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Campfire Tales, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Campfire Tales Year: 1996 Director: David Semel, Martin Kunert, Matt Cooper Rating: R Length: 87 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: DTS: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
James Marsden
Amy Smart
Rick Lawrence
Jay R. Ferguson

Plot:
Horror takes a detour deep into the woods in this terrifying cross between Scream and Tales From The Crypt, starring Christine Taylor (Dodgeball) and Ron Livingston (Office Space).

Returning home from a concert and driving recklessly, four teenagers crash their car on a deserted road. To ward off the cold, they build a fire and wait for help. But the hair-raising stories they tell around the fire put a deeper chill into the night. Each tale is more lurid, more horrifying, more shocking than anything they've heard before. Yet for these unlucky teens in the woods, the biggest shock is still to come...

Extras:
Scene Access
Bonus Trailers
DVD-ROM Content
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
This is an Anthology Horror that I discovered in just the last couple years. And it quickly became my favorite Anthology movie I ever seen. There is a very short opening story Which admittedly is not that great. It is like most the stories in this movie... based off a well known urban legend.

Next we get to the wraparound story... which I love. Best one I ever seen on any of this type of movie. the wraparound story is well done and has great atmosphere of it's own.

Then we finally get to the first of the 3 actual stories. Which is a pretty good one. There is a newlywed couple that are driving around in  a camper... and they get lost and stranded in the back streets somewhere. Has likable characters and pretty good atmosphere. I liked how they handled the things in the dark... as you never get a good look at them. Though it was on the predictable side as it is based of a well known urban legend.

The second story has a young girl with an intruder in the house. Also off a well known urban legend so you know what to expect. I know what you are thinking... why watch something that you know how the stories are going to end. And I would normally agree with you... but these are done so well you don't mind the fact that you know where the stories are going... you just enjoy the journey of getting there.

The last story is my favorite of them all. A guy on a motorcycle (Glenn Quinn of Roseanne fame) stumbles onto a house where a beautiful mute girl lives... and it seems she lives in a haunted house. This is the one of the 3 stories that I do not recognize from an urban legend.

From here we find out the end of the wraparound story... which is also done well. 

this is a great movie over-all even if it is predictable. Definitely one I would recommend to any horror fan.




Count:
Movie Count: 13
TV Ep. Count: 6
Other Count: 0
Time Started: 5:00pm

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2010 on October 5th, 2010)

Death Proof, a review by addicted2dvd

Death Proof
'DIRECTOR QUENTIN TARANTINO DELIVERS' an adrenaline shot to the heart with 'Death Proof', a "tribute to balls-out pedal-to-the-metal car chases" (Pete Hammond, 'Maxim'). Featuring exhilarating high-speed action, jaw-dropping stunts, and some of the most quotable lines since 'Pulp Fiction', 'Death Proof' "goes faster, and funnier, than you thought possible...and then it goes further" (Ty Burr, 'Boston Globe'). Kurt Russell stars as a sociopathic stuntman whose taste for stalking sexy young ladies gets him into big trouble when he tangles with the wrong gang of badass babes. Their confrontation escalates into a hair-raising, 18-minute automotive duel with one of the girls strapped to the hood of a thundering Dodge Challenger that "earns a place of honor among the great movie car chases" (Scott Foundas, 'LA Weekly').

My Thoughts:
This is one of the movies a friend of mine gave me because she didn't like it. In this case I see where she is coming from. The style of the movie itself did not impress me. In my personal opinion the movie was pretty much a snore-fest till the ending.The only good parts in this movie was the car chase scenes. And unfortunately there was not enough of them to save the movie.

I was thrilled to see that Rose McGowan was in the movie (though she does not look good as a bleached blond) but her part in the movie was just so small even her appearance was not that much of a help. I do have to admit I did get a kick out of the very ending of it.  Unfortunately it takes more then just a good ending to make a good movie. I almost didn't make it to the end to see it.

(From Weekend Movie Marathon 1/18 - 1/20 on January 20th, 2008)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Eureka: Season One (2006/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Universal Pictures (Germany) Length: 533 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English, German

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Plot:
Eureka takes place in a high tech fictional community of the same name, located in the U.S. state of Oregon (Washington in the pilot) and inhabited entirely by brilliant scientists working on new scientific advances. The town is operated by a corporation called Global Dynamics (GD), that is overseen by the United States Department of Defense. The town's existence and location are closely guarded secrets.

U.S. Marshal Jack Carter stumbles upon Eureka while transporting a fugitive prisoner (his own rebellious teenage daughter Zoe) back to her mother's home in Los Angeles. When a faulty experiment cripples the sheriff of Eureka, Carter finds himself quickly chosen to fill the vacancy. Despite not being a genius like most members of the town, Jack Carter demonstrates a remarkable ability to connect to others, keen and practical insights, and a dedication to preserving the safety of Eureka.


Eureka
1.01 Pilot
Writer: Andrew Cosby (Writer), Jaime Paglia (Writer)
Director: Peter O'Fallon
Cast: Colin Ferguson (Jack Carter), Salli Richardson (Allison Blake), Greg Germann (Warren King), Jordan Hinson (Zoe Carter), Joe Morton (Henry Deacon), Erica Cerra (Jo Lupo), Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo), Meshach Peters (Kevin Blake), Matt Frewer (Jim Taggart), Debrah Farentino (Beverly Barlowe), Maury Chaykin (Sheriff William Cobb), Rob LaBelle (Walter Perkins), Gary Chalk (Col. Briggs), Jennifer Clement (Susan Perkins), Shayn Solberg (Spencer Martin), Zak Ludwig (Brian Perkins), Chris Gauthier (Vincent), Benjamin Smith (Oppenheimer), Ian Carter (Chief Marshal), Kwesi Ameyaw (Special Agent Hicks), Chris Burns (Soldier), Tyler McClendon (Corporal), Norm Sherry), Kevin Murray (Charlie), Keith Wilson (Baker Twin), Bryan Wilson (Baker Twin)

I saw this cheap while online shopping and read up a little about it. Sounded like a series which could be fun.
I enjoyed the pilot episode. Especially the first half, when our main character first sets foot in the city. The second half lost a little for me. The problem and the solution they had to deal with seemed a little contrived with nonsense technobabble. I hope the rest of the series doesn't rely to much on such plot devices.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on May 10th, 2012)