The Burning
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Movie Reviews of The Burning
Movie Review: One of the best slashers
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great slasher. On par with Friday The 13th and Halloween. It's got great gore, its funny from time to time and the killer is memorable. Get it and enjoy when horror was meant to be bloody funMovie Review: Top 3: 80's slasher of all time.
Summary: 5 Stars
This film has it all and even beats some of the best classic Friday The 13th films. If you love 80's slasher summer camp film this is the cream of the crop. To bad we don't have a sequel or a remake.Movie Review: Great slasher
Summary: 5 Stars
Finnelly the unrated version is out. I strongly recommend this title to be purchase on dvd. Great gore and nudity, better then any Friday the 13th series.Movie Review: 4.5 STARS: Don't look, he'll see you...don't breathe, he'll hear you...don't move, you're dead!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
In my daily search for lost horror movie gems, I thought to myself that I may have found one in the notorious slasher movie called "The Burning". Indeed, the movie is notorious because it was previously banned in some countries as the gore is considered to be graphic in the extreme. However, upon a viewing of the movie, I came away thinking to myself that it wasn't so much the gore that would offend the average viewer especially horror movie lovers (Tom Savini was terrific as usual), but, if anything, perhaps the sex scenes and nudity were a little strong for younger viewers, certainly not enough to be banned, however.
Anyway, "The Burning" starts off simple enough as the audience is thrown into the middle of Camp Blackstone as an ornery man named Cropsy is being conspired upon by a group of boys who want to "pay" Cropsy back for his sinister ways. The trick goes bad and Cropsy is burned so badly that no skin grafts would take and Cropsy is reduced to an inhuman freak of nature. Still, Cropsy recovers his physical strength and then some it seems as he begins his mission to gain revenge upon those campers that wronged him, including any other girls or adolescent sex-crazed boys that might be in the area.
The plot in "The Burning" is simple and quite effective as it is based upon the age old act of revenge. After he leaves the hospital, Cropsy haunts the woods of another camp where one of his former pranksters/assailants is now a camp counselor. Now, if you have seen "Madman" or any of the "Friday the 13th parts 1-6" movies, you have a basic idea of what it going to happen, or do you? An element of surprise along with some graphic violence brilliantly orchestrated by the legendary, Tom Savini, marks this slasher as a cut above the rest. Interestingly enough, even children, in broad daylight no less (which is certainly not the norm in horror flicks), are not spared in this movie, and I think that makes this movie more realistic, scarier and certainly more horrifying. No one is exempt from the vicious and evil Cropsy. Perhaps, it is this graphic violence where not even the children are safe in the broad daylight that shocks the conscience of the audience and sets this movie apart from the abovementioned horror flicks.
Indeed, "The Burning" is similar to "Madman" and "Friday the 13th" but also different. "The Burning" is constructed differently and, as I mentioned above, the majority of the death scenes occur in the daytime, which as I said is quite unusual for horror flicks, but very effective in creating a sense of realism which only works to magnify the horror of this film.
The infamous "raft scene" (***SPOILER ALERT***) takes place in broad day light as well, and the audience really has no idea about what is about to happen, and that's part of what makes it so great along with the brilliant special effects of Tom Savini and the brutal violence associated with this scene. The setting of the raft scene is rather unorthodox for a horror movie as you have children safe in a raft during broad daylight and having a great time no less. However, a lonely canoe emerges, the contents of which are largely unknown or to say the least surprising. The audience knows that the campers' canoes are missing, that a girl is also missing, therefore, the viewer thinks it could be the body of this girl, but when the kids on the raft come upon what seems to be this lonely canoe, a scene which ranks highly as one of the greatest scenes of pure horror ever filmed in a slasher flick (or any horror movie for that matter) ensues. The "raft scene" is an absolutely brilliant piece of cinematic horror and the movie is worth owning for this scene alone, although the movie is very good overall as well.
Cropsy, as a villain, is quite formidable, sadistic, perverted, strong and evil, and after the burning of his body, it is apparent that Cropsy takes on a rather inhuman form with monstrous characteristics and qualities that only amplify his prowess as a villain. In fact, it's safe to say that Cropsy is an evil, sadistic and perverted freak of nature.
