The talent roster on the film is pretty remarkable for a slasher, and it’s the feature debut for actors like Holly Hunter, Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, and Brian Backer. Tom Savini did the practical gore effects, and editor Jack Sholder would go on to direct his own genre bangers, including Alone in the Dark and The Hidden.

Now keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary for…

The Burning (1981)

Commentators: Tony Maylam (director), Alan Jones (film journalist)

1. There aren’t a lot of American slashers directed by British filmmakers, and Maylam credits his own journey towards that dream to a sexual predator named Harvey Weinstein. The creep saw an early concert film that Maylam made about Genesis and asked if he’d like to make a movie for him. “He was manic,” says Maylam about the prick. (Okay, I got that out of my system.)

2. The initial story idea was called The Cropsey Maniac about a summer camp killer. It was very loosely inspired by an urban legend known around the New York area that’s explored further in 2009’s Cropsey. They don’t mention it here, but the film’s core premise regarding Cropsey and a summer camp was reportedly conceived before the release of Friday the 13th. Also, Madman was heading into production around the same time with a similar Cropsey premise and decided to change it up some to avoid feeling identical.

3. Weinstein’s mother and father were named Mira (Miriam) and Max, respectively. We’ll probably never know if that had any bearing on the name of the Weinsteins’ production company.

4. The early murder of the prostitute doesn’t seem to fit the narrative of Cropsey (Lou David) being fixated on killing folks at a summer camp, but Maylam recalls a certain producer not wanting to wait too long for a kill.

5. Tiger is played by Shelley Bruce, who was starring as Annie on Broadway at the time (possibly as an understudy?) but left the show to do this film. It’s her only feature film credit. She also apparently hung out with Maylam’s fourteen-year-old son and brought him to nightclubs during the film’s production.

6. Cropsey’s choice of garden shears as a weapon was Maylam’s idea.

7. Jones asks why Maylam never worked with the Weinsteins again, especially seeing as this was their first feature, and he helped put them on the road to success. The director says they’re all still friends (as of this recording back in 2007, just over a decade before Harvey Weinstein was arrested for numerous assaults), but the right project never really came along.

8. He says that while the story was conceived by Weinstein, it was Peter Lawrence who wrote the bulk of the actual script, with minor contributions from himself and Bob Weinstein. Maylam doesn’t know why Brad Grey is given a story credit on the film. “Brad was the manager of the camp’s superintendent and was basically a manager of comedians at the time,” and he worked very closely with Weinstein as the man’s gofer. He ultimately went on to become CEO of Paramount Pictures.

9. The story goes that Savini turned down working on Friday the 13th Part 2, “because he was so in love with this script,” but Maylam doesn’t quite confirm that. “We flew to Pittsburgh and went to his home. He liked the script very much, and he was on board, simple as that.”

10. Maylam suggests that the burn makeup effects in 1996’s Academy Award-winning The English Patient are pretty poor. He adds that looking back at The Burning, it would have been “much more sexy” if they had Cropsey’s burnt facial skin peeling off.

11. The original ending was meant to unfold in a big cave, but they discovered it was home to a high number of bats, so they squashed the idea. Cowards. They went with an old copper mine instead, and Maylam spent the next two months coughing up red dust.

12. The mask used to scare campers at the campfire was designed by Savini.

13. The “massacre on the raft” scene is the main one that caused the film issues with censors, particularly in the UK. Maylam considers it one of the best scenes in the film, and he giddily recalls handling the blood pump for the finger-cutting beat.

14. Maylam’s also standing in as the silhouetted Cropsey with the shears and is even the one holding the shears for 90 percent of the killer’s POV shots. He says it’s because he couldn’t get anyone in the crew to do it exactly right.

15. There are two times where the film fades to red, and Maylam thinks he maybe used the gag two times too many.

16. This is the slightly uncommon slasher that eschews the traditional “final girl” ending and has male characters defeat Cropsey instead. Jones references that as if to ask why they went that route, but Maylam says only that female characters give you “more vulnerability” before going silent for ten seconds.

17. He’s not aware of any thoughts on rebooting The Burning, but Maylam says there was brief interest in a possible sequel that ultimately went nowhere. He seems okay with that, in part because a sequel would have to go the supernatural route if they wanted to bring back Cropsey.

