THE BURNING (1981)

[Scully1888]

I just rented this movie, knowing nothing about it other than the fact that it was banned in the UK for quite a while, and only just got re-released in October 2000. I was expecting a lot of cheesy acting and extreme gore and nudity, so geting 2 out of 3 (the gore and nudity) certainly wasn't bad.
Directed by Tony Maylem, scored by Rick Wakeman, starring Holly Hunter and with excellent special effects by the genius that is Tom Savini, I should have guessed this was going to be pretty sweet. As it is, this is the best "slasher" movie I've seen, if you don't count Nightmare On Elm Street as a slasher movie, and if you count the fact that I haven't seen Friday The 13th yet.
Some classic finger-chopping is the order of the day here!

[pizowell]

Scully you are obviously a smart man and a fan of the slasher sub-genre. The Burning is a great underground slasher that I've been trying to raise awareness in general for. Glad you liked it and keep loving slash.

[The Prowler]

I agree this is one of the most underrated slashers to the public of all time. Most people have not even heard of the movie outside of horror fans. I would have to rank this one with The Prowler as one of the more well made slashers that was simply forgotten by the public. This movie had all of the right ingredients with the music, gore, acting, etc. I cannot get enough of this flick.

[Elgyn]

I thought this movie was alright....but it`s certainly no "Sleepaway Camp"! I really liked the 'raft surprise' scene though, THAT was really cool! Also, Jason Alexander from "Seinfeld" was in it too.

[The Undertaker]

I saw it but couldn't really enjoy it becayse of all those DAMN CUTS!!!!

I hear there's an uncut out there somewhere. I also heard that the raft scene in it's entirity is one of the best scenes in all of slasherdom.

Even with the cuts, I still liked it. I can't say it's the best slasher flick I've seen, but it's definately one of the classics. Friday the 13th was the best camp slasher flick ever, but I'm torn between this movie and Sleepaway Camp over which one gets the runner-up.

[Scully1888]

Are you from America, Undertaker?
I'm from the UK, and the uncut version was just recently released here, so ifyou live in the UK you can get it from some video rental stores.

[jason13th]

good backwoods slasher but only if you own the uncut version.
it is a classic and the raft scene is really worth seeing !!
Savini is great !! his FX are convincing!

[andy13]

I'M FROM THE UK, AND FOR MY 14th BIRTHDAY LAST YEAR, I GOT THE BURNING, UK CUT VERSION BY VIPCO. AND I DON'T SEE Y EVERYONE HAS TO MENTION THE GORE ALL THE TIME, AS THE FILM WORKS JUST AS WELL WITHOUT IT.
IT IS VERY CREEPY, SCARY, SHOCKING, HORRIFYING AND IS ABSOLUTELY GREAT.
IT ALSO INCLUDES MY BEST JUMPSCENE EVA.......
WHERE THE MAIN GIRL, MICHELLE, GOES OVER TO THE RAFT, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIVER, AN ARM FALLS OFF, SHE PULLS IT AND U FIND OUT IT IS AMPUTATED. THEN A BODY COMES UP OUT THE WATER. THE FACT THIS HAPPENED IN THE DAYTIME, AS DID A HELL OF A LOT OF THE FLICK, MADE IT SCARIER.
I LIKE THIS FILM ALOT, AND IT PROVED TO ME THAT A MOVIE NEEDS SOMETHING MORE THAN GORE TO WORK...........

[The Undertaker]

Yeah Scully, I'm from America.

[TooL]

I can't wait to see it..I'll hunt it down /ubb/smile.gif

[Jo-Jo]

I really liked this film, but the kill scenes looked a little cheesy, but what do you want for 1980? The only major gripe I had about the film was the vaseline around the rim of the lense when you saw the killer's POV. I thought it was just silly. I understand Cropsy was distorted because of the fire, but the vaseline on the lens just made me laugh.

I must say I enjoyed the kills though. They happened during the day when they would be discovered, thus creating more victims. it goes against what happens in the post modern slashers and is done the RIGHT way.