The Burning is a 1981 horror movie directed by Tony Maylam and starring Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Jason Alexander and Fisher Stevens .
The movie begins at Camp Blackfoot and some teens are setting up a prank to get back at the caretaker, Cropsy, who is not a nice guy. They plant a skull with candles inside in his shed and he freaks out and sets the place alight and burns. He runs to the river as the teens watch it all then run off and leave him. He is brought to hospital where the orderly has a look at his charred body. Cut to five years later, and he is released from hospital. The doctors tell him not to be bitter over what happened. He has to cover himself up and he meets a hooker who takes him back to her place. He freaks out and his killing spree begins...
A new group of kids are coming to Camp Stonewater. So is Cropsy who is armed with a pair of garden shears, ready to strike. There is a side story about a geek called Albert(Backer) who is a bit odd and he pisses off the jock guy Glazer and is taunted by him. The others in the group include Dave(Alexander)and Woodstock(Stevens) and camp counsellors, Todd(Matthews) and Michelle(Ayres). Alfred sees a weird face at the window and he tells the other, but they don't believe him. The kids go on a canoe trip to a creek and Cropsy is hanging around. Their canoes disappear and they are marooned. People start to disappear as Cropsy manages to kill the teens.
Some of the group make a raft and they are going to go back to the camp for help. They set off and see one of their canoes floating on the water. Cropsy is in it and when they look inside, he jumps up and kills them all in a great scene with fingers cut off and the shears in action! The others see the raft coming back with bodies on it and they panic. Todd sends them with Michelle on the raft back to the camp to call the cops. Todd is looking for Albert who is being chased by Cropsy. Albert manages to avoid Cropsy, but then gets caught. Todd hears him and goes to a shed where he finds Cropsy. It turns out that Todd was one of the kids who caused Cropsy's injuries and he wants revenge. They fight and Albert hits Cropsy with his beloved shears. Of course, Cropsy is not dead and Todd and Albert finish him off and set him alight (AGAIN!!). They head off as the cops come. The movie ends with a new group of kids telling the story of Cropsy...
This is a really great slasher. There is everything that I love here- a deranged killer, a group of disposable kids and some great kill scenes!!! I love the scene on the raft where there are bits flying everywhere!! I highly recommend this one as it is very good. This is a classic horror movie and it is a must for horror fans. I really enjoyed this and there wasn't a dull moment here, so all in all, a superior slasher from the 1980's. I will give it an 8/10.
So 80's! Slasher movies finest era. I believe I saw this in the theater. George Costanza in a horror movie, get outta here! I wish I could remember his part. You are right. This was a pretty decent flick. Then again, I miss the days of non PG 13 scares. Good review, Jigs.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan, I LOVE 80's slashers and this is one of the best ones out there. There were two other well known actors who were young in this movie- Fisher Stevens and Holly Hunter. Jason Alexander has some curls in this, so I am guessing that they are real. Who knows???!!!I love some of the scenes in this ,especially the one on the raft. That was a great scene. Who knew that garden shears would come in so handy??!!
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