SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

merklekranz Brad Dourif and James Earl Jones introduce four prairie tales around the campfire, trying to out scare each other. While they most definitely are on the prairie, the only thing grim about these tales, is how pitifully boring they are. Dourif is the city boy heading west to join his wife, while Jones, looking like a cave man, is a bounty hunter with a human package to deliver. Story #1 is about the danger of crossing an Indian burial ground and is bad. #2 Concerns an apparently pregnant woman wanderer, which leads to a Stephen King-like moment. Also bad. #3 Story of a displaced Southern family featuring Lisa Eichhorn, and lots of talk about a hate crime. More bad. #4 A gunslinger competition that is about as scary as a basket of bunnies. Bad. The only redeeming factor about "Grim Prarie Tales" is the banter between the storytellers, but it isn't enough to save it. - MERK

bridad I think this is a "lost" film that never truly found its audience. It was billed as a mainstream horror film, but it actually transcends true genre classification. This is more of a thinking man's movie. The terror is almost entirely psychological, but it is more of a quirky drama than horror.This is a real overlooked gem. I don't want to build it up too much because I realize it isn't everyone's cup of tea. Just read a few reviews from dim-witted critics and you will see that generally this film was not well received. Maybe those reviewers should have stuck with classics such as "Face-Off" or "Armageddon". No need to use that brain if there are enough explosions.I can tell you that "Grim Prairie Tales" is one of those movies that I have to watch every so often because it sticks with me. It has a winning combination of high-caliber writing, directing, cinematography, and acting that really gets in the back of my mind and emerges at times. There is just something memorable about it. Dare I say it – it is haunting.The film stars James Earl Jones as a want-to-be bounty hunter who encroaches upon the camp of a schoolteacher (Brad Dourif of "Chucky" fame) in the middle of the desert. Soon, sitting under a still moonlight night by the fireside gives rise to some strange tales (making this an anthology film). It seems that the two share little in common, except for a love of great storytelling.The first yarn is from Jones' character, Morrison. It is about an old man and his fear of dying, which manifests itself as religious intolerance and some general crotchety-ness. While I believe this is the weakest tale of the movie, it does employ some clever devices that broach the subject of mortality. My main problem with this segment is that it uses day-for-night shots unsuccessfully. I have a hard time getting past a technical shortcoming such as that. Don't judge the movie solely on this aspect, though.Deeds (Dourif) is impressed with the craft and mechanics of the story, but not its shock value. Morrison takes it as a challenge to make a stronger impact with a more intense story. He relates another tale designed to both titillate and disgust the schoolteacher on the surface. Lurking beneath those still waters is a narrative that raises questions about the more base nature of even the most pious man.The next segment stars none other than Jimmy Olsen – Marc McClure. He plays Tom, a wayward husband on his way to meet his wife. Along the way, he meets Jenny - an attractive pregnant woman. Tom decides to act as her guardian. The woman reluctantly agrees, and that night the campfire reveals that her "pregnancy" was only a trick to try and protect herself from potential assault. She writhes in ecstasy, and while her mouth is gently whispering "no" her eyes are begging for Tom to have his way with her. Without spoiling too much, what follows is one of the most intriguing "encounters" ever filmed. To my knowledge, it is entirely unique and original (albeit disturbing).Upon completion of the story, Deeds is thoroughly disgusted. Morrison suspects that Deeds was, in fact, excited by the tale and was forced to cover-up his reaction by masking it with disdain. Deeds then must redirect with his own campfire story.Similar in theme with Morrison's last tale regarding underlying sin, Deeds spins a yarn that also involves an idyllic pioneer life that is not quite as it seems. It is a new beginning where Arthur (William Atherton from Die Hard), an upstanding and religious man, marries a woman nobody else would have as she was pregnant out of wedlock. Life looks promising. That is until Arthur's stepdaughter sneaks out to see how her new father is helping the community.The innocence of the daughter is permanently marred as she witnesses true hatred and betrayal. The family unit continues, despite the sojourn through evil. The most shocking part is how the daughter can bury the atrocities in her mind to gain some semblance of normality.Morrison is astounded. The well-crafted tale gets the wheels turning. Now the gauntlet has really been thrown. He can't let Deeds have the best story of the night. Finally, after some soul-searching, Morrison attempts to top his story-rival.The last story is the most visceral of the quartet, both visually and psychologically. It is about a gunslinger contest to be the best in the west. The favorite is the focus and the story is about his reconciliation of conscience and actions. There is an animated dream sequence that, while entertaining, feels tacked-on. Otherwise, this story is one of the best tales. "One bullet!" - great line.Deeds concedes the victory to Morrison. As the sun rises in the east, both must continue their very different journeys. The tale ends with another interesting twist, as well.I am hoping that this gets released to DVD soon, and hopefully with some sweet extras. As it is now, you can only get used VHS copies of it. If you like thinking about the film you are watching, and don't really go into the film expecting to see a horror film, then you might really enjoy "Grim Prairie Tales".

