Shudder Review: The Burning (1981)

Five years after being horrifically burned when a summer camp prank goes wrong, Cropsy is freed from the hospital and goes on a murderous rampage...

Slasher films.

They are a simple thing really aren't they? Find a group of characters, usually in a remote location, drop in a killer, usually with a traumatic event in their past and then let the carnage begin.

As I said, simple really.

As a format it's an easy one to replicate. In the wake of Friday The 13th, there were so many films following the same format you couldn't help but get Deja Vu watching them. Although the trend did die off over time, occasionally the format returns; Scream for example. Even films like Insidious have carefully planned set-ups, often with a jump scare ending to it,

The Burning came along in 1981, about a year after Friday The 13th. It has been accused of being a copycat. It is, but as I said, many of the slasher films copied it. But The Burning became notorious for it's brutal violence, so much so it ended up on the Video Nasties list. It did have several cuts made to it, but has been available uncut in the UK for a while now.

But in 2017 away from the controversy, how does the film look now?

Well, one thing is clear, there was actually a bit of talent involved. The film was made by Miramax, a company better known for its Oscar winning films, such as Shakespeare In Love, or The English Patient than for a film like The Burning. The film was co-written by Bob Weinstein, who with his brother Harvey runs Miramax. The director, Tony Maylam who is more of a documentary director, does a very good job, keeping the tension going throughout, creating some effective jump moments. Tom Savini's effects work, still holds up very well, with some brutal shocking deaths. In the cast there are early performances from Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens and future Oscar winner, Holly Hunter. It even has a pretty good score from Prog Rock musician, Rick Wakeman. Impressive indeed!

Although a number of death scenes are similar to those in other slasher films, there is one scene that makes this film standout; the raft massacre. In most of films of this type, the killer takes each victim one at a time. Not here though. Here he slaughters a group of them in a brutal sequence. It's no wonder this was one of the scenes trimmed by the Censors at the time.

But what is clever, is that after this scene the film deviates from most other slashers. People actually make some sensible decisions at times, the final confrontation has a rare change, being a man rather than a woman. Even the ending, which usually has a final shock, has a fun little twist instead.

There are some gripes to be had, minor ones. Some of the performances are a bit weak. A late reveal in the film wasn't needed and the make-up effect of Cropsy is a bit poor, but to be fair, Tom Savini who designed it never had enough time to work on it. However, the director makes up for it, by never actually showing Cropsy until the end.

I hadn't seen The Burning since the 80's. At the time I thought it was okay. Looking at it again, I do think it is a better film and while the format has dated, the film still holds up very well indeed.

Well worth a look if you get the chance.

Rating: 4/5

(Currently available on the horror streaming site Shudder in the UK)