The Burning (1981)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Melvin W

  
  Camp Counselor: 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!  "A brutal horrific act made him kill and kill and kill" The Burning… More
  Camp Counselor: 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!  "A brutal horrific act made him kill and kill and kill" The Burning is one of the better ripoff slashers I have seen. I actually like it quite a bit better than the notable movie it is ripping, Friday the 13th. It isn't a genre staple like some others, but it is easily one of the better times I have had watching an 80's slasher. The fact that the film never got boring is a testament to why a liked it so much. I've seen very few slashers that didn't get boring part way through.  One key factor that I really liked about The Burning was the killer, Cropsey. I really enjoyed his presence because he didn't feel unbeatable. Unlike Jason, he isn't a supernatural, unbeatable presence. He's more human. It just isn't that fun, aside from Halloween, watching a character that you know can't be beaten. This slasher felt fresh in those regards. The one thing that did irritate me about the film was the practical joke at the start. First off, Cropsey should only be mad at himself. In what world do you grab the fire, pull it onto your bed, get up and knock gasoline onto it. Come on. And the kids, did you really think this was a badass prank? From the sound of how they were talking before hand, I expected a little more than the huge cliche prank.  This movie follows Cropsey five years after that prank goes wrong. He is severely burned and is out for revenge. He is now preying on a group of teenage campers. His weapon of choice... garden shears. Gotta love it. There's some pretty cool kill sequences, but nothing that we haven't seen before in countless other slashers. I always enjoy seeing familiar faces in slashers. Many actors have gotten their starts in slashers, and there's another notable one here. Jason Alexander plays a camper and I feel inclined to say, that he gives my favorite teenager in a slasher performance ever. He's funny and actually gives the first really good performance I have ever seen out of an actor in these types of movies. Holly Hunter and Brian Backer are also faces you should recognize.  This is one of my new favorite slashers, outside of the huge names like Halloween and Black Christmas. I just really enjoyed everything this film had to offer, and the fact that I really didn't expect much just made it all the better.

• Cory T

  
  If 'Friday the 13th' wasn't gleefully shlocky and stupefyingly dumb, it would probably resemble 'The Burning', a terrifying, brutal debut for producer Bob Weinstein. The nubile female bodies are abundant, the sex-starved boys are present and the frolicking… More
  If 'Friday the 13th' wasn't gleefully shlocky and stupefyingly dumb, it would probably resemble 'The Burning', a terrifying, brutal debut for producer Bob Weinstein. The nubile female bodies are abundant, the sex-starved boys are present and the frolicking summer camp atmosphere is nigh, but 'The Burning' instinctively explores the hazardous tightrope between harmless pranks (like a BB gun shot to a counselor's butt) and life-altering accidents (the inferno that engulfed Cropsy). The iconic image on the cover is actually the most jaw-dropping scene: a group of kids paddle a makeshift raft to where their stray canoes are and then he are mercilessly slayed by Cropsy and his hedge clippers. This scene is primarily effective because of the taut rising action and the grisly, sickeningly realistic makeup by Tom Savini. I highly recommend 'The Burning' which is minimalist next to 'Friday the 13th' and the characters don't constantly react in dullard ways like separating or attempting to be rashly heroic.

• Drew S

  
  The Burning is trashy and not particularly innovative, but it plays around with slasher tropes just enough to make it worth watching. There are a few legitimate chills and some really sinister set pieces (the boat), and Tom Savini's gore is awesome. The acting is universally… More
  The Burning is trashy and not particularly innovative, but it plays around with slasher tropes just enough to make it worth watching. There are a few legitimate chills and some really sinister set pieces (the boat), and Tom Savini's gore is awesome. The acting is universally shaky, except for a major WTF appearance by Jason Alexander, and the plot is essentially a huge Friday the 13th ripoff, but it's a lot nastier and frankly more frightening than its predecessor, enough so that you forgive it its derivative nature. Not an exceptional slasher, but if you're hankering for blood and viscera and dead teenagers, you could definitely do a lot worse.