18. There’s a weird stinger at 1:21:45 where one of our final boys, Todd (Brian Matthews), sees a dead woman with a neck impalement. The camera seems to zoom in on a still photograph instead of being an actual filmed moment, and Maylam says the Weinsteins added it on their own in the editing room. “I don’t know why it was put in.”

19. There’s an end credit listing nine people as Special Business Advisors, and Maylam adds that they were all “Harvey’s friends.”

Quotes Without Context

“You bump into Bob or Harvey [Weinstein] in a hotel room, and we have a chat.”

“There’s nothing particularly innovative about this film at all.”

“Here’s Brad Grey’s plant again. I’ve never seen him since.”

“Look darling, we’ve all seen naked women for goodness sake, just get on with it.”

“The superhuman strength of these maniacs is always quite amazing.”

“You really hate this guy.”

Keep up with more horror commentary breakdowns here.

The post 19 Things We Learned from ‘The Burning’ Commentary appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Released only a week after Friday the 13th Part 2 in theaters, The Burning didn’t fare well at all. It didn’t help that the plot was similar, or that 1981 was a year in which the slasher boom was riding high in popularity. Within the roughly same month as The Burning’s release, slashers Final Exam, Graduation Day, and Happy Birthday to Me also dropped into theaters, crowding the market. All of this to say, The Burning slipped through the cracks and took many years to earn its reputation as a brutal, obscure gem thanks to home re-release.

Like Friday the 13th Part 2, this slasher also saw a lumbering killer that slaughtered teens at a summer camp in the name of revenge. Unlike Friday the 13th Part 2, The Burning was a fully running camp full of kids, which meant this slasher broke one of the biggest taboos- killing children and teens in the most gruesome fashion. The killer wasn’t some undead entity from the grave, either, but a seriously angry camp caretaker five years removed from the catastrophic prank at the hands of campers that left him severely disfigured from being set on fire. Had it not been for the timing of release, Cropsy’s memorable and unique appearance had the potential to launch another slasher franchise.

His look, as well as the gory kills, were handled by a talented artist well versed in slaughtering teens at the time; special makeup and effects artist Tom Savini. Having already worked on Friday the 13th and Maniac, and work on The Prowler and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter still to come, Savini was seasoned at creating effects that delivered believable, brutal death sequences in slashers. He very nearly worked on Friday the 13th Part 2, but chose The Burning instead.

Had he not taken this project, it’s difficult to imagine what this slasher would be without the shocking event that sets off the final act; the bloody raft massacre. When the counselors and their campers notice their canoes are missing after an overnight stay at Devil’s Creek, they build a raft. Five of the young campers paddle away to seek help and find one of their abandoned canoes. Their moment of elation is quickly deflated by the appearance of Cropsy, who pops up and brings his garden shears down upon each one again and again.

That raft scene further set The Burning apart from the Friday the 13th sequel by earning the film a spot on the Video Nasties list. The gore was heavily trimmed down to an R-rating for decades in both the U.K. and the U.S., which also played a major role in the slasher only gaining popularity when DVD releases in the early 2000s reinstated the uncut gore.

On a basic plot level, The Burning falls in line with many slashers of its era. Summer camp was a popular killing ground for rampaging maniacs with a vendetta. But The Burning is better acted than most, having a number of notable actors making their debut like Fisher Stevens (the most brutalized of the kids on that raft), Holly Hunter, and Jason Alexander. Cropsy isn’t a masked killer, but a disfigured one with a very recent trigger for revenge. But the reason we love slashers so much is for the kills, and The Burning delivers in a satisfying way thanks to Savini’s uncanny talent for gore.

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Airing Thursday, Oct. 25 (at 8:30/7:30c), “Seven Deadly Sins and a Small Carl Sagan” welcomes back Seinfeld vet Jason Alexander as high school drama teacher Mr. Lundy. He finds himself at odds with Mary after they clash over plans for a church fundraiser.

“In strongly Christian areas at Halloween time, in response to haunted houses, they will often have something called a Hell house, which is presented to show the problems of living a life of sin and hopefully get people to come and join the church after that experience,” executive producer Steven Molaro tells TVLine, who also shared these images. “Mary and her church are going to be attempting to put on a family-friendly version of a Hell house, and since it’s theatrical, they ask Mr. Lundy to help them put that together.”

As seen in the photos, Mary and Mr. Lundy’s clash is symbolized by their costume choices, with Sheldon’s mom dressed as an angel and the drama teacher embodying the Devil himself.

