A group of summer campers decide to play a trick on Cropsy, the drunken caretaker of the local lakeside dormitories, only the prank goes horribly wrong and the victim is burned beyond recognition. Five years later, a new group of campers are picked off one by one in the forest near the old site. Cropsy's back, and he's got a score to settle.
Barely a year following the release of the smash-hit slasher 'Friday The 13th', the clones began to fill up the assembly line, and in tune with the genre's trademark lack of subtlety, 'The Burning' makes little attempt to disguise its roots. The isolated world of the summer camp, a lake by any other Crystal – I mean name, and counselors murdered at the hands of a silent psychopath who was himself a victim. The characters are drawn from the same canvas as well: the tight-shirted alpha male, the aggressive misfit, the goof-ball, the sniveling weed, and the usual bevy of young women cursed by an unseen virus that eats all their clothes whenever a camera zooms in. In other words, it's a rose by any other Jason – sorry, name.
None of which will be too painful for fans of 80s slash horror, and I certainly do include myself. The film studios of the time had rightly identified a popular niche, and people like me are suckers for it. Nonetheless, comparisons with the pillars of the genre are therefore inevitable, and 'The Burning' is simply too much of the same to match its competition. The end sequence seems to invite hope that Cropsy will headline his own franchise, but Jason Voorhees had already beaten him to it, having in 1981 made his first proper appearance in 'Friday The 13th, Part II'. The source material had already cornered the market.
Put all that aside though and 'The Burning' is entertaining enough for what it is. Writer/director Tony Maylam and co-collaborator Harvey Weinstein have clearly paid close attention to the trend-setters and like the first 'Friday', are careful to build up the suspense, peppering the drama with numerous false alarms and both appreciating that they can play the Cropsy card only so many times before tedium sets in. There are welcome departures from the source material as well. Conflict between the protagonists is built up to higher levels, with Brian Backer's character Alfred (the aforementioned sniveling weed) a disconcerting loner getting on everyone's nerves, yet with classic irony, the only one to see the killer ahead of time. The setting too is slightly different, with many of the murders not taking place in and around the camp site itself.
Maylam also builds up suspense very well in certain key scenes – one involving a mysterious lone canoe reminded me so much of what would end up being a deleted scene in 'The Ring' (US) that I felt sure Gore Verbinski must have been a fan. The final reveal of Cropsy's burnt appearance is also wisely kept to the very end, especially given that the prosthetics don't quite live up to the hype – something that allowed the actor a little more facial movement would have been nice and not, I think, beyond the capabilities of the time. Full credit however, goes to Lou David, the man behind the mask, who otherwise plays a very convincing relentless killer of unsuspecting teens. Elsewhere, the practical effects are quite respectable and given that Cropsy's weapon of choice is a certain sharp gardening tool, they are if anything very restrained.
Slightly different also is keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman's synth-powered soundtrack. Having long been a fan of the Wakeman sound, the musical motifs were very recognizable, but more than that, it had the feel of a soundtrack constructed not by watching the rushes, but by producing mood music to suit different levels of drama. Either way, the polished movements of the master help to give 'The Burning' its own unique character – less about the dramatic stings of 'Friday' and more to do with simply creating a foreboding atmosphere, apart from the cheerful hyperactive banjos during a canoeing scene and occasional appearance of a Hammond organ.
Yet the true way to date a film is not by its synthesizers, but by how much hair Jason Alexander has. Even here, the fringe is retreating, but the youthful Alexander turns in a very memorable appearance here as the happy-go-lucky Dave – whether or not it's memorable because he'll one day become a certain much-loved New York neurotic is something I'll let the viewer decide.
Ultimately, 'The Burning' will not fail to disappoint fans of 80s horror. It is highly derivative and suffers therefore from the law of diminishing returns, placed in the shadow of the memorable contemporaries it unashamedly ripped off for a quick and easy profit. Then again, many will argue that 'Friday The 13th' had the same relationship with 'Halloween'. It's unoriginal, but fun, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see a remake before too long. I'll certainly be watching it.
