Horror

The Burning

Miramax

The Cropsy Venture

Filmways Pictures

United States of America

Canada

English

Brian Matthews

Leah Ayres

Brian Backer

Larry Joshua

Jason Alexander

Ned Eisenberg

Carrick Glenn

Carolyn Houlihan

Fisher Stevens

Lou David

Shelley Bruce

Sarah Chodoff

Bonnie Deroski

Holly Hunter

Kevi Kendall

K.C. Townsend

John Tripp

Mansoor Najee-Ullah

Jerry McGee

Tony Maylam

Harvey Weinstein

Brad Grey

Bob Weinstein

Peter Politanoff

Rick Wakeman

Jack Sholder

Michael Cohl

André Djaoui

Jean Ubaud

Joy Todd

Harvey Harrison

Tom Savini

Peter Lawrence

Richard Wernig

John Rusac

Eric Van Haren Noman

Raffaello Ferucci

Thomas A. Gulino

Suzen Poshek

Neil L. Kaufman

Anthony J. Ciccolini III

Jack Cooley

Reid Rondell

Daniel Ubaud

Decent “Friday the 13th” knockoff 

This came out a week after “Friday the 13th Part 2” in 1981 and contains all the staples of that blossoming franchise: disfigured killer, iconic weapon (in this case, garden shears), summer camp, camp counselors, a prank gone wrong, swimming antics, deep woods sexual frolics, death during (or after) sex, a secret hideout for the killer, semi-nekkid or fully nekkid teen girls, etc.

“The Burning” is held in high esteem mostly for its infamous raft sequence, but that only involves about 30 seconds and it’s not THAT phenomenal. At best, the movie might be as good as some of the “Friday” sequels, although the girls are subpar by comparison, albeit okay. Nonetheless, “Burning” has its points of interest, like Brian Backer from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and, especially, a young Jason Alexander from Seinfeld with a full-head of hair. Production-wise, it’s low-budget but superior to, say, “Sleepaway Camp.”

The film was shot in and around existing summer camps outside Buffalo in Western New York, as well as North Tonawanda.

GRADE: B-/C+

CinemaSerf

MGM, the Weinstein brothers and none other than Corky Burger have joined forces to bring us this rather weak and derivative attempt at fraternity-horror. "Cropsy", the pretty unpleasant caretaker at a lakeside holiday camp is the victim of a rather cruel prank perpetrated by some spoilt, immature, youth. Scoot on a few years and this now heavily scarred and somewhat narked individual is out for revenge on those who have turned him into a walking walnut. Meantime, there is a new generation of sex-obsessed teenagers frequenting a nearby camp where "Todd" (Brian Matthews) tries to keep them from killing, bullying and/or shagging each other before he, and the others, begin to realise that shower snoopers and mischief makers are most definitely not all they have to worry about. To be fair, it's not a terrible film - it's just really poorly written with some banal dialogue and some stereotypical characters that frankly deserved all they could get from crispy "Cropsy". The wooded scenario lends itself well in creating just the merest hint of menace and the hand-held camera work is quite effective at times as these rather vacuous American beauties face their ultimate challenge. It looked OK when I saw this recently on a big screen, but a few drinks and a storm outside would probably help it just as well on the television in October.

Jack Sholder on editing The Burning

BLOOD N FIRE MEMORIES Making The Burning with TOM SAVINI

The Burning (1981) - Official Trailer

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The Burning

Cast & Crew

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Cast

Brian Matthews

Leah Ayres

Brian Backer

Larry Joshua

Jason Alexander

Ned Eisenberg

Carrick Glenn

Carolyn Houlihan

Fisher Stevens

Lou David

Box office

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