The post Jason Alexander Dresses as Satan On the Halloween Episode of “Young Sheldon” [Images] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to discover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusion, and perception of death.”

If you haven’t seen it, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s honestly one of my favorites and I’m pretty much always game to give it a watch.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, now you can watch it at your convenience thanks to The Paramount Vault, who have uploaded the full film onto YouTube. Head on below to give this gem a visit.

The post You Can Stream ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ Free and Legally appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The Burning is technically Miramax’s first movie. Co-written by Peter Lawrence and Bob Weinstein, the film was also produced by Harvey Weinstein in his first gig as a film producer. Harvey was desperate to get into the movie business at the time, so after seeing the success of low budget horror films (slashers, specifically) he began brainstorming ideas for a similarly-budgeted film. He remembered the Cropsey legend from campfire tales he heard at summer camp when he was born and The Burning (and Cropsy, sans Cropsey’s “e”) was born.

The script was written in six weeks and Tony Maylam was brought on as director. Since the film was set in the summer time and Weinstein wanted to get the film released before the slasher craze ended, The Burning was rushed into production. While many may see it as a ripoff of Friday the 13th, the film actually started production (meaning a treatment written by Weinstein) a whole year before that film was even released. It just had the misfortune of coming out a year later. Who’s to say what would have happened if The Burning had been released first. Maybe Cropsy would have been an even bigger slasher giant than Jason Voorhees himself.

The film is also famous for being the first on-screen appearances for now-famous actors Holly Hunter and Jason Alexander. Alexander has the most to do in the film as lovable camper Dave and Hunter gets maybe two lines of dialogue as random camper Sophie, but it’s still fun to watch her. Fisher Stevens has the most fun as the goofy Woodstock before getting killed in the outstanding raft massacre set piece.

Speaking of the raft massacre, one can’t discuss The Burning without mentioning it’s top-notch make-up effects from Tom Savini. Interestingly enough, he turned down working on Friday the 13th Part 2 because he didn’t buy the logic that Jason would be the villain in the film. Thinking that the script for The Burning was superior, Savini chose to lend his talents to that film. He even lent his legs to the film (his legs are the ones getting burned in the opening sequence that gives the film its namesake). The Burning is filled with great kills (in the latter half of the film anyway, but more on that in a bit), but the pièce de résistance comes in the form of the film’s raft sequence, in which Cropsy dispatches a group of campers in the middle of the lake (though it takes a laughably long time for them to make it to the raft after they see it).

Not surprisingly, the film suffered many cuts in order to avoid an X rating from the MPAA. Many of the kills are even more graphic versions of similar kills in Friday the 13th (Karen’s death is a bloodier version of Annie’s death and Cropsy’s death is a much more graphic version of Marcie’s death), showing that Savini was willing to improve upon his previous efforts.

Unlike many slasher films of the time, The Burning takes a good while to get going. It isn’t until the 49-minute mark when the first camper (poor, nude Karen) meets her demise. And before that the only death was a prostitute that Cropsy picked up after his release from the hospital. While this may seem like slasher sacrilege, it actually works in favor of the film. There’s only one or two truly unlikable characters in the film (Glazer and arguably Todd), but the rest of the cast is filled with likable characters. While it would be a stretch to say it’s “fun” to spend time with these characters, their likability at least makes The Burning’s slow beginning bearable. Plus, it’s really sad to see Karen bite it. She didn’t even get to have sex!

The Burning also boasts a lot of effective jump scares. I admit that even though I had seen the film before, there were several moments that had me jumping off my couch (Glazer’s death being the most memorable example). Of course this is mostly thanks to Rick Wakeman’s (of the band Yes) creepy score, but it’s still incredibly effective even by today’s standards.

What are your thoughts on The Burning? Do you think it’s an under-appreciated film? Or do you think it’s just another run-of-the-mill copycat of films like Halloween and Friday the 13th? Let us know in the comments below and share your thoughts and memories of the film.

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In the ’80s, a lot of horny teenage campers got dismembered on screen. The Burning was released in the wake the massive success of Friday the 13th and added its fair share of corpses to the pile. But what makes the victims in The Burning different than those in the majority slasher films is that these kids are pretty damn likable. Usually you can’t wait for the obnoxious teens to get torn up, but the campers at Camp Stonewater are easy to root for. Besides one rapey scumbag, everyone else is pretty cool and the film itself is very entertaining and fun.

