The are things to be said for this movie, but not nearly enough to make up for it's shortcomings. The setting and atmosphere are decent, but it's all downhill from there.

We have four principal characters; Jack, the edgy, driven producer of a ghost hunting reality TV show, Angela, the show's research assistant, Kevin, the cameraman and all around handy guy, and Emma, the team's newest member, and resident "believer". Jack receives news from the network that carries his show that they likely aren't going to renew the program for another season. Jack promises to deliver an episode to end all episodes, one that will convince the network not to cancel the show. The network executive grants Jack a stay of execution, pending this proposed epidode.

While researching possible investigation sites, Angela suggests the fabled Winchester House, but then decides against the location, as there is already a movie planned, and that the house has been investigated numerous times already. Emma finds a remote camp in Oklahoma, Camp Cold Brook.

Camp Cold Brook was the site of a mass murder committed by a witch. This witch's daughter was accidentally killed in an automotive accident involving a church group, and their bus. In order to bring her daughter back, the witch somehow comes upon the notion that delivering the lives of 30 other children will bring her daughter back to her. So, through poison and witchcraft, she kills 28 children, but comes up two lives short. As a result of this, the souls of the 28 children that she killed, and the soul of the witch herself, are bound to the campsite.

Jack and Angela approve of Emma's suggested site, but Kevin, the group's resident skeptic, is less than enthused about the entire proposal. He has tickets to the Los Angeles Rams football game that weekend, and wants to go to the game instead. Jack not so subtly tells Kevin that he can go to the game, and to fill out forms to collect unemployment insurance while he's at it. Cowed by Jack's insinuation, Kevin reluctantly agrees to go to Oklahoma with the rest of the team.

Once they arrive in Oklahoma, and in the town closest to Camp Cold Brook, our intrepid band receives the usual admonitions and warnings from the locals not to go to the camp. Bad things have happened, and still happen there.

Well, wait. If, according to the locals, bad things still happen there, how do bad things happen when everyone in town knows to stay away from Cold Brook? If no one goes there, who does these bad things happen to, and who witnesses and reports these bad things afterward? Well, let's never mind that.

Jack meets with the local sheriff, who advises him not to take the group to the campsite. Jack slips the sheriff an envelope with $500 in it, and the sheriff agrees to take Jack and the team to the campsite. Here, we deliver deep into implausibility again. Jack and his team drive into town in a late model Ford Expedition; a large SUV with four wheel drive that is capable of ferrying the team and all of their equipment. Instead of driving the Expedition to the campsite, Jack and the rest of the team have the sheriff and a deputy drive them, and their limited gear, to the campsite in a pair of off-road, four wheel drive RUVs. The idea is that the team will be dropped off in an abandoned, supposedly haunted location, where nearly 30 people were killed, with no cell service, no means of radio communication with the town, and no way out, except to walk through unfamiliar territory back to town. The group has no idea if there is power, running water, or any other resources at the campsite. In fact, they know for certain that the campsite has been abandoned for at least 20 years, so it's unlikely that there will be any available utilities. Despite all of these potentially dire circumstances, the team thinks that being dropped off at the campsite for an entire week, cut off from any and all possible help, is an acceptable idea. And, oh, the sheriff reminds Jack repeatedly not to wander off and get lost, as he has no means of communication with the group, and he doesn't have the resources to search for them if things do veer awry. The team is just fine with these little details, too.

These people are clearly too stupid to live.

After being dropped off, the group explored the campsite, and selects a base of operations in one of the buildings. Later that night, they sit around a bonfire and swap stories of adventures past. Kevin appears to have a change of heart, and thanks Jack for asking him to come along. To be abandoned. Cut off from any help or communication. In a supposedly haunted area. Where nearly 30 people were killed. Yep. Unh hunh.

Angela and Kevin decide to retire for the evening, each going to their separate cots while Jack and Emma remain behind. Jack explains that he hired Emma, the newest member of the team, because she is a believer, like he used to be. There is a warm and fuzzy moment, and then Jack and Emma also retire to their respective cots.

