Scare Tactics

People are judging this show too harshly based on their nostalgia for the old show, which I've never seen, but there are definitely some issues.

1. The "Flip" character is a pointless waste of time probably just being used to stretch a small amount of content into a longer episode.

2. The scenes without the actual 'victims' in them are also a pointless waste of time.

Remove those two things, and throw in another scare or two so there's at least 3 scares per episode and it'll be more worth watching.

Although people complained about some of the scares not being scary or believable enough I don't think that really matters, I even think a long setup is good provided its all content of the actual victim being recorded and their reactions. Where it is now there's like 6 minutes total of victim footage in a 30 (24) minute episode which is far too little.

I had such high hopes for this series. It seemed like it had high production value, solid financial backing, and the premise of putting unsuspecting people in situations so bizarre and otherworldly and then capturing their visceral, unfiltered reactions all seemed to point to this turning out to be great content.

It couldn't have turned out worse! As others have mentioned, the show will spend time building out a great concept, the actors play their part well, and the target is perfectly primed for a potentially fantastic reaction; yet JUST as the fun begins, the show's team almost immediately reveal it's all fake without letting the climax of the scene play out. The premature reveals are frustrating and make you scratch your head, because of all the effort that was put into the build up.

I also think most of the outros and transitions prior to or between bits are extraneous and poorly executed. They come off as corny, and not in an endearing or fun way. Also, the show's "AI host" is just distracting and adds nothing in terms of substance. Do yourself a favor and skip this, because if you're like me, you'll find yourself getting increasingly frustrated because this really could have been great if well executed. Watch Prank Encounters on Netflix instead, they achieved what this show did not.

1 star!

Reboot is a huge disappointment. The pranks are unimaginative and lack buildup. They're abrupt and feel like cheap gags you'd see on a daytime talk show Halloween segment, like Ellen. The original scares stood out for their creativity and gradual escalation, drawing the marks deeper into the scenario until they reached peak terror.

The new setup relies too much on open spaces, leading to predictable outcomes where the targets just scream and run away. In contrast, the original often made marks feel trapped. While they couldn't legally lock doors, the actors' performances and set designs convinced them they were truly stuck. This reboot lacks that edge.

Not what you're used to seeing you'd be better off going to YouTube I really wish they would have mirrored the original and made some good quality content however this is pretty horrible and time wasting. I love the original and I like the idea but this appears to be made by a 10-year-old without vision. The original version and Fear Factor and a lot of similar shows turned out well and were properly done sadly this is not the case for this series and I really wanted it to be because there's not a lot of shows like this I'm kind of sad to see Rick Castle's daughter playing a role in it after her Stellar performance in Castle.

Hope they make many more seasons to come, I'd absolutely love to put someone on the show to prank them. This genre has been gone for way too long and I'm so glad it's back. Some of the pranks I feel like cut off too short after the apex of it all and by too short I mean like seconds after sometimes. But overall the set ups are fun and creative. I noticed they use a lot of the same cast to set up the pranks which could give it away for the one getting pranked as more of the public watch the show. I also noticed the group is usually wearing some sort of v.i.p. Vest which could also affect the believability for the person getting pranked. However I thought the writing was good and there's a pretty good variety of situations throughout an episode.