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Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua, Jason Alexander ... see more see more... , Ned Eisenberg , Carrick Glenn , Carolyn Houlihan , Fisher Stevens , Lou David , Holly Hunter , Mansoor Najeeullah , Bonnie Deroski , Bruce Kluger , Jerry McGee

Apart from early appearances by Jason Alexander and Holly Hunter, an interesting score by Rick Wakeman, and some typically effective work by effects icon Tom Savini, this slasher film is also among th... read more read more...e more frightening of its kind. The plot concerns a summer-camp caretaker named Cropsy (Lou David) who is horribly burned by mischievous teen campers during a botched practical joke. Years later, he leaves the hospital as a disfigured gloppy mess with an axe (actually, hedgeclippers) to grind. After dispatching a local prostitute, Cropsy heads out to the wilderness to terrorize a group of campers. They're the usual bunch of horny, obnoxious teenagers, but there are some interesting performances by Larry Joshua as a mean-spirited bully and Brian Backer (of Fast Times at Ridgemont High) as a put-upon nerd. The campers visit an island and, in a scene heavily cut by the ratings board prior to release, several of them die in a horrifying mass slaughter aboard a boat. The remaining teens are brutally picked off one by one until Cropsy is finally defeated. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

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59% liked it

5,856 ratings

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Tony Maylam

Release Date: January 1, 1981

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DVD Release Date: September 11, 2007

Stats: 535 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (535)

  • blkbomb
    January 22, 2012
    blkbomb
    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 ha... read moreve 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.
  • fb500439213
    October 12, 2011
    fb500439213
    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 ... read moreis 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.
  • ceWEBrity
    April 6, 2011
    ceWEBrity
    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 shak... read morey, 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.
  • bbcfloridabound
    March 1, 2011
    bbcfloridabound
    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... read more. 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.
  • FilmFanatik
    January 13, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    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... read more 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.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    January 12, 2011
    TheDudeLebowski65
    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 vi... read moreolently 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.
  • ajv2688
    January 10, 2011
    ajv2688
    A boring, predictable, poorly made summer camp slasher movie with old teenagers. I didn't care for it.
  • matertenebraum
    November 12, 2010
    matertenebraum
    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 '... read moreAllowed' 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.
  • creepfreak
    October 14, 2010
    creepfreak
    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 ... read moredidn't spawn about 800 sequels. But hopefully a remake one day...one that doesn't suck!

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  • cancercapricorn2002
    April 12, 2008
    cancercapricorn2002
    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 persecuto... read morers 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.

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Critic Reviews

Tim Brayton
August 17, 2009
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

One of the unexpected horror gems of the 1980s. Full Review

Dustin Putman
October 15, 2008
Dustin Putman, DustinPutman.com

One of the more inspired early-'80s slasher pics. Full Review

Scott Weinberg
October 7, 2007
Scott Weinberg, FEARnet

The body count is admirably high, the splat comes fast and furious, and the whole dang formula feels strangely comfortable after all these years. Full Review

Rob Gonsalves
August 11, 2007
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com

It's a legitimately ugly movie; it gets under your skin. Full Review

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  • What movie did Tom Savini decide to do the special fx make-up on instead of Friday the 13th part 2?  Answer »
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