The Burning (1981)

Oh, those crazy days of slasher films, when every summer camp became a potential slaughterhouse. The Burning was one of the flood of movies that followed the success of Friday the 13th, and it's more notable today for an unexpected roster of talent than for its success as a horror movie. You will note that the opening titles feature the unusual credit of "Created and Produced by Harvey Weinstein," and sure enough, this is the first feature film bearing the name of the future Hollywood mogul. Let's acknowledge that Weinstein's instincts were shrewd, since this junky thing fit right into the kill-the-teenagers trend after Friday the 13th, and thus a safe way to get a return on investment. We're at Camp Blackstone, where a disfigured loony, still sizzling after getting burned by unhappy campers years earlier, exacts his revenge on the empty-headed current crop. Among the campers are future Seinfeld star Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, and (in a smaller part) Holly Hunter. There's a vintage early-'80s synthesizer score by Rick Wakeman, but the real star of the movie is effects whiz Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead), who does his bloody best with the murders. We don't care much about the teenagers, but students of gore will savor the throat-cuttings and the finger-loppings. --Robert Horton Amazon.com

Let's be honest...

...this is not a great movie.

The Burning has a flimsily contructed generic slasher plot that doesn't really provide a story but does provide enough room to include all the ingredients that made this genre sell so well to movie theatres packed with a largely male teenage audience in their 1980's heyday: soft female nudity and violent, gory killings.

In summary, camp caretaker Cropsy is burned by a group of teenagers in a camp prank gone wrong and returns to exact his revenge on anyone foolish enough to still be going to summercamp. Pretty run of the mill stuff and queue shots of teenage girls jiggling around fields playing baseball or showering or swimming.

What alone elevates this movie to one worth watching from the horror fan's perspective though are the killing scenes. Their sometimes unusual settings, lingering, want-to-but-can't-look-away direction and truly nasty, brilliantly constructed special makeup effects evoke a real savagery that leaves a lasting impression.

Some may find this savagery a little too graphic - clearly many film censors at the time could be counted among that number - but they can be enjoyed purely for shock value and for technical excellence too.

Incidentally, a full step by step breakdown of "King Of Splatter" Tom Savini's effects for this film can be found in his book Grande Illusions and is definitely worth reading once youe've seen them, even if just to reassure yourself that no, they didn't really kill all those teenagers! August 26, 2008

No one gets burned

It has taken awhile before a completely uncut version of The Burning has been available to North American audiences, but here it is in all of its gory glory. Effects genius Tom Savinis handiwork has been masterfully restored and heightens the impact of the scares. No punches pulled here. As for the story it's pretty standard (crazy creep takes revenge on teenagers at a camp who were responsible for a prank that left him grossly disfigured......actually it was just one kid but that doesn't stop the maniac from gleefully taking out a few more), but it's the clever dialogue and likeable characters (a young Jason Alexander from from Seinfeld pre hair loss) that make you slightly uncomfortable when they get done in. August 10, 2008

Surprisingly Good Camp Slasher Flick

A group of campers play a deservedly mean prank on an abusive counselor that accidentally results in his tragic burning. Years later, the disfigured, demented man known as Cropsy heads back to camp to take revenge.

Cleverly based on the old campfire terror tales of tradition, "The Burning" may sound like a flat-out rip-off of "Friday the 13th". Well, the filmmakers claim they had this story BEFORE "Friday the 13th", and maybe they did, because it somehow feels like a better movie than the usual Jason fare. The campers seem more real and sometimes even likeable (though I can't help but hate them a little for having so much fun; is summer camp really like it is in the movies?), and Tom Savini's makeup/effects work doesn't hurt the film either. It is a bit hard to tell the campers from the counselors at times, even though some folks looked too old to be at summer camp, and seeing Jason "George Costanza" Alexander as the life of the party with a full head of hair is just plain weird, ha, but overall it's a great piece of classic slasher fun that you definitely should see if you're into '80's horror.

The DVD features a widescreen presentation and includes the theatrical trailer, a gallery of stills, and a great interview with Tom Savini as he gives us the behind the scenes scoop on "The Burning". There's even a fine audio commentary with Director Tony Maylam and International Film Journalist Alan Jones. So go out and pick this one up. Oh yeah, and remind me to chew my parents out for never sending me to the non-stop orgy that is summer camp! Don't get me wrong though, it's mild here compared to in the Jason films.

July 1, 2008

3 1/2, a little dissapointed but still a good, brutal slasher.

after first discovering this flick i've been eagerly wanting to see this.savini created the gore effects so i new i was in for a treat and the film had a reputation for being very violent and brutal. after watching the burning i have to say i'm a little dissapointed. the film is entertaining and quite gory and thanks to this dvd being uncut the kills and gore are fairly graphic and drawn out, but the movie moves alittle slow and the kills are oddly spaced through the film. 5 people being killed in one scene in a slasher flick that doesnt have a very high body count kinda throws the movie off. the gore effects are pretty good, but certainly not tom savinis best. my only gore complaints are the fake looking plastic hand after a kids fingers are hacked off, a pair of scissors being pulled out a womans stomach that are shortened to look like theyre inside her and cropsys make up looks weird and doesnt(as savini admits)look like burned flesh. the gore is still good,as i said earlier this dvd is uncut so the violence doesnt cut away really quick like in the friday the 13ths.theres a scissor stabbing, a neck slice by shears, shears through the neck and of course the infamous raft massacre which has cropsy frantically slaughtering a group of teenagers floating on a handmade raft. this scene is graphic and pretty shocking. also, cropsy gets his just deserts by having an axe smacked into his face. despite these gory scenes, the film is kinda dull and not as good as i hoped. still, the burning is one of the best 80's slasher films and while alot of people accuse it of ripping off the original friday the 13th, its actually alot better than that. worth watching for savinis gore and for slasher fans. June 12, 2008

A Classic Killer In The Woods Slasher Film

I remember seeing the Australian video cover to this film in a service station many years ago, and it was the now ultra-rare cover with "This movie has contents which may offend" and one of the girls getting her throat slit by the maniac killer. I HAVE this video cover somewhere at home, just want to know how much it's worth. The back of the cover has a deleted scene on it where the remaining survivors are coming out of the woods to go into the helicopter. But on the movie itself, it's an old fashioned slasher film in the same way as Friday The 13th is, just not as effective. But i loved it, the gory death scenes were good, especially where Glazer dies. I bought this for $150 on DVD here ages ago (What a BIG mistake that was, since you can buy it now for $7.98.) All in all, a good, creepy slasher film, with a creepy soundtrack. May 13, 2008

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