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Overall Rating : 8/10
Directed By : Tony Maylam
Brian Matthews
Leah Ayres (Bloodsport)
Brian Backer (Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
Jason Alexander (Seinfeld (TV) )
Supplied By : Fox Home Video
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : September. 24, 2007
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| PLOT Cropsy, a summer camp caretaker, is horribly disfigured by fire after a teenage prank goes awry. Years later, he emerges from the burn ward hell-bent on vengeance on a new batch of hormone-driven campers with an oversized pair of garden shears. |
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| THE REVIEW In THE BURNING, terror strikes the campgrounds of Camp Blackfoot, when a group of obnoxious campers decide to play a prank, on the camp's caregiver, Cropsy. Cropsy always gave the campers the creeps, so they eventually plan a prank to scare him a little. As fate would have it, the prank goes wrong and the result is that the unsuspecting caregiver catches fire. Badly burned Cropsy would spend 5 years in an intensive care unit, undergoing many skin graft operations that would fail. The Doctor's seeing that nothing could be done for him, release him, to live the rest of his life with hideous scars - what they don't know is that all of the torment and anguish he has gone through over the years, has planted seeds of revenge in his mind. He gets out and makes his way to a nearby camp in which Todd, one of the campers responsible for his accident, is now a counselor. Armed with a giant pair of garden shears, he plans to kill every camper that crosses his path - who will stop Cropsy? THE BURNING is actually one of my favorite slasher films, and in my opinion I think it is one of the best slashers of all time, let alone one of the most sought-after. For years since it's initial release, availability of this film in the states had been scarce, leaving fans outside of Europe hunting down expensive copies or acquiring bootlegs in some way. Well whatever way they got them, they had to settle for less than stellar quality, leaving the ones whom liked it desiring more. Well, thanks to FOX, this MGM release has finally made it's region 1 debut, and everything I am reading about people not being able to find it in stores, tells me that everyone else is a "happy camper" (pun intended), just as I am. First thing's first, people, who are always quick to find something wrong with just about every film, always assume that THE BURNING is a "rip off" FRIDAY THE 13TH - actually that's not true. THE BURNING was actually in production before FRIDAY THE 13th and the filmmakers actually credit themselves with having thought up the camp slasher first. It was merely a matter of getting the film shot and everything - nevertheless when it was, it was buried by a film series with more promotional backing. This was actually the first film ever by Miramax, and studio heads Bob and Harvey Weinstein(it was co-written by Harvey), and the funny thing is that the unavailability of the film may also stem from their desire to hide this film, for whatever unknown reason that may be(I have always wondered about this). Sure the Weinsteins are now more successful than ever with their operation of Dimension Films and Genius products, but in my opinion, THE BURNING is nothing to be ashamed of. After all there are far worse films out there that kick-started the careers of many. Story-wise, THE BURNING, is your typical camp slasher/teen killing plot. The victim of the prank returns 5 years later to a new camp near the site of the original accident(that left him scarred and badly burned), in which one of the campers responsible is now a counselor. He hacks his way through campers and counselors alike, wielding a pair of giant(and sharp) garden shears, but that is not all that this film offers. When I saw this film for the first time, I was surprised by the film's amount of character development. It seems that all of the characters were fleshed out, and unlike many slashers, the characters didn't seem to be there for only one thing, and that's to die. As much as we like good character development(don't we?), that's not why this film became highly sought after over the years, the main reason is the gore in the film. Helming the gory duties was effects guru Tom Savini. Savini whom actually turned down FRIDAY THE 13th PART 2 to do THE BURNING, from his interview included as a special feature on this disc, he really seemed to enjoy himself on the film and speaks highly of the experience, The gore would also show the fun had on set, as it's really creative and sometimes brutal - The most infamous scene is the "raft scene" in which Cropsy ambushes several campers whom are all rafting killing several campers in one confined location(I love the severed fingers effect!) Overall, THE BURNING is one camp slasher a Horror fan won't soon forget after seeing it, as it has many things that are memorable - such as the great gore effects and early film roles of some of the film's stars who later went on to become more well known(Fisher Stevens, Holly Hunter, and Jason Alexander [with hair] - making his film debut), |
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| GORE
METER 7/10 Not the goriest film i've seen but it's highly effective, and arguably one of the most memorable when it comes to it's gore. We have various stabbings via the gardening shears, slashings, severed fingers and so on.....great early work by Tom Savini |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 5/10 The score was kind of nostalgic, as it is your typical early slasher score. scores these days, just don't sound like they used to. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM As I said, I love this film, it is a film that never seems to grow old, no matter how many times you see it - i'm really glad to now have a proper copy of this greatly underrated slasher gem. Great gore, fun story, it has just about everything needed to please almost any Horror fan.....I highly recommend! |
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