27 Feb Review – Fireside Tales
Despite some glaring technical shortcomings and a few less-than-stellar performances, Fireside Tales (2016) from independent filmmaker Ian Messenger is a fun, campy horror anthology that is worth the watch.
This low-budget horror movie from CatcheMeKillMe Productions begins with a group of college-age campers coming together to tell each other horror stories. The short stories are then acted out by the campers in whatever role the short requires of them. Many of the tales contain obvious plot holes made fun of by the campers, allowing the movie to not take itself too seriously. This keeps the horror light and fun. The film not taking itself seriously is the best part because then we can just enjoy the stories.
Overall, the film lacks the post-production touchups that could make the tone a little more cohesive. For example, we are with the group of storytellers around a campfire at night only to be thrust into an overexposed tracking scene for the first segment. Scene edits should be a little tighter, there are a few scenes where we linger too long on an actor’s face after the dialogue has finished where nothing else is happening. Also, sound mixing is a little rough where some dialogue is too hard to hear, or the sound effects don’t match the action.
The redeeming point is the story. Each tale is executed well with classic horror movie tropes that entertain in their own right. The framing story of the campers went where I wasn’t expecting it allowing for a nice finale that I won’t ruin here. The post story scenes are a fun found-footage type of set up that gives a little more depth to the end of the campers’ stories. I would have much rather a movie about the ending scenes… maybe that is in the works, I don’t know.
In the end, I wished Messenger would have spent a little more time cleaning up the post-production, but the technical issues aren’t enough to distract from the fun movie. I expect to see more from this filmmaker as his passion and heart seem to be in the right place. Some of the greatest directors today like Peter Jackson cut their teeth on a low budget horror movies, like this one.
Grab yourself some bourbon over ice, a bag of jelly beans, and check this movie out.