The Burning (1981)
The Burning is an American slasher film from 1981 directed by Tony Maylam, and starring Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua, and Lou David.
Plot
One night, five campers of the Camp Blackfoot decide to play a prank on the caretaker Cropsy.
however, the joke goes wrong and Cropsy is totally burned.
Five years later, he is discharged from the hospital deformed like a monster and immediately after he kills a prostitute using a pair of scissors. Then he heads to the Camp Stonewater and begins a crime spree, killing counselors and campers.
Notable scenes
The Boat scene
Making of the Burning
The concept of the film (originally scripted as “The Cropsy Maniac”) is based on a campfire story told at summer camps in and around New Jersey and upstate New York. The story is still in circulation and is also the basis for the documentary Cropsey (2009), though this film is not referenced in the documentary.
Tom Savini turned down “Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)” to work on this.
Tom Savini was not particularly happy with Cropsy’s burn make-up as he was only given three days to work on it.
To create Cropsy’s distorted POV shots, the cinematographer rubbed Vaseline on the outside edges of the camera lens.
The film’s composer, Rick Wakeman, was originally offered a percentage of whatever profits the film made but he had decided to opt for a fee instead as he felt the film had no chance of being successful. The film ended up being the biggest grossing horror movie in Japan.
Nice to know
The wardrobe of the film is mostly the actual wardrobe of the cast. There was rarely a costume-person on set.
The shot of Cropsy’s legs kicking wildly in the fire was actually portrayed by Tom Savini.
The film’s climax was shot at the ruins of an abandoned copper mine that the production team found.
Director Tony Maylam said there was much more footage shot of the Cropsy killer for the film but he decided to cut back coverage on the killer to keep Cropsy more frightening on screen.
Actors had trouble holding up the garden sheers to the liking of director Tony Maylam, so in a lot of the scenes in which costumed Cropsy kills (most notably the infamous raft scene), he played the killer himself.
Most of the night scenes in the woods were shot day-for-night. The only exception are the campfire scenes which actually were shot at night.
According to director Tony Maylam the reason the film’s finale didn’t take place in a cave, as it was originally supposed to, was due to the fact that the cave where it was going to be shot was full of bats. Tom Savini also said another cave that was scouted for the film collapsed just after it had been surveyed.
This is the film that launched the careers of acclaimed producers Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein. Their mother Miriam Weinstein is also a pre-production assistant on the film. This production allegedly also kicked off Harvey’s decades-long streak of sexual misdemeanors in the movie industry, when he reportedly exposed himself to a female intern and asked her for a massage.
It was director Tony Maylam who chose garden shears as Cropsy’s weapon of choice.
This film, which has a similar story-line to Friday the 13th (1980)
Our view on The Burning
The Burning has the great fortune of being a product of the early 80’s slasher fest that greeted audiences.
The Tom Savini gore effects do not disappoint. Keep in mind that this is 1981 and digital effects have improved horror gore somewhat but this is pretty impressive stuff. Exploitflix must see!