The film begins in 1976 at Camp Blackfoot. A group of campers sneak out out of their cabin in the middle of the night to pull a prank on Cropsy, the camp’s caretaker. By “prank” I mean they accidentally set him on fire and he’s horribly disfigured for life. Jump five years in the future and Cropsy gets released from the hospital. He dresses himself like Darkman and picks up a hooker. After killing her with a pair of scissors (foreshadowing the pruning shears to come), he sets out for Camp Stonewater, where one of the campers involved with the prank is now a counselor.

We hang out with the Stonewater kids as they play softball, buy condoms and porno mags, take a canoe trip – the usual summer camp activities. Two notable campers are a young and very skinny Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit) and a not-so-bald, not-so-stocky Jason Alexander (aka George “Lord of the Idiots” Costanza). Like I mentioned earlier, all of the campers, besides one skeezy guy, are entirely likable. Camp Stonewater looks like a decent camp void of sadistic counselors and perverse kids. I would’ve wanted to go there as a teen, for sure.

Before Cropsy can start picking the kids off, a counselor named Todd tells the ghost story of the horribly burnt caretaker over a campfire. Later in the film, Todd squares off with Cropsy and, during their struggle, the counselor suddenly remembers that he was involved with the original prank, which is weird because he earlier told the story. Maybe he repressed the memory or something. Anyway, after Todd tells the story, a shy camper starts seeing Cropsy around the camp. You know what’s coming next: teenage bloodbath.

It’s formulaic stuff, but at least there are some genuinely suspenseful moments and great kills that elevate the film above many slashers that were churned out during this period. One notable kill scene involves a massacre on a raft that the distributor demanded be cut for the theatrical release. It is a very nasty scene but nothing that’ll churn a contemporary audiences’ stomach. In the UK, The Burning was even added to the infamous “video nasty” list. The gore is pretty top-notch, thanks to effects maestro Tom Savini. Because of some adverse feelings he had towards a proposed sequel to Friday the 13th, Savini left the production to work on The Burning instead.

It is kind of a bummer that Todd defeats Cropsy in the end. Morally it’s pretty shitty. Todd was part of the group that disfigured and nearly burned the poor bastard to death in the first place. They talk about how surly and mean he was to the campers, but is that worth a prank that nearly killed him. Take it up with the camp owners, for chrissakes. So Cropsy came back for revenge and wound up getting finished off by one of the same kids who fucked him up in the first place. Hunky counselor = 1. Cropsy = 0.

At least Scream Factory has given this nasty little amoral film a fantastic Blu-ray release. Slasher fans should be doing backflips for this release – highly recommended!

A/V

Scream Factory presents The Burning with a 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 widescreen. Contrast and detail in close-ups are strong and besides a few minor blemishes, there’s nothing to bitch about. It’s an obvious upgrade from previous home video offerings of the film, that’s for sure. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 sounds really god too – nothing negative to report here.

Special Features

Audio Commentary with Director Tony Maylam and Film Journalist Alan Jones: This very entertaining commentary track features Maylam dishing the dirt about the Weinsteins and telling many other engaging anecdotes. It’s a lively track and definitely worth a listen.

Audio Commentary with Shelley Bruce and Bonnie Deroski: While I’m bummed they didn’t (or couldn’t) get Jason Alexander or Fisher Stevens to participate, this commentary track is a decent listen nonetheless.

Interview with Editor Jack Sholder: Sholder talks about how he got into editing and how he originally had no interest in horror films.

Interview with Actor Lou David: In this 10-minute interview with Cropsy himself, David talks about how his unique looks get him typecast as creeps. He also tells a nice little anecdote about his child, who came into this world right before filming The Burning.

Interview with Tom Savini: The effects legend talks about why he left Friday the 13th Pt. II for The Burning. He covers many of the film’s key effects, including the prank scene and the design of Cropsy’s disfigured face. He’s such an enthusiastic, animated gentleman that’s a pleasure to listen to. In one bittersweet moment, Savini does mention how one of the film’s key stuntmen passed away at far too young an age.

Interview with Actress Leah Ayres: She talks about how she transitioned from modern dance into movies and what it was like working with such a young cast.

Behind the Scenes Footage: There’s some great footage in this 8-minute montage, including Savini performing the burning legs scene in the beginning of the film. There’s lots of fire and lots of awesome stunts.

Still Gallery

Trailer

Overall Score: 4.5 outta 5

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