Barely a year following the release of the smash-hit slasher 'Friday The 13th', the clones began to fill up the assembly line, and in tune with the genre's trademark lack of subtlety, 'The Burning' makes little attempt to disguise its roots. The isolated world of the summer camp, a lake by any other Crystal – I mean name, and counselors murdered at the hands of a silent psychopath who was himself a victim. The characters are drawn from the same canvas as well: the tight-shirted alpha male, the aggressive misfit, the goof-ball, the sniveling weed, and the usual bevy of young women cursed by an unseen virus that eats all their clothes whenever a camera zooms in. In other words, it's a rose by any other Jason – sorry, name.
None of which will be too painful for fans of 80s slash horror, and I certainly do include myself. The film studios of the time had rightly identified a popular niche, and people like me are suckers for it. Nonetheless, comparisons with the pillars of the genre are therefore inevitable, and 'The Burning' is simply too much of the same to match its competition. The end sequence seems to invite hope that Cropsy will headline his own franchise, but Jason Voorhees had already beaten him to it, having in 1981 made his first proper appearance in 'Friday The 13th, Part II'. The source material had already cornered the market.
Put all that aside though and 'The Burning' is entertaining enough for what it is. Writer/director Tony Maylam and co-collaborator Harvey Weinstein have clearly paid close attention to the trend-setters and like the first 'Friday', are careful to build up the suspense, peppering the drama with numerous false alarms and both appreciating that they can play the Cropsy card only so many times before tedium sets in. There are welcome departures from the source material as well. Conflict between the protagonists is built up to higher levels, with Brian Backer's character Alfred (the aforementioned sniveling weed) a disconcerting loner getting on everyone's nerves, yet with classic irony, the only one to see the killer ahead of time. The setting too is slightly different, with many of the murders not taking place in and around the camp site itself.
Maylam also builds up suspense very well in certain key scenes – one involving a mysterious lone canoe reminded me so much of what would end up being a deleted scene in 'The Ring' (US) that I felt sure Gore Verbinski must have been a fan. The final reveal of Cropsy's burnt appearance is also wisely kept to the very end, especially given that the prosthetics don't quite live up to the hype – something that allowed the actor a little more facial movement would have been nice and not, I think, beyond the capabilities of the time. Full credit however, goes to Lou David, the man behind the mask, who otherwise plays a very convincing relentless killer of unsuspecting teens. Elsewhere, the practical effects are quite respectable and given that Cropsy's weapon of choice is a certain sharp gardening tool, they are if anything very restrained.
Slightly different also is keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman's synth-powered soundtrack. Having long been a fan of the Wakeman sound, the musical motifs were very recognizable, but more than that, it had the feel of a soundtrack constructed not by watching the rushes, but by producing mood music to suit different levels of drama. Either way, the polished movements of the master help to give 'The Burning' its own unique character – less about the dramatic stings of 'Friday' and more to do with simply creating a foreboding atmosphere, apart from the cheerful hyperactive banjos during a canoeing scene and occasional appearance of a Hammond organ.
Yet the true way to date a film is not by its synthesizers, but by how much hair Jason Alexander has. Even here, the fringe is retreating, but the youthful Alexander turns in a very memorable appearance here as the happy-go-lucky Dave – whether or not it's memorable because he'll one day become a certain much-loved New York neurotic is something I'll let the viewer decide.
Ultimately, 'The Burning' will not fail to disappoint fans of 80s horror. It is highly derivative and suffers therefore from the law of diminishing returns, placed in the shadow of the memorable contemporaries it unashamedly ripped off for a quick and easy profit. Then again, many will argue that 'Friday The 13th' had the same relationship with 'Halloween'. It's unoriginal, but fun, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see a remake before too long. I'll certainly be watching it.