• Bruce B

  
  I was very surprised as to the number of young actors in this movie that went on to be stars. Karen Hunter, Jason Alexander, Ned Eisenberg, and Brian Backer just to name a few. Also very surprised at the many full female nude scenes of what are supposed to be teens at a teen camp.… More
  I was very surprised as to the number of young actors in this movie that went on to be stars. Karen Hunter, Jason Alexander, Ned Eisenberg, and Brian Backer just to name a few. Also very surprised at the many full female nude scenes of what are supposed to be teens at a teen camp. This is on the same theme as Jason and Friday the 13th. A caretaker is burned very bad via a practical joke and years later he comes back for revenge, a good slasher film, many good simple special effects. 3 1/2 stars for this one.

• Tim S

  
  I give The Burning props for several reasons. First of all, it has some pretty decent gore effects. Second, the characters and situations are fun and interesting enough to watch despite the fact that nothing happens to them for nearly an hour. Third, Tom Savini was the make-up… More
  I give The Burning props for several reasons. First of all, it has some pretty decent gore effects. Second, the characters and situations are fun and interesting enough to watch despite the fact that nothing happens to them for nearly an hour. Third, Tom Savini was the make-up effects supervisor on the film. And finally fourth, there are about three actors in there that went on to have very nice careers: Fisher Stevens, Jason Alexander and Holly Hunter. It's not a perfect slasher movie but it is fun when the killings finally do kick in.

• Jeff "

  
  The Burning is another Slasher film created at the height of the Slasher boom in the early 1980's. The film follows some familiar territory as the setting of the film happens to be a summer camp (sound familiar?). After a prank gone terribly wrong, the camp caretaker Cropsy is… More
  The Burning is another Slasher film created at the height of the Slasher boom in the early 1980's. The film follows some familiar territory as the setting of the film happens to be a summer camp (sound familiar?). After a prank gone terribly wrong, the camp caretaker Cropsy is violently burnt and needs skin grafts Five Years later, he's freed from the hospital and vows to get revenge. He returns to a camp nearby his old camp, and stalks a new set of teens, determined to kill everyone of them. The Burning follows the same formulas as other slasher films and doesn't break new ground, it doesn't try to reinvent the genre or deliver new thrills. Despite this, The Burning is a very enjoyable slasher film and is a fine addition to the early slasher greats. The film has a high body count, which will definitely appeal to Horror fans, and the film's special effects are handled with precision by master special effects artist, Tom Savini. Knowing that Savini has handled the gore effects for this film, you know that they'll be just awesome, gross and blood chilling. The Burning also marked the debut of such actors as Jason Alexander (George Costanza, Seinfeld) and Holly Hunter (Raising Arizona, Crash, O Brother Where Art Thou?) The Burning though not groundbreaking is still an enjoyable Slasher film with plenty of sexy and gore to satisfy the hardened Horror fan.

• AJ V

  
  A boring, predictable, poorly made summer camp slasher movie with old teenagers. I didn't care for it.

• Cassandra M

  
  AddOne of the seemingly endless films to be 'Banned' by the British Board of Film Classification in the mid 1980's, "The Burning" has managed to find itself back on British shelves in the presumably less censorship-dominated 1990's. Or maybe not. For,… More
  AddOne of the seemingly endless films to be 'Banned' by the British Board of Film Classification in the mid 1980's, "The Burning" has managed to find itself back on British shelves in the presumably less censorship-dominated 1990's. Or maybe not. For, what British audiences are 'Allowed' to see if they decide to view this 'New' version of the low-budget horror is "The Burning" minus nineteen seconds. The day someone finally exterminates film censors is the day I'll be happy. Surely giving a massive warning on the films video cover, not to mention an '18' certificate is quite enough! Anyway, moaning and grumbling aside, "The Burning" is, in fact, a slightly above par horror movie, more in the "Friday the 13th" vain than any other horror movie. The story deals with a group of teenagers, who, spending the summer at a holiday camp, find themselves being stalked by a burn victim who has mysteriously come back from the dead.... Anyone whose even remotely familiar with the conventions of slasher films will find them everywhere in "The Burning," and there's little in the way of shocks or surprises throughout the film. Thanks to the censors, the nastiness and gore isn't as nasty or as gory as it should be (Which, to a degree, greatly affects the movies impact), but, there's no denying that the boat scene alone is worth seeing this movie for - Using some top notch editing and clever point-of-view shots, director Tony Maylam has created a horror movie scene which surely must register up there with some of the all time classic moments - It really is quite exceptionally tense and frightening. The acting isn't too good, no, but that's sort of become a slasher convention in itself, and the final showdown is as predictable and silly as much of the film. Even so, there's no denying that "Thr Burning" is pretty well made, and, to be fair, considering nearly twenty years have now passed since its production, time hasn't taken its toll too badly either. It's certainly a better slasher movie than "Scream," and, needless to say, many of the big budget horror pictures coming out in the cinemas nowadays.

