Campfire Stories. Hearing that title you expect to hear, or see rather, stories that leave your bones cold even though your body is warm, stories that give you goosebumps all over your body. Stories that are suppose to give you nightmares and cause you pain. Pain that’s brought on by the suspense of the story, and NOT by the horrible acting of one. Sadly, the only pain you’ll be experiencing while you watch the 2002 release of “Campfire Stories” is just that.

You can pretty much tell the direction this whole thing is going within the first five minutes of the film. Shot on video, you can tell the budget wasn’t too big, so you have to lower your expectations a tad so that you can appreciate the film for its stories it’s trying to relay through the film. I found myself not appreciating anything from this film.

The wraparound focuses on two young men driving down a deserted road and stopping suddenly at the sight of a young, female traveler (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) standing in their path who also claims to have had car trouble (though her car is nowhere to be seen). The travelers decide to team up and look for help by, of course, wandering into the woods, and this is where they encounter a very unsettling David Johansen playing an oddball character called “Ranger Bill.”

The stories start horrible, but they do get better as each one passes. The only shining hope in this one is Sigler, maybe its because i liked her so much in The Sopranos. I can’t say I’d ever recommend this to ANYONE but if you want to watch ever horror anthology, like me, it’s one you’ll have to suck up and endure.

Overall, Campfire Stories is a poorly written, acted, and directed film. It’s one of the WORST anthology films to be put on DVD. Avoid Campfire Stories, but SEE Campfire Tales. Kudos to Jamie-Lynn Sigler in this one.

1/5 Reels
Dying Squid Rating
Watch at your own Risk!!!

Trailer: