The Burning (1981)

Director:

Tony Maylam

Writers:

Harvey Weinstein (story) and
Tony Maylam (story) ...

Release Date:

8 May 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Gather Around the Campfire to Die!

Plot:

A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement.

Plot Keywords:

Summer Camp | Burned | Prank | Hospital | Revenge

Cast

Brian Matthews	...	Todd
Leah Ayres	...	Michelle
Brian Backer	...	Alfred
Larry Joshua	...	Glazer
Jason Alexander	...	Dave
Ned Eisenberg	...	Eddy
Carrick Glenn	...	Sally
Carolyn Houlihan	...	Karen
Fisher Stevens	...	Woodstock
Lou David	...	Cropsy
Shelley Bruce	...	Tiger
Sarah Chodoff	...	Barbara
Bonnie Deroski	...	Marnie
Holly Hunter	...	Sophie
Kevi Kendall	...	Diane

Also Known As:

Cropsy (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

91 min | Australia:89 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (re-rating: 1992) (cut) (re-rating:2002) (uncut) | UK:(Banned) (1984-1992) | UK:X (original rating: 1981) (cut) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Australia:R | France:-16 | Norway:(Banned) (video rating) | South Korea:18 | USA:R | West Germany:(Banned) | Iceland:(Banned) | Finland:K-18 (1990) (cut) | Finland:(Banned) (1985) | Finland:(Banned) (1984) | Finland:(Banned) (1983) (cut) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Buffalo, New York, USA

Company:

Filmways Pictures

Trivia:

Many people also claim that there was an early appearance by Laurence Fishburne, as the hospital orderly whose arm is grabbed by Cropsy's horrifically burnt hand just before the opening title sequence. This actor was actually Mansoor Najeeullah

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Sally only removed her T-shirt and left her panties on when she got into the shower.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Camp Counselor: They never found his body, but they say his spirit lives in the forest. This forest. A maniac, a thing no longer human. They say he lives on whatever he can catch. Eats them raw, alive maybe. And every year he picks on a summer camp and seeks his revenge for the terrible things those kids did to him. Every year he kills. Right now he's out there. Watching. Waiting. So don't look; he'll see you. Don't breathe; he'll hear you. Don't move; you're dead!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Return to Sleepaway Camp (2008) (V)

Soundtrack:

DOIN' IT

Fine showcase for Tom Savini's makeup effects

THE BURNING

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Mono

An abusive caretaker at a lonely summer camp is disfigured by fire during a prank which goes horribly wrong. Five years later, he returns to the area to take revenge against one of his former persecutors (now a camp counsellor) and the kids in his charge.

Makeup artist Tom Savini rejected an opportunity to work on "Friday the 13th Part 2" (1981) in order to create effects for Tony Maylam's THE BURNING, yet another in the assembly line of low-budget horror movies which emerged in the wake of HALLOWEEN (1978). Savini warned the film's producers - including a fledgling Harvey Weinstein! - that the script for THE BURNING shared uncomfortable similarities with the "Friday" sequel, though fans may have been too dazzled by the gruesome set-pieces to either notice or care. In truth, THE BURNING shares only a handful of superficial details with "Friday 2", including a late night campfire episode in which the villain is dismissed as an urban legend, culminating in a false 'scare' which today's audiences will probably see coming a mile off. Despite a couple of groan-inducing incidentals ("Oh, I forgot my vitamins - I'll have to go back to my cabin through the dark, creepy woods!"), the narrative develops organically from one scene to the next, and characters react believably to the escalating situation. Unfortunately, the climax - set mostly within an abandoned mineshaft - is staged and executed with little flair or suspense, and amounts to something of a major disappointment.

Of course, the main point of interest - besides seeing some familiar faces in early roles, including Jason Alexander (TV's "Seinfeld"), Fisher Stevens (SHORT CIRCUIT) and an unrecognisable Holly Hunter - is Savini's horrific makeup effects: Victims are slashed, stabbed, punctured and poked in graphic detail, and blood flows copiously from some horribly convincing wounds. Indeed, the film reaches a crescendo of horror during a notorious sequence involving an 'abandoned' canoe (I'll say no more), one of the most vicious set-pieces of the 1980's 'slasher' cycle. Briskly paced, and scored with a series of electronic doodles by no less than Rick Wakeman (!), THE BURNING may seem awfully simplistic to modern viewers, but it delivers the gory goods in no uncertain terms. The movie was censored for an R-rating, but the uncut version has since been released on home video.