Forgotten Horror Spotlight - The Burning (1981)

Welcome back readers! Continuing my spotlight on the most overlooked horror films, I bring you this little baby. Some of you may remember the Video Nasty List from days past. Essentially, whenever a movie was thought to be too violent or graphic it would inevitably be banned in certain areas. They would also land on this list. Instead of discouraging us genre fans, however, it simply intrigued us more. In essence, these films would be the old school equivalenet of Human Centipede or A Serbian Film. So in honor of the video nasty list, I bring you The Burning!!

The Burning (1981) The premise to this one may sound familiar, but don't let that discourage you. A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement. 


Now I know that this may sound like a Friday the 13th ripoff, but I assure you that it is not. For starters, only about fifteen minutes take place at an actual camp. The vast majority takes place on a canoe trip for the camp seniors. Also, this movie gives us a bit more character development making us care about certain characters.

Sure, there are the stereotypes; the bully, the do gooding leader, the hot girl, etc but it wouldn't be a slasher without them!

The acting here is actually pretty tight. There's some cheesy dialogue but not nearly as much as you'd expect. Also, there's a very young Jason Alexander who plays his role perfectly (and looks mighty odd with a full head of hair, I might add.) He provides a much needed realism and balances the comedy expertly.

Now here's the real selling point: the gore is done by none other than horror maestro Tom Savini. He's known for his gross out realistic f/x and this movie does not break tradition. Also, the killer is never fully seen until the final minutes of the movie and this proves to be rather effective. When you consider that this movie is over thirty years old, the visuals and makeup, particularly on the villain hold up very well.

There's the inclusion of a slightly obvious twist at the end but it actually ties things together nicely as opposed to detracting from the film. The violence is also much higher than would be expected from a film made in this time. I certainly don't think that it should have been on the video nasty list but it is indeed a worthy slasher. This is one of those rare movies that gets lumped in with the throwaway slasher knockoffs when it really shouldn't. It took a unique approach to the "camp horror" subgenre and upped the anty. We get a lot of tense moments, not many cheap pop scares and a nice amount of POV from the killers perspective. Also, the majority of this film takes place during the daylight which is a welcome change from the typical slasher formula.

Overall, this is one not to be missed. Any horror fan, particularly slasher fans (of which I am one) need to check this out. This movie rightfully deserves its place on the shelf alongside more respected fare such as Friday the 13th and Nightmare On Elm Street. So do yourselves the favor and find this movie! This certainly stands out amongst the forgotten and overlooked and it deserves so much better. Help keep it alive!

Highlight Scene(s): The infamous raft scene is certainly intense. It actually earned the movie it's place on the Nasty List. While I don't find it to be that insane, it's memorable nonetheless. I'll refrain from saying anything more as I don't want to spoil anything.

The showdown in which Cropsy is finally revealed is so built up to that it really delivers. What could have been cheesy was pulled off rather well and offers a nice ending to the picture. Be sure to stay tuned for the very next scene as it sets up what could have been a really cool sequel.