Blackfoot Camp is a kid’s summer camp and is maintained by a sadistic alcoholic caretaker named Cropsy (Lou David). One night several of the campers decide to play a trick on the man. They put a skull riddled with worms in his room and put a candle in its head. They bang on the window to wake him up. When he sees the skull, he panics and flails out at it, knocking it on the bed. The candle catches the sheets on fire. Still flailing about, Cropsy’s shirt ignites catching him on fire. Engulfed in flames he runs from the cabin and throws himself into the lake. Cropsy is taken to the hospital. He survives but is scarred all over his body.
Five years later Cropsy leaves the hospital after all attempts to do skin grafts have failed. He tries to hire a hooker, but when she sees his face, she screams. This sends Cropsy into a violent burst of anger. He picks up a pair of shears and stabs her to death.
Camp Stonewater is a newer camp across the lake from the now closed Blackfoot Camp. With summer in full swing the camp is crowded with teenage campers and counselors that are not much older than the campers. Two of the counselors are Todd (Brian Matthews) and Michelle (Leah Ayres). Cropsy begins stalking the campground and is seen by one of the campers, Alfred (Brian Backer). Alfred is a bit nerdy, so no one believes him.
One of the highlights of the camp is a canoe trip up Devil’s Creek for an overnight trip. This year there are five canoes with three kids in each canoe to a total of fifteen, including two counselors, Todd and Michelle. After the campers get settled they all sit around a campfire and tell stories. Todd tells the story of Cropsy not knowing that the very person he is regaling about is in the woods stalking the campers, ready to pick them off one at a time.
“The Burning” was released in 1981 and was directed by Tony Maylam. It is a Canadian American slasher horror film, and at one point, was a video nasty.
As with most slasher movies there are a lot of jump scares and gore. There are also a lot of murders. In most slasher films the victims are obnoxious and rude; however here the characters are mostly likable but just stupid. Comparisons to the “Friday the 13th” franchise are inevitable. I found the movie to be just as interesting if not more so than any of the other mayhem at a campground films. Fans of the slasher genre will also like it.
The film boasts some well-known actors who were rather young and somewhat new to acting at the time such as Holly Hunter, Fisher Stevens, Jason Alexander and Ned Eisenberg, most of who get killed off at one some point.
The movie is supposed to be based on a real urban legend of a man called Cropsy. I couldn’t say one way or the other if it is true.