Weekly Film Rec: The Burning

Last year, the Hollywood Theatre screened the documentary Cropsey (I did an interview with director Joshua Zeman and he answered my questions far better than the questions deserved), which juxtaposes the stories of five missing children and their would be captor and the urban legend of Cropsey. Zeman was in attendance for some of the screenings and had a signed poster giveaway for anyone who knew the horror film that featured a man named Cropsey as the killer. I consider myself to be well-versed in the areas of horror, but I must confess, I had no idea. The answer was this week's recommendation: The Burning.

For all intents and purposes, The Burning is a standard slasher film, but there are several points of interest to set it apart from the rest. It features Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter and Fisher Stevens (whose name you may not recognize, but you've seen before). The makeup effects are done by Tom Savini. And of course, Harvey and Bob Weinstein (you know, the guys who founded Mirimax) came up with the story and wrote the screenplay, respectively.

The Burning came fast on the heels of Friday the 13th, itself a knockoff of Halloween (to be fair, The Burning's script was apparently written before the release of Friday the 13th... one of those Antz/A Bug's Life or Armageddon/Deep Impact moments, I guess), but aside from being set at a summer camp, very little reminds one of the other. For starters, much of the action in The Burning takes place in the day time. Also, The Burning seems to me to be the more ruthless of the films (which seems odd to say about a series that would eventually place about a penny's worth on human lives). I will point you to the raft scene for an example of this.

It always interests me seeing popular actors in their early films. Much like Tom Hanks in He Knows You're Alone, Jason Alexander is incredibly charismatic and likable. Just watching him in The Burning you understand why he's had such a successful career.

I was legitimately surprised at how much I enjoyed The Burning. It's your basic slasher, but it's your basic slasher done well with a minimum "don't do that!" moments.