The main things I like about "The Burning" is the unexpected scene the audience gets with the raft, the realistic-type atmosphere and the brilliant job done by Tom Savini on the blood and gore associated with the murders in this movie. The kills are violent, shocking to the conscience, come without warning, vicious and are committed without remorse leaving the audience horrified and paralyzed with fear of Cropsy.
Criticisms of this flick are few but not entirely insignificant. As with many slasher movies, there is some needless dialogue, gratuitous nudity and some scenes that maybe funny in a sense, but have absolutely nothing to do with the movie as far as its merits as a horror movie are concerned. However, there is some constructive character development in these scenes and the camp theme is presented only too well (gives me flashbacks) and quite accurately in the movie. It is unfortunate that some of the scenes do reflect some weak acting at times, and if you are not really into the humor of sexual inuendos and such, you may find yourself bored as the movie tends to drag just a bit in the middle.
Still, "The Burning" heats up into a very nice horror movie and while "The Burning" may be inferior to some of the elite horror movies on certain levels of producing scares and atmospheric "horror" in the sense of inspiring fear in the audience, the movie is still very effective as a horror movie with its graphic violence and shocking death scenes. The theme music with Cropsy is very effective and the audience settles right into Cropsy's dark, morbid and isolated world of evil. The atmosphere in "The Burning" with regard to its support of the movie as a horror flick comes and goes with Cropsy really, but when it's there, it's very effective. In other words, when Cropsy appears to be out of the picture, the movie takes on a kind of comedy-like atmosphere in a sense and it is funny, but this also works to ease the uneasy emotions and tension in the audience stimulated by the horror and fear that "The Burning" produces.
At times, "The Burning" struggles to maintain the pure horror movie spirit and the effect is spurts of virulent horror (albeit very effective spurts of horror), but we do not have in this movie the unrelenting terror and building tension of "Halloween". The acting in "The Burning" is average and the characters are not very likeable which may temper the horror just a bit. With all of that being said, "The Burning" is a must-own horror movie classic in my opinion, and is clearly superior to all of today's trash and sacreligious remakes of horror movie classics. Indeed, "The Burning" is very effective as a horror movie and is one of the greatest slasher flicks ever made while also earning a nice little place on my DVD shelf. "The Burning" is a clear-cut classic in my opinion, although the rating says FOUR STARS, my official HorrorMan rating is 4.5 STARS.
As a side note, look for Jason Alexander who plays a happy-go-lucky type of guy who fosters comedy during the dry scenes as the movie tends to drag a bit in its efforts to inspire a horror-movie like atmosphere...the now famous actor on the hit TV sitcom "Seinfeld" was able to steal a few weak comedy scenes with his buddies. GLAD THEY FINALLY CAME OUT WITH THIS MOVIE ON DVD!! THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP CLINT!!
Movie Review: One of the better slasher flicks
Summary: 4 Stars
In the 80s slasher films were a dime a dozen; It seemed every week a new one was opening. More often than not a lot of these films simply get lost in the shuffle. The Burning though has remained a cult favorite despite being out of print for a long time. A few things that helped The Burning known was for the fact it happens to be the first movie by the Weinstein's. And of course there is the cast; The Burning was the screen debut for Holly Hunter, Fisher Stevens, Brian Backer and Jason Alexander. And what helps keep The Burning so well known was the raft scene, which is one of the best scenes you'll ever find in a slasher flick.
As a child I lived for these movies, even as a young child I don't think you can find many people a bigger fan of slasher flicks than me. But as I got older I found myself going back and watching these flicks I loved and watching some for the first time and suddenly I didn't like them nearly as much. I still enjoy slasher flicks from time to time, but now as an adult very few would make my all time favorite horror movie list. The Burning is one of the few that I still enjoy.
Bottom line is if you've seen one slasher flick you pretty much have seen them all. The Burning doesn't quite offer us anything we haven't seen before. But the movie still works and despite some flaws it's still enjoyable. The Burning is probably one of the better made slasher flicks of the 80s. It's an 80s slasher not an Oscar contender. But it's actually rather well made overall.
