Burning

The Burning (1981)

Time to revisit another slasher movie from the early 80s. This time around it is The Burning and old Cropsy himself. The movie opens up with some campers getting revenge on the nasty caretaker of their summer camp. But their harmless prank goes wrong and the caretaker is horribly burned. This makes Cropsy very angry and when he is released 5 years later he heads back to camp for some payback. Well that is after he visits an unlucky hooker! After spending some time introducing us to the kids at the camp and some close calls the bodies start to pile up. Will Cropsy finish off all the campers or will a few get away?

You need to watch the movie to find out. And I do think that anyone who is a fan of slasher movies needs to check out the Burning if they haven’t already done so. Though I will admit that I’m not as enthusiastic as some others might be for this movie. Honestly I remember that for years the Burning carried a mystique about it. Many fans spoke very reverently of it and treated it as a classic. Now don’t get me wrong I do really enjoy the movie, but I kind of think calling it a classic was a bit much. I think that the Burning is one of the movies that was only enhanced by not being available on DVD for far too many years. Luckily now we can all see it now and uncut no less.

The movie itself is very solid with a predictable, but fun story line. It opens with Cropsy getting burnt to a crisp, and then moves quickly to the first kill when he is released from the Hospital. Unfortunately then the movie spends quite a bit of time with the introducing the new group of campers and goes a long time between kills. This is a double edge sword. It makes you like a lot of the characters, which makes what happens to them later mean a bit more. But this character development also throws the pacing of the movie off. There is a long stretch where the audience is teased with jump scares and close calls, but nothing really happens. This has always been my biggest beef with the Burning. Again I still think it is a solid movie that is entertaining, but far from perfect (which is how I personally judge a movie when someone calls it a classic).

This being a slasher movie we have to talk about the special effects. Before I even get to talking about the kills I need to mention the look of the killer. Cropsy doesn’t get much screen time, but when he does the makeup looks great. He has this great melted appearance, as if the fire just really distorted his features. To me Cropsy is just as memorable and iconic as any of the other slasher villains from the decade of the 80s. The Burning has a respectable body count of 10. Most of the kills are on screen and ingeniously constructed by effects wizard Tom Savini. From the first gruesome death of the hooker being gutted to the last axe to the head each is a work of art. In between those kills we gore hounds are treated to some nasty and juicy kills. Cropsy makes short work of the campers that get in his way with his handy garden shears in a manner that always puts a smile on my face (does that make me strange?). All of these kills are set to some great music by Rick Wakeman who was responsible for the movies original score. Great music can really set the mood and tone for a movie and I’ve always thought that the music in the Burning was a perfect match for what was happening on screen.

I watched the MGM DVD that was released a couple of years ago for this review. Included on the DVD was a commentary and a great feature with make up effects guru Tom Savini. Savini talks about how he designed and executed the effects shots, and includes some great behind the scenes footage. He also relates some funny stories about shooting the movie, including one shot that he almost messed up. If you have this DVD I recommend that you take the time to watch this feature. Other than this there isn’t much else on the DVD. This is disappointing considering how long the fans waited for it to be released.

So again I have to reiterate that I do really like the Burning. When I say that I think it was a bit overrated that doesn’t mean I think the movie sucks. It is one of the best slasher movies of the 80s or any other decade. I just want to make sure that at least in my review I don’t over hype it and set expectations too high. That said if you love slasher movies and want to see a really good one then you need to go get yourself a copy of The Burning.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer