Cauchemars et canulars

One of the best guilty pleasures I've had in a long time. Don't be critical. Just enjoy the show.

It's your typical "scare tactic" type prank show and it's pretty funny, except, are we really suppose to believe that this kid is actually directing this???? It's obvious that he's not and they're just splicing in bits of him pretending he's the director and that part is done quite poorly. He's a perfectly likable host. I'm great with him commenting on the prank and coming out for the big reveal, but don't try to pretend he's running things. Other than that, it's a fun show to watch with the family.

Also, Prank Encounters? That's the title you went with? I get that it's a play on Close Encounters, but "Prank Encounters" sounds like a fake prank show in a movie or cheesy sitcom.

I genuinely enjoyed each episode. I made an early decision to not be overly critical and gave myself permission to enjoy it as a kind of guilty pleasure, and I'm glad I did.

I enjoyed it quite a bit. One arrogant reviewer called its veracity into question and went so far as to insult the intelligence of anyone who buys the premise...all while grammatically butchering a simple phrase like "low I.Q." Well, I have an I.Q. of over 150, but I'm not so impressed myself as to make strident assumptions about millions of people I've never met. By my estimation, the "victims" are genuinely out of the loop and I think that case can be defended against the hasty aspersions employed against it. It's not a deeply profound show, but it is fun and interesting to see how people react under duress. I think that, much like in real crisis situations, people often remain surprisingly subdued in the face of peril and hope that all the red flags and alarms are not actually spelling their end. It's a bit strange that every male "victim" was gay. Maybe their selection process filtered for certain personality traits that led to that result? I guess it would be unwise to recruit alpha males that could lead to physical harm for the actors. Anywho, I enjoyed it and recommend others ignore the cynicism displayed by some.

I love prank shows and love Gaten Matarazzo but he really screwed the pooch with this one. Why does he narrate everything that's happening? The constant "cut back to *insert name*" or "Cue the scare in 3... 2... 1" not only ruins the surprise for the viewer but also makes it feel very child-like. We can see for ourselves what is happening. Scare Tactics over this any day!

Some of the pranks have great potential but are not really well-executed. Like there is a long backstory in several episodes and then all these details are not really used to their full potential Of course we want it to be weird and stuff you wouldn't believe, but this takes it to a whole new level of unbelievable.

Also it is widely advertised on Instagram and by Gaten himself that "nothing like this has ever been done". Seriously?

But yeah, still entertaining if you have nothing to watch.