The Burning (Tony Maylam, 1981)

For a cheap slasher flick, The Burning surprisingly launched a number of successful careers. Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter, Fisher Stevens, and Brian Backer (best known for playing Mark "Rat" Ratner in the following year's Fast Times at Ridgemont High) appear in their first movie roles, with Ned Eisenberg making his third film appearance. Editor Jack Sholder, whose work on this film was his sole editing credit, went on to direct Alone in the Dark, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, and The Hidden. Co-screenwriter Brad Grey later became one of the most powerful agents and producers in stand-up and sketch comedy, film, and television, and his credits include Happy Gilmore, Mr. Show, The Larry Sanders Show, The Sopranos, The Departed, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

The music and special effects departments, meanwhile, snagged a couple of talented veterans. Director Tony Maylam had mostly directed concert films and sports documentaries prior to The Burning. One of those documentaries, about the Winter Olympics, featured a score from Rick Wakeman, the keyboard player from Yes. Maylam talked Wakeman into writing the music for The Burning, too. (This is a bit like if Peter Gabriel had done the score for Sleepaway Camp III or Robert Fripp had tackled Nail Gun Massacre.) Tom Savini, still in the early part of his career but with an already impressive CV, handled the blood, guts, and makeup.

Unfortunately, The Burning also kick-started the film careers of Bob and Harvey Weinstein and changed their company Miramax from being a regional distributor of concert films to an international film production and distribution company. The Weinsteins at the time were successful concert promoters in Buffalo with a strong desire to break into the big leagues of the film business. They figured a horror movie would be cheap and profitable, and they had industry connections from their recent years as film distributors. They convinced Maylam, a British director whose films they had recently distributed, to direct a slasher film inspired by the Cropsey urban legend that they would produce and co-write.

The Burning wasn't a hit in the U.S. initially but did well overseas, especially in Japan, and VHS sales were good. This gave the Weinsteins a base to slowly grow Miramax into one of the most successful independent production and distribution companies of the '90s and 2000s. They won a truckload of Oscars and achieved massive mainstream success. Meanwhile, Harvey Weinstein (allegedly, I'll say here to avoid any litigiousness) used his veneer of respectability, industry clout, wealth, and power to facilitate, and avoid consequences for, harassment, rape, abuse, intimidation, manipulation, bullying, and assault. A production assistant on The Burning came forward two years ago with her own story of sexual harassment, so Weinstein was abusing his power from the very beginning. His criminal trial begins soon, and I hope he gets what he deserves.

The Weinstein pall hangs over The Burning, and one wonders what would have happened if the film had tanked to such an extent that Miramax never got off the ground. I don't think it would have stopped the ambitious brothers from eventually achieving their goals (they were already wealthy concert promoters), but maybe it would have delayed their plans enough to have spared some women the abuse they endured. There's a gross thread running through the movie that depicts sex as something men have to bully, negotiate, intimidate, and/or use salesmanship to convince women into having, which really seems like a Harvey Weinstein worldview as we learn more details of his private life.

This review is at risk of turning into a soapbox rant, and there were plenty of cast and crew working on the film who didn't abuse people, so let's get into the actual movie. The Burning was one of four slasher films about teenage campers in the New York and New Jersey area hitting theaters in 1980 and '81 (the other three were Madman and the first two Friday the 13th movies). The respective filmmakers of Madman and The Burning claim these films were in the planning stages at the same time as Friday the 13th and were not attempts to cash in on that film's success. It's a mystery that may never be solved. (BTW, Madman is one of the most bananas slasher films ever. A truly deranged movie.)

The Burning begins with a classic horror setup: the prank gone awry. A group of four teenage boys take a (fake? real? WTF?) skull, cover it with dirt and worms, and put a lighted candle near it in the shack of Camp Blackfoot maintenance man and creepy weirdo Cropsy while he sleeps. He wakes up, sees the skull, freaks the fuck out, and accidentally sets his shack and himself ablaze. He miraculously survives his horribly disfiguring burns but is hopping mad about the whole deal and vows to kill teenage campers in rural New York for the rest of his days. He gets some murdering practice under his belt in New York City immediately after leaving the hospital and then skedaddles to the woods of another camp, Camp Stonewater.

Camp Stonewater has it all. Teenage campers, twentysomething counselors, a thirtysomething teenage bad boy camper named Glazer (Larry Joshua), and a fortysomething teenage camper, the very Constanza-esque Dave (Jason Alexander), who says things like, "We got a regular Esther Williams here," when a friend dives in the lake and who is fond of Three Stooges routines and keeping his shirt on while swimming. I believe without proof that the director told Alexander to improvise all his dialogue. Fisher Stevens, whose character's name is Woodstock, was 17 at the time of filming and looks about 13. A 22-year-old Holly Hunter is frequently in the background, but she gets a few lines in the second half.

Camping hijinks ensue amid the picturesque forests and lakes of western New York. Then people start getting killed. You've seen a slasher movie. You know the formula. Since Tom Savini is handling the effects, we get a lot of excellent kills. Shower scenes and skinny dipping scenes occur. Glazer is hit in the butt with a slingshot and vows revenge. Porn mags and rubbers are smuggled in by Dave. Canoe trips are taken. Girls' softball games are watched by horny adult teens. Virginity is lost. A raft is built. Lessons are probably not learned. Fingers are cut off. Guts are slashed.

There are some beautiful, ominous shots of a canoe floating in the lake, a light mist rising from the water, and the setting is gorgeous, but most of the images are fairly perfunctory. It's fun seeing so many actors at the start of their careers, the kills are satisfying, it's all pretty entertaining except for the creepy sexism, and late '70s and early '80s slasher films are like a comfort blanket for me (I should probably seek help). I enjoyed the movie, but it's nothing particularly special (though you certainly won't see another slasher film with a Rick fucking Wakeman electro-prog score). The Weinstein connection makes me a little heavy-hearted, but the entire fucking world makes me a little heavy-hearted. It's dark times, and we're never going back to the innocent days of adult teens getting hacked to pieces by madmen at poorly supervised summer camps in the Carter and Reagan years. I'm getting wistful now. Happy holidays, weirdos.