Woodyanders Coming in a close second behind "The Shadow of Chikara" and certainly the strangest picture to get made during the short-lived 90's revival of the Western movie genre, this refreshingly off-beat 18th century set omnibus oater rates as the finest horror-Western to ever grace celluloid, a fascinatingly unusual film which dips into America's rich, but largely (and shamefully) underexplored past with often hugely effective results.The remarkably strong wraparound segment concerns prissy intellectual city slicker Farley Deeds (a pleasantly low-key portrayal by the often over-the-top Brad Dourif), who's forced one night on the cold, lonely open prairie to either listen to or relate a quartet of spooky campfire stories in the less than prepossessing company of uncouth, vaguely menacing bounty hunter Morrison (a wonderfully ripe, robust, rip-snorting turn by the always great James Earl Jones).First tale: grouchy old cuss Lee Colby (amusingly essayed by grizzled character actor Will Hare, who also acted in the arrestingly oddball horror-Western doozy "Eyes of Fire") desecrates a sacrosanct Native American burial ground and promptly regrets it. Second yarn: a sweet young man (affable Marc McClure, who appeared in the equally underrated fright film anthology flick "After Midnight" around the same time) meets a lovely young woman (the gorgeous, raven-tressed, almond-eyed Michelle Joyner; Michael Rooker's doomed wife in "Cliffhanger") with a ... well, I don't want to spoil the deliciously nasty shock ending to this one. Watch and find out for yourself; it's sure to hit guys especially right where they live. Third story: a family of homesteaders must contend with a bloodthirsty lynch mob who want the sole man of among the beleaguered threesome to help them catch and subsequently hang an escaped slave. This particular tale is too sentimental and obvious to really work, although it boasts a strong performance from the under-appreciated William Atherton (the jerky TV reporter in the first two "Die Hard" movies) as a basically decent, but hateful man who's gamely struggling to control his more base impulses. Fourth anecdote: a sleazy gunslinger (marvelously played to the slimy hilt by Scott Paulin; the first victim of the rampaging mutant monster in the terrifically trashy "ALIEN" rip-off "Forbidden World") competes to be top dog in a tiny desert town and later regrets that he did.Capably directed and smartly written by novice filmmaker William Coe (who previously designed the posters for such features as "Back to the Future" and "Out of Africa"), with uniformly fine acting from a nicely varied cast, plenty of eerie atmosphere, a flavorsome recreation of the 1800's, and a welcome emphasis on vividly drawn characters and similarly colorful old-fashioned storytelling over any needless excess flash or pretense, "Grim Prairie Tales" ranks as a most rewarding and highly different kind of horror movie, one in which story and character are more important and meaningful than either cheap shocks or disgusting gore. The anxious, intriguing, masterfully developed and sustained rapport between Jones and Dourif, both in superior personable form, is extremely enjoyable and unexpectedly affecting (the film not only deals with the expert telling of four scary stories, but also delightfully details the gradual genesis of an unlikely, but sturdy friendship between two radically contrasting individuals). The spiky, frequently hilarious, insult-laden rat-a-tat-tat banter that Jones and Dourif heatedly exchange throughout is a tremendous source of rousing entertainment alone, highlighted by the sidesplitting moment a fuming Brad calls Big Jim "a corpulent old buzzard!" It's a small, but bright and sparkling little gem of a sleeper.

mattressman_pdl Brad Dourif (the voice of Chucky) and James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader) play two heavily contrasted travelers in the nineteenth century who end up camping together and telling scary stories. Dourif Plays Farley Deeds, a naive clerk who is on his way to see his wife who is visiting his ill mother-in-law. Jones plays a gruff bounty hunter who is attempting to cash in on the corpse that hangs off the end of his horse. Together, they are a priceless pair with some of the most humorous and interesting exchanges in film lore. The tales are overshadowed by the two star's immense talent and their unusually great chemistry.