• Creep F

  
  Just as good as the original Friday the 13th, IF not better. The Burning is both funny and pretty gory. And for what it's worth it has some pretty descent acting and characters we actually care about. The Burning is one of the best teen-slashers from the 80's. I'm… More
  Just as good as the original Friday the 13th, IF not better. The Burning is both funny and pretty gory. And for what it's worth it has some pretty descent acting and characters we actually care about. The Burning is one of the best teen-slashers from the 80's. I'm surprised this didn't spawn about 800 sequels. But hopefully a remake one day...one that doesn't suck! <a href="http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/HorrorQf/?action=view&current=TB81.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/HorrorQf/TB81.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

• David L

  
  Some Spoilers Here********************************************************* 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… More
  Some Spoilers Here********************************************************* 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 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 DVD.

• Brian D

  
  Great slasher picture form the great 1980's

• Steve K

  
  Didn't quite live up to it's hype as the great, grotesque slasher film that no one has ever seen. Still, viewed through the eyes of 1981, I can see how that reputation grew. Fun to see early roles for Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, and especially Holly Hunter.

• Dr Blood  

  
  If you like Freddy, Jason, The Shape etc. then you'll love this! Gory and sometimes sickening, but always effective.

• Sylvester K

  
  It's a simple but effective slasher classic, possibly one of the most underrated slasher of the beginning of the 80s, acting wise it's not too bad and direction wise is absolutely brilliant. Although it may be campy but it's surely fun.

• Quinto W

  
  The script is at times ridiculously terrible, but it's saved by the fact that the characters themselves are smart; when a character disappears, people notice it, they freak out, realize they are in danger and act accordingly. Truly, though, the film belongs to Tom Savini, who… More
  The script is at times ridiculously terrible, but it's saved by the fact that the characters themselves are smart; when a character disappears, people notice it, they freak out, realize they are in danger and act accordingly. Truly, though, the film belongs to Tom Savini, who created some wonderful gore.

• Jason R

  
  Written by a young Harvey Weinstein (co-founder of Miramax) and starring a very young cast of future stars including Fisher Stevens (Hackers), Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), and Holly Hunter (Home for the Holidays), and to add the cherry on this little horror treat The Burning features… More
  Written by a young Harvey Weinstein (co-founder of Miramax) and starring a very young cast of future stars including Fisher Stevens (Hackers), Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), and Holly Hunter (Home for the Holidays), and to add the cherry on this little horror treat The Burning features special effects by Tom Savini. This was really a great movie and was a real treat to see these great young talents on the verge of finding success.

• Patrick D

  
  As slasher film go, this was a great one. Now I am saying maybe because I have just seen the uncut version, and the one before probably had to cut some gore, but still this is a goody. Tom Savini does the horror effects so you know you're in for something. One of the great things… More
  As slasher film go, this was a great one. Now I am saying maybe because I have just seen the uncut version, and the one before probably had to cut some gore, but still this is a goody. Tom Savini does the horror effects so you know you're in for something. One of the great things about this film is seeing Jason Alexander and Fisher Stevens (you know the guy from Hackers and the Super Mario Bros. film) as late teens. Also the original Theatrical Trailer features the "DON'T" premise that Edgar Wright borrows for his Grindhouse Trailer in the Grindhouse film.

• John M

  
  Friday the 13th without the suspense and scares. Watchable but slightly silly.

Read all 18 featured audience ratings