Jack wakes up in the middle of the night and explores the campsite. He is drawn to one of the buildings apart from the team's base camp, where he finds a strange rune-like symbol drawn on one of the walls. Jack ascribes the symbol to be of possible Native American origin, and then goes back to bed.

The next day, the team splits up to explore further, set up equipment, and what not. We discover, along the way that Kevin really likes to smoke dope, drink whiskey, and to sleep. A lot. He's just the kind of guy you'd want to be abandoned with, in a place where virtually everyone that you've met told you not to go to, right?

We are treated to the usual haunted locale hijinks, and Angela decides that she's had enough. She wants out. Actually, she wants all of them to leave, but Jack and Emma want to remain and investigate, and while this debate is ongoing, Kevin is off somewhere smoking dope and taking long naps.

Jack decides that he is going to walk Angela back to town... even though the sheriff had warned him not to wander off and become lost... even though he's not really sure where town is from the campsite on foot... even though he's not sure how long it will take to walk Angela back to town... even though this means that this means leaving Emma and Kevin behind, in an increasingly sinister place.

Yep. Sure. That's what any rational person with half a brain would do.

Then, we get the big reveal. Jack and Emma were at Camp Cold Brook when the witch killed the 28 campers. Jack suppressed the memory, but Emma could not. The witch haunted her daily. She sought Jack out specifically to bring him back to the camp so that they could find a way to break the curse, or at least so that she can be free of the witch on her own, if Kevin and Angela die in her place to satisfy the witch's need for the requisite 30 souls. She then clubs Jack over the head.

Jack wakes up in the hospital, and his wife is there. Now, I need to digress here. Earlier in the movie, we see that Jack has two daughters, Haley and Monet. Haley tells Jack that she is having dreams about a ghostly woman, and that this woman really likes Jack.

Okay, back to the hospital. Jack's wife reassures him that he's safe and okay. Emma comes by and visits to tell Jack that she thinks that Angela and Kevin having died in their places seems to have satisfied the witch. She doesn't feel her presence any more. Jack does not seem.particularly upset that Emma clubbed him over the head to leave him for the witch, or that Angela and Kevin are dead. Instead, he calls to video chat via his phone with Haley and Monet, who are back at home with a babysitter that Jack's wife found.

Oops! The babysitter is the witch, and she is coincidentally the woman from Haley's dreams. Jack screams "No!" at the phone as he watches the witch leading his daughters away.

The end. Roll credits. Now, do you really wanna watch this piece of crap?

Camp Cold Brook (2018) is a movie I recently watched on Amazon Prime. The storyline follows a group of reality TV ghost hunters whose show is about to be cancelled so they're shooting for one last episode they think may save them so they get picked up for another season. Their only problem is their chosen location may be too good to be true. This movie is directed by Andy Palmer (The Funhouse Massacre) and stars Danielle Harris (Dont Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead),Chad Michael Murray (House of Wax),Courtney Gains (Back to the Future) and Michael Eric Reid (Fame). The storyline for this actually has a pretty good setup and potential, both the primary storyline and the flashback to what happened at the camp. Unfortunately once the movie gets going the horror elements are weak and fall flat. The kill scenes and special effects are limited and really contain no gore. The horror elements/children aren't really scary due to how they're used to execute the kill scenes, which is too bad because how they original died is eerie. The twist at the end is also a bit blah and disappointing. This is a movie that had big picture good writing but implementing the premise is poorly executed. I'd score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.

Jack Wilson (Chad Michael Murray) hosts a paranormal investigating show that is getting canceled because the paranormal does not exist. They need a blockbuster show to avoid getting canceled. Emma (Candice De Visser ) the new girl suggests Camp Cold Brook, a place that hasn't been investigated as yet. 28 children were murdered there in a ritual that required 30 deaths to restore the life of one child.

This is predictable for those who watch theses films. The flaws with this one were weak unentertaining characters and a sloppily constructed backstory.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.