Scare Tactics

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!

This reboot show is not as good as the original!

As soon as someone gets scared they just end it and say "no no it's okay, you are on scare tactics" back in the day they would keep it going for so much longer and it also had better story lines.

I loved the original show, it's just so nostalgic. I saw every episode and got so excited when I found out about the reboot coming out but it's definitely a let down. I enjoyed the first episode especially the one about the "fine dining experience". They need to make the scares last way longer and maybe definitely come up with some better scary segments.

This show is terrible. I wanted to give it a chance but it's the worst. Long set ups for boring, not scary, pranks. Even worse, before the person even has a chance to be scared they end the bit and tell them they are on a show. Total fail.

This show is terrible. I wanted to give it a chance but it's the worst. Long set ups for boring, not scary, pranks. Even worse, before the person even has a chance to be scared they end the bit and tell them they are on a show. Total fail

This show is terrible. I wanted to give it a chance but it's the worst. Long set ups for boring, not scary, pranks. Even worse, before the person even has a chance to be scared they end the bit and tell them they are on a show. Total fail.

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.

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.