I have long seen the poster for The Burning and never taken the time to watch it. Having it recommended to me was all the motivation I needed to finally do so. While not the best camp horror movie, it certainly isn’t the worst.
In the late 70’s a group of camp kids are planning to play a prank on the mean grounds keeper of their camp ground. In the middle of the night they sneak into his place and scare him with a skull candle. Unfortunately it scares him so severely that he accidentally sets his cabin and himself on fire. He is horribly burned and put in the hospital. When he is let out months later, he sets out for the camp, and revenge.
Years later at camp Stonewater, the kids are just starting to get used to being in the woods. One group in particular is getting ready to set out on a canoe trip. As the kids paddle down the river to their destination, they have no idea that they are headed for disaster. The night of their arrival, the camp counselor tells a story about the grounds keeper, and him killing and eating children. One by one the children are picked off. Cropsey, the gounds keeper, systematically kills the bulk of the kids including a young Fisher Stevens. A few kids manage to get away (including a young Jason Alexander) and get help. The fight is taken directly to Cropsey in his home, presumably.
The Burning is a great example of 80’s horror that actually works. It never falls over the line and becomes overly campy, though there is a bit of humor to be found. It’s probably most notable for Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens and Oscar winner Holly Hunter all making their motion picture debuts in this film. It’s bloody, and the special effects are really good, care of Tom Savini. Savini turned down the opportunity to do Friday the 13th part 2 to do The Burning, and The Burning is a better film because of that fact.
Much like most, if not all horror movies, The Burning suffers from predictability. However, if you are a true fan of horror, this doesn’t really detract from the movie as a whole. Characters are portrayed well enough and never get overly dopey, though that would be easy to do. The exception being the “stinger” at the end of the movie. It was pretty dumb, but that was the style at the time. The Burning is based on a lot of urban legends like almost all horror movies, but it never becomes to fantastical as to not be at least slightly plausible If you, like me, have never seen it, it’s totally worth watching. I just can’t get over how young Fisher Stevens and Jason Alexander look.
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