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The
Burning Directed by Tony Maylam Screenplay by Peter Lawrence and Bob Weinstein Starring
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A group of summer camp kids play a prank on the caretaker named Cropsy (Lou David) by placing a skull with maggots next to his bed and lighting it on fire. Unfortunately Cropsy wakes in a panic, accidently knocks the skull over causing his bed and himself to catch on fire. After getting treatment for five years in the hospital, Cropsy is released. As you may guess, he’s not too happy about what’s happened to him so he heads back to the wooded area where THE BURNING happened to extract revenge with hedge clippers. One of the neat little facts about the movie was it was the film debut for actors Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens and Holly Hunter. Tom Savini supplies the special makeup and effects, which are some of the best of his long and distinguished career. The raft scene is notorious and rightful so. Savini gets the opportunity to run with his blood and gore effects, all of which still holds up today. I actually quite like his design for Cropsy. I’ll admit I sculptured the same design when I was in high school. Rick Wakeman’s keyboard driven score is impressive and is very important to the film’s ability to scare you and at the same time put a smile on your face. See my review of his score in more detail in my Halloween music review section. The locations in and around Buffalo, New York are some of the best ever captured for a wooded horror film. The rocky cliffs next to the water and very unique and something I never forgot about after seeing this film. I’m very thankful to finally see this film go on DVD. I saw the film the first time on cable back in 1983 and hadn’t seen it since. MGM/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment does a great job with the transfer and they get the most out of the mono mix. But more than that, I loved the two special features: “Blood ‘n’ Fire Memories” an excellent 20-minute sit down with Tom Savini, who candidly remembered the shoot and some incredible details. One of the most interesting recollections was when Savini described when he got to his hotel room, he noticed that the ceiling was full of spiders. He requested another room, which ended up having less spiders. I didn’t realize Buffalo, New York was bustling with the eight-legged little friends. Director Tony Malam and Film Journalist Alan Jones supply the Commentary track. Malam is pretty subdued and tells it like it was. He has nothing bad to say about the Weinstein brothers and he’s on a pretty even keel about how the movie turned out. He’s not ashamed or too over excited, which made for a pretty level handed listen. Sometimes I get sick of the common gushing you hear from more inexperienced filmmakers, so I found this Commentary pleasant to listen to. THE BURNING is underrated and worth checking out.
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