The Burning
Short description
The Burning is a horror film about a summer camp caretaker named Cropsy who is badly burned when a prank by a group of teenagers goes wrong at Camp Blackfoot. He survives after years of hospital treatment, including skin grafts, and is released back into society. Blaming the youths for what happened to him, he returns to the camp area and begins killing, eventually crossing paths with Todd, one of those involved in the prank, who is now a counselor leading a canoe trip with fellow counselor Michelle and several teenagers.
Directed by Tony Maylam, the film was released in May 1981 and runs 91 minutes. It was made by Miramax, Filmways Pictures and The Cropsy Venture on a budget of about 2 million dollars. The screenplay is credited to Bob Weinstein and Peter Lawrence, with Harvey Weinstein producing. The cast includes Brian Matthews as Todd, Leah Ayres as Michelle, Brian Backer as Alfred, Larry Joshua as Glazer, Jason Alexander as Dave and Ned Eisenberg as Eddy. It came before Maylam's later film Split Second.
On IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.2 out of 10 from around 25,000 votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 6.2 out of 10 from roughly 471 votes. A film critics' rating of 6.9 out of 10 from 14 reviews places it somewhat higher than the audience scores. The years since its release, along with the steady vote counts, indicate it has retained a following among horror viewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- Tony Maylam himself decided that Cropy in the film would wield garden shears.
- All the night scenes in the forest were filmed during the day, with the exception of the campfire scenes, which were actually filmed at night.
- The film career of the famous producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein began with “Burning,” and their mother, Miriam, also participated in the creation of the film.
- This is the first film from the fledgling studio "Miramax" and the first film role for Holly Hunter and Jason Alexander.
- Rick Wakeman is the keyboardist for the famous band "Yes".
- The screenplay for the film, originally intended to be called "Cropsy Maniac", is based on stories told by scouts in suburban New Jersey and New York state camps.
- According to Tony Maylam, the film was originally intended to have more scenes showing the disfigured Cropsie, but most of them were changed to keep the killer's face in the shadows to make him appear more frightening.
- The director of "Burning", Tony Maylam, plays a role in the mass murder scene on the Cropsy raft.
- In France, the film was released under the title “Carnage” ("Slaughter").
- "Burning" is one of the first films to appear on the UK's Video Nasties list (a list of films not recommended for viewing), primarily due to the particularly violent scene on the raft.
- The final part of the film was supposed to take place in a cave, but due to some problems, it became impossible to work there, and the filming location was changed at the last minute to the ruins of an abandoned copper mine.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
