a greedy, selfish man returning home to his mother for Christmas. He kills her for the inheritance, pushing her down the stairs leading into the basement. He leaves the body and heads over to his brother's house to watch his two children while he and his wife leave for the emergency room due to the husband breaking his arm putting up their Christmas Tree. The children tell him a tale about an evil Santa Claus known as "Satan Claus" who comes and punishes those who do evil things throughout the year. He leaves to head back to his mother's house, plotting what he is going to tell the police and his brother. Upon returning he is attacked by Satan Claus, who rips his heart out.
The fourth story and final story is about a shipwrecked pirate on a desolate island. He discovers a man who warns him about buried treasure on the island being guarded by zombies. The pirate kills the man and goes in search for the treasure, ignoring the man's warnings. He discovers the treasure only to be attacked by a large group of pirate zombies. After running from them for some time they eventually catch and kill him.
The wrap around story involves the young men going to sleep with the narrator revealing a hook on his right hand.

Review: Very Entertaining Low Budget Film.
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..
Very cheap, but entertaining.
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..
Cheesy Low Budget Fun.
"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..
Another uninspired horror anthology..
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..
Worth watching.
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 StoriesThe 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.
4/10Next 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, 5/103rd 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 kidsOne 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 ClausThis story sound really good, they could I have done a lot more then that, Satan Claus was not that scary at allThe acting was not that good in that story and it wasn't really that bloody at all.
3/10The 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 ableI give this movie 4 out of 10.
Enjoyable low-budget horror anthology.
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..
Entertaining anthology.
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..
Scary tales around the campfire..
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..
Definitely worth a watch!.
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.