Bloodtype Online

    Following the success of John Carpenter's classic 1978 film "Halloween" the slasher craze was officially going to be the new calling card of the horror film.   "Halloween" managed to be (until The Blair Witch Project in 1998) the most successful independent horror film of all time.  Considering that most horror films at the time were made on an independent basis this would be their path to success, or at least most of them thought it would be.   Unfortunately what this craze did was practically ruin horror films by the 1990's as the MPAA was weighing down heavily on filmmakers, and the fact that the slasher film had totally run it's course at the time.   But before all of that happened there were a lot of good to great slasher flicks to come out of the era that in my opinion overshadow all of the crap that was made during the period.   "The Burning" would be one of the great ones, and I'm going to tell you why.

    "The Burning" is the story of a prank gone wrong….horribly wrong.  A group of teens at the summer camp decide that they were going to play a prank on Cropsy who happens to be the camps groundkeeper.   The prank itself was just to scare Cropsy, but instead they managed to seriously burn the man almost killing him.  Eventually he would be released back into functioning society, but as that happens so does a grizzly killing spree at the camp where the prank originally took place.  

    From the opening credits this movie gives me chills.  There is actually a lot here that the film itself doesn't get enough credit for.   As far as the story itself goes it's actually a much smarter concept than what you see in the much more widely known Friday the 13th films.   The reason why I bring that up is because you always here how this is a cheap Friday knock off, but I personally never saw it that way.  Sure, there are comparables but the fact of the matter is that the script is better, the characters are better, and the gore in the film is basically perfect with Tom Savini doing the effects when he was the go to guy for such things.   But the thing that makes the film so effective is the fact that you are getting to know all of the characters as the movie goes on.  It's not setup in anyway to make you root for the killer, even though anyone would want him to get revenge for what happened to him.   It's a smart way of going about things and "The Burning" unfortunately falls in with the other "brainless" stuff of that time period.  It really deserved better than to be classified as such but hopefully with this DVD release more people get to discover the film for the first time.

    One of the things that is so fascinating about "The Burning" is the people involved in the production itself.  First off this is the first film that Hollywood big-wig's Bob and Harvey Weinstein were ever involved in.  Not only that but you have Tom Savini doing the effects, and actors like Fischer Stevens (Short Circuit), Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), and Holly Hunter (Copycat, Raising Arizona) taking part as well.   It's amazing that with so many people involved that actually made a career for themselves that someone wouldn't take advantage of this movie to get it to DVD faster.   Then again, none of those people are listed as stars of the movie on the packaging and I doubt that's a coincidence. 

    Another reason why "The Burning" deserves much more recognition would have to be the great stalk and slash kill scenes.   A lot of them are presented very much like the kill scenes in Italian Giallo films.  Those allow the tension to build during the kill scenes and the technique itself makes the movie that much more effective.   But the icing on the cake of this one is definitely Tom Savini's special effect gags.  The over the top not only makes the movie that much more memorable, but it also adds more of a mean spirit to the film which was needed in the case of the Cropsy character.  

    The brand new DVD from the people at MGM/Fox is excellent.  The film has never looked so good and watching it all cleaned up was like watching it for the first time again.   There were scenes where I could actually see what was happening compared to the old darkened VHS releases, this was slasher movie heaven.  Trust me when I tell you that the raft scene alone is enough to pick this movie up to watch it in all it's glowing deadly colors.   I found myself standing up and cheering like I was at the Super Bowl during the raft scene only to feel like I just took some really good acid or something because the colors man, the COLORS!!!!!   That blood red flowing was about as glorious of a moment that a horror fan could have, and here it is in living color!  Not only that but we are given a directors commentary with Tony Maylam and international film journalist Alan Jones, as well as a very cool 20 minute documentary with Tom Savini with his own personal footage from the movie!  

    Overall the film is a slasher film classic and needs to be rediscovered by noobies and horror fans alike.  It's a throwback to where horror cinema wasn't so watered down and full of shit.  There are kids dying, fornication, and just about everything that a movie in this day and age doesn't have the balls to do.   Director Tony Maylam made a very special movie, and now it's back again just like Cropsy after a trip to the hospital!

Rating - ***1/2

-Ed Demko