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Jason reviews The Burning

Made during the cash-in period of the early 80s, when everyone wanted another Friday the 13th or Halloween, comes this little-seen slasher film with effect by the great Tom Savini. How does it stack up? Stick with me!

A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement.

That camp caretaker is Cropsey, a real urban legend in upstate New York who was also the focus of a documentary we reviewed back on Season Two. Granted, the makers of The Burning use the connection loosely. This isn't art, it's a slasher movie. But at least they tried.

Take any one of the Friday the 13th films and you've got the plot for The Burning. Hot chicks and horny guys? Check. Midnight swims in the nude? Check. Sex in the woods? Check. Boobies? Check. Bloody murders? Check. 

I'm not complaining. This is standard stuff, but the kills are well handled and bloody. My favourite sequence is the slaughter of five people on a raft. It's great stuff, and messy. And who doesn't like boobs? The Burning knows it's audience. Credit Mirimax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein for that. This was the Oscar winners' first flick.

As far as I'm concerned, The Burning is a decent way to kill a Sunday night over a few beers. If you've seen one slasher movie, you've seen them all. But The Burning certainly isn't the worst. A Bad from me.

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