In 1978 a little movie called Halloween was unleashed onto the world and it changed the face of horror as we know it. Though there were movies like it in the past, Halloween defined the slasher film and resulted in a bevy of copycats, some good, most horrible. In 1980, the slasher went to summer camp and blended two popular sub-genres of the time with Friday the 13th, and even more copycats were produced. The Burning, which was released in 1981, happens to be one of the few solid clones to be released during this time and stands as a cult classic in addition to being a well crafted, if not totally inspired slasher.
The biggest thing to note about The Burning is the future stars featured in its cast. There’s Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter, Fisher Stevens, Ned Eisenberg, and Brian Backer. Some of them are nearly unrecognizable as they look so young and this is most of their feature debuts. It was an overall joy to see George Costanza running from a disfigured serial killer as well.
The film was written in part by Bob and Harvey Weinstein and featured makeup effects by the legendary Tom Savini. It was directed by Tony Maylam, however this was probably his most recognizable film.
Like many films like this, it’s mainly split in two parts. The first half is a summer camp movie where we see the kids swimming canoeing, and engaging in pre-marital sex with each other. Then about halfway through the killer shows up and the bloodbath ensues.
The bulk of its success should be credited to Tom Savini for once again setting the bar for some gloriously graphic and bloody death sequences. The killer’s schtick happens to be some gardening shears, so you can imagine the fun things he can do with that.
Though it is essentially a Friday the 13th clone, and it doesn’t have a great twist at the end like Friday or something like Sleepaway Camp, The Burning is still a fun, campy, 80s gorefest. If that wasn’t enough to sell you, there is a girl named Tiger who wears a shirt with a tiger on it…so there’s that.