The Burning gets off to a solid start, but does slow down in the middle sections. We do get about a 45-min gap or so without a kill scene. And there were too many scenes shot in the daytime. Horror flicks always work best when set at night. Day scenes can be quite creepy; John Carpenter's Halloween is a prime example. But there were just too many daytime scenes and it does hurt the suspense a little bit. But despite the gap in-between the kill scenes and the daytime scenes The Burning still for the most part works well.
While the script by Harvey Weinstein and Peter Lawrence isn't a masterpiece it is good enough to help keep things interesting. Most of the characters lack any depth, but they still work well. This is the typical screenplay for an 80s slasher, but it's probably better written than most of the others.
The cast also is able to help keep things interesting; most of the performances are pretty good for this type of flick and any scene Jason Alexander is in works great. He simply steals the show. The more screen time Jason Alexander has the better The Burning works.
Director Tony Maylam does a fairly good job at keeping the pace moving along, but in my opinion The Burning does lack some suspense and tension. There are a few scenes of Cropsey lurking in the back that raises the tension, but overall as much as I did enjoy the movie the tension does lack. Despite the gaps in kill scenes, Maylam foe the most part is able to keep The Burning from becoming boring and is able to keep it interesting.
Like I brought up earlier there were just too many scenes shot in the daytime and while you can create some scary and suspenseful scenes it just hurts the tension a little bit. The final act is quite solid, but some of the suspense is lost due to the daytime shooting. But overall Tony Maylam does a good job and makes one of the better slasher flicks of the 80s.
Another thing that makes The Burning stand-out to the many 80s slasher flicks is the gore, which was done by Tom Savini; when you have Savini involved you pretty much know you are in for a gory good time. Many people consider this some of his best work, but I have to disagree. While the gore is excellent it doesn't flow as much as the reputation it has. And while the gore looks excellent I think Savini went onto do some better work.
Don't get me wrong if you want gore you'll pretty much find it here, the kill scenes are quite graphic. The sheers through the neck was a very brutal kill scene. While The Burning has plenty of gore I actually seen a lot more. Even with it being the Weinstein's first movie despite some of the cast members going on to some bigger things what really truly gives The Burning the cult status and made sure it was remembered by horror fans is the raft scene.
The raft scene is without a doubt one of my very favorite scenes in a horror movie. I'm not gonna spoil it for those out there who have not seen the movie, but the reputation the raft scene gets is very much deserving. It's simply one of the very best scenes you'll ever see in a slasher or any horror flick for that matter.
One of the most interesting things about The Burning is there is no final girl. For those who may not have heard that term, the final girl is the last person left in the final act and the one who normally survives and kills off the killer. Not only is there no final girl there actually isn't even really a main character. Some play a bigger part than others, but there really is no character in particular the movie focuses on. I'll give credit to the makers on that; the lack of a lead character can hurt, but here it actually works to the advantage of the movie.
While there is a decent sized body count there were also too many people left alive at the end. As much as I enjoyed The Burning it could have used maybe 1 or 2 kill scenes in the middle sequences. The funny thing about that is though The Burning has a pretty good body count. The problem is too many of them come more towards the final act. And the main reason for the body count being high is due to one scene in particular. The Burning could have used one or two more in the middle or at the very least had some editing to help the scenes run at a smoother pace.
The Burning if often compared to Friday the 13th, but apparently it was written before. But comparisons will still be made. In my opinion The Burning just might be the more entertaining, but the less creepy of the two. If you are a fan of slasher flicks and just looking for a gory good time The Burning should get the job done. Despite some flaws The Burning is one of the better 80s slasher flicks and still to this day remains a fun movie. Sure it's dated in some areas and it doesn't break any new ground. But it's still a very fun and entertaining movie
In closing, while The Burning may not break any new ground it rates as one of the better slasher flicks of the 80s and while it does lack suspense and tension at times it's more than made up for in the fun and in the gore department. Maybe not a classic of the genre, but a classic slasher flick for sure
Here on Amazon and the back of the box, The Burning is listed as being R-Rated. That's a mistake; The Burning is actually the Unrated version with all the gore in tact.