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Post by Mike Morbid on Aug 15, 2017 19:34:39 GMT -5
Okay, I have to ask. Why would someone keep an unsealed container of gasoline next to their bed?
For the villain of The Burning, Cropsy, that turns out to be a rather costly mistake. Some of the kids at his camp aren’t too fond of him and they decide to pull a prank. One that involves fire. Things quickly get out of hand, and Cropsy is rather steamed about it. Five years in a burn ward would get me rather upset too. Hospital food portions are not exactly generous.
Meanwhile, back at the camp, things are quite busy. I only went camping once as a kid, but that might have been a mistake. Apparently it is not unusual for female camp counsellors to play baseball in their underwear and bikinis.
One of the guys, I’m not sure if he was a counsellor or one of the attendees, was familiar. I figured he was just one of those guys who was a frequent actor in 80s slashers. When I looked up the movie later I was quite surprised to find out he was Jason Alexander. In just nine years he went from a curly haired typical teen to a middle-aged balding lawyer in Pretty Woman. The eighties must have been hard on him.
Once we are at the camp, it takes a while for any more carnage to occur. The movie actually takes a fair bit of time to develop the characters. A lot of attention is focused on Alfred. I think he is supposed to be the sympathetic loser, but I wasn’t endeared to him when the first thing he does is sneak into the lady’s shower to get himself an eyeful. I am reasonably sure that is not the sort of thing a woman is fond of, and that it can have legal consequences. He gets a stern talking to and that is about it.
Anyways, when we get to the killing it is fairly nasty. The weapon of choice is a pair of garden shears. We get several shots of Cropsy standing in the sun so that you can’t see him clearly, holding the scissors above his head right before he uses them. The imagery is effective. I get the impression that he isn’t all that strong, but he makes up for it with persistence and enthusiasm.
Some of the victims don’t seem to have very strong survival instincts. There is one scene where he surprises about six of them and goes to work. He is quick, but not that quick. At least half of them could have tried to get away, but they just sit there screaming and waiting for their turn. This tactic might have worked if I was the maniac, as I would have hesitated and wondered if they were just that stupid or if they know something I don’t. However, they are just that stupid, and Cropsy takes advantage of it.
Eventually we get to the big showdown, involving ol’ Crop, Alfred and the dashing hero. We find out that the good guy isn’t as squeaky clean as he appears, though. Usually this would mean doom for a hero. Does it here? Well, you’ll just have to watch and see for yourself.
While it wasn’t successful at the box office this movie now has cult status. I thought it was a decent slasher, and I can see how some people would be enamoured with it. There were some good kills and more story than you would expect. I’ve seen so many of these movies that I wasn’t blown away by it, but it did its job. I’ll give it a passing grade and a crimson star.
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Post by endo on Aug 16, 2017 17:36:03 GMT -5
I've seen this movie, but could never remember the name of it. Good movie from what I remember, now that I know the name I may check it out again. Awesome review!!
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Post by Mike Morbid on Aug 16, 2017 18:36:21 GMT -5
If you don't mind watching on YouTube it is there.
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Post by endo on Aug 16, 2017 19:53:33 GMT -5
No issue with that at all, thanks.
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Post by Jason on Aug 20, 2017 13:58:35 GMT -5
Likely a top ten slasher flick.
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Post by Smeets on Aug 20, 2017 17:03:20 GMT -5
nice review - very informative and has nice balance to it. i prob won't see it from your review. i think people should find there fav cult/slasher films and just re-watch it forever. there's just so many and they are all the same. having said that, we won't find them if we don't watch. got to go through the misses to get the hits. i thought the serpent and the rainbow was gonna blow my mind. nope, but now i know.
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Post by peteyt on Oct 28, 2020 20:14:12 GMT -5
I know this is an old post but finally saw it today. Not a bad film although I found it takes a while to get going. It seems they wanted to spend time developing the campers but I feel they could have cut quite a bit and the pacing would be better. There's quite a few moments building up where you think someone is going to die but they don't e.g. its not the killer and these do kind of work just needs trimmed a bit.
I found the killings decent. The raft scene was probably one of the best with a lot of people being killed quickly although like the OP said in the time it took to kill them all you'd have thought one would have tried to fight back. Surprised the killer also kept his balance. I liked the shots with the garden shears in the air, sun catching it.
Tom Savini does the effects and they are okay but not my favorites of his. I liked them, they have a kind of cheesy feel sometimes that you do get with 80s films that I do like. The film also feels a lot like Friday the 13th but then horror films often rip each other off. I did read somewhere that although the film came out around the same time of Friday the 13th part 2 apparently the story was written even before the first one but not sure if this is true.
An okay film. Nothing amazing but still entertaining. It's a shame it didn't do well as if it did I wouldn't be surprised if it would have at least one sequel and maybe a franchise
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Post by gorepolice on Oct 31, 2020 3:30:35 GMT -5
I was late to the game on seeing this one, but I liked it a lot. The effects are awesome, and it was nice to see a movie where you actually care for a decent amount of the characters
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