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Anthology August: The low-budget charm of 1991’s Campfire Tales

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Gunnar Hansen of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre stars in this cheap but fun collection of horror tales. Not to be confused with the film of the same name from 1997! The debut of Paul Talbot and William Cooke, Campfire Tales went straight to video in 1991.

Throughout the month of August, I’ll be discussing horror anthology films, sharing reviews and recommendations. If you have any anthology recommendations, please contact me on Twitter. You can look through my Letterboxd list of anthology films I enjoy and those I want to watch.

Co-directed and co-written by Paul Talbot and William Cooke, 1991’s Campfire Tales is the first of only a few films that the men would make. After Campfire Tales, they co-wrote and co-directed 1995’s Freakshow. Freakshow seems to be the last project William Cooke worked on, while Talbot went on to write and director Hellblock 13. All three films are anthologies.

I’ve looked up so many films for my Anthology August series that by the time I watched this one, I had forgotten the biggest draw of the film: Gunnar Hansen stars in it. It was a nice surprise to see his name appear in the credits, but boy did I feel stupid for forgetting. In an interview from The Independent Film Experience: Interviews with Directors and Producers by Kevin J. Lindenmuth, co-director Paul Talbot cites The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as one of his influences and favorite films growing up. How cool that he went on to direct Leatherface himself in his debut! I would have liked to find out more information about how Gunnar got involved in the project. Unfortunately, the Google book version for Independent Film Experience doesn’t have a preview available for the one page that seems to discuss Campfire Tales in greater detail. But apparently Hansen must have enjoyed working with Talbot and Cooke, for he appeared in their later films. Watching Campfire Tales made me realize how little I knew about Hansen’s career.

As I was poking around the internet in preparation for this post, I was disappointed by the lack of information available about this movie. It seems to be a forgotten part of horror cinema. But does it deserve it? Well, I don’t think so.

Some light spoilers throughout.

I was born in 1984, so horror from the 80s and early 90s tends to have a certain comforting factor for me, even if I hadn’t seen the movie while growing up. The movie came out in 1991, but must have been shot around the end of the ’80s. According to IMDB, the script was written in 1987. Campfire Tales is definitely is a product of its time, which is actually something I adore about it. There’s the quintessential mean guy with a mullet named Billy, clutching his horror magazines by the campfire. Billy is too cool to collect sticks for the fire, so instead he demands the frightened, overweight kid to go get them. And that’s how we meet Gunnar Hansen’s character, but I’ll get to that.

Another appealing factor for the film is that it has a variety of stories. For example, Campfire Tales has both a Christmas themed segment as well as one quite different, about pirates and treasure. As someone who likes to watch holiday horror, I was pleased to see a dark twist on Santa Claus. Sometimes variety in anthologies doesn’t work, though (I’m thinking of Twilight Zone: The Movie, which I think suffers a bit from being all over the place — despite how much I love “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet“). Pretty much all anthologies have at least one segment that the film really could do without. I thought about it and I actually think all the segments in Campfire Tales are enjoyable, although the pirate segment took me longer to warm up to (no pun intended).

The gore is ridiculously awesome, especially in the segment about a couple of drug addicts. I loved the gore and effects, even if it didn’t look realistic at all. The budget was obviously low, and I figured the bulk of it went to the practical effects. In The Independent Film Experience, Talbot did in fact say that a large portion of the budgets for his films would go toward special effect supplies. The special effects in Campfire Tales were done by Michael R. Smith. According to IMDB, his resume is as scarce as the film’s directors’. I’m left wondering what also happened to him, as Smith obviously had a joy and talent for the gore effects. I’d be curious to see his other work with bigger budgets, but unfortunately that won’t be happening.

The Segments

William Cooke directed The Hook, Overtoke, and Skull & Crossbones, while Paul Talbot directed the wraparound narrative at the campfire, and the holiday horror The Fright Before Xmas. The goriest moments in the film were all in Cooke’s segments, particularly Overtoke.

The Wraparound

Gunnar Hansen portrays Ralph, a bit of a creeper. When one of the campers is collecting sticks for the fire, Ralph gives him a fright (off-camera). Ralph asks if he can sit by the fire to warm up for a bit. In exchange for allowing him to stay, he tells the teens some stories. Of course, there’s some booze involved, too. The stories are related to something the kids do or say, so there are logical segues into the segments.

Hook

Hook is a fun approach to the killer-with-a-hook-for-a-hand urban legend. There’s some wailing guitar while the killer attacks – can’t ever go wrong with a rockin’ soundtrack. We need more horror movies with soundtracks full of guitar solos, in my opinion. Blood literally splatters all over the place, and there’s a grimace-worthy shot of the killer’s hook stabbing a hand. My favorite moment, though, is a humorous touch involving some pumpkin pie.

Overtoke

We segue into the Overtoke segment when Ralph scolds one of the boys, Billy, for wanting to smoke a joint. “Is that reefer, boy? Don’t you know what that can do to you?” Overtoke is the goriest of all the segments, as the two main characters become instantly addicted to some messed up marijuana. As soon as they start smoking, they begin deteriorating. Hook was all about the bright red blood and guts while Overtoke’s gore is green and sickly. After waking up from smoking all the pot, one of the characters says to the other, “Your skin is falling off.” Despite this, they need more pot. Their skin gets molded, and yes, things do indeed fall off. It’s slimy and disgusting.

And amusing, too. For context, in 1986, President Reagan had signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. Nancy Reagan’s anti-drug “Just Say No” campaign was all over the place, as well as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program. The most iconic anti-drug advert came from this time period: “This is your brain on drugs“, spoken over a shot of an egg cooking in a frying pan. But the imagery of a greasy egg getting fried is nothing compared to what happens to the characters in Overtoke.

Fright Before Xmas

After the over-the-topness of Overtoke, we go to the sinister and low-key Fright Before Xmas. “What could be scary about Christmas?” one of the boys asks Ralph. He tells them a tale about a selfish prick named Steve, who, despite being a grownup, “still want[s] everything”. Steve is paid a visit from Satan Claus (yes, I spelled that correctly) and his demonic reindeer. I love it when unsavory characters get their comeuppance. And as much as I love Krampus, it’s nice to see a holiday horror that doesn’t involve him.

Skull & Crossbones

The last segment, Skull & Crossbones, took me a couple of watches to fully appreciate. I am not one for pirate stories, and zombies aren’t totally my thing, either. The costumes in this segment look silly, but the zombies are pretty effective. The drum score in this reminded me of the opening sounds of Beat It by Michael Jackson, which I found distracting. But I have to say that I wasn’t expecting a pirate-zombie-sword fighting segment at all, so points to the filmmakers for getting creative.

Campfire Tales doesn’t have the highest ratings on Letterboxd or around the web, but there was something I found endearing about it. Overall, the acting in the film is quite amateur — although not Gunnar, and the teen boys did well enough — but I tend to be more forgiving of actors in low-budget and independent fare anyway. Campfire Tales was Talbot’s and Cooke’s first film, and because of money issues, took them four years to make. According to fandom.com, some of the film was made while the directors were still in high school. It’s a true labor of love and in my opinion, a charming low-budget horror anthology to watch.

Sources, and Further Reading:

I link to Letterboxd throughout. If you’re on Letterboxd, feel free to add me; I log all the films I watch.

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