The Burning

[domino harvey]

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

Limited Edition SteelBook packaging (4000 copies)
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with director Tony Maylam and critic Alan Jones
Audio commentary with stars Shelley Bruce and Bonnie Deroski
Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues
Blood ‘n’ Fire Memories – a detailed look at the creation of the film's make-up effects with special effects artist Tom Savini
Slash & Cut – an interview with editor Jack Sholder
Cropsy Speaks – an interview with actor Lou David
Summer Camp Nightmare – an interview with actress Leah Ayres
Brand new interview with composer Rick Wakeman
Behind-the-Scenes Footage
Theatrical Trailer
Make-Up Effects Still Gallery
Poster & Still Gallery

First pressing only: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Justin Kerswell

DETAILS:
RRP: £24.99 £17.99
Region: B
Rating: 18
Duration: 91 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: DTS
Colour
Discs: 2

[domino harvey]

I doubt I'll bother to double-dip on this since I already have the Scream Factory edition, but this is the best of the camp-set slashers from this decade and Arrow really seems to have gone all-out on a key title from the original slasher cycle

[Finch]

Is it a genuinely good film or "merely" the best of the camp-set slashers?

The artwork is excellent.

[domino harvey]

Is it a genuinely good film or "merely" the best of the camp-set slashers?

A fair question when it comes to slashers. Anyone not already attuned to the benefits of these kind of movies may well find it torture to sit through, but it does a better job than most of establishing our characters and then placing them in creative peril. And it has the usual points of interest for these kind of movies-- even just in capturing the everyday fashion of the era alone it's kind of fascinating! It was a cash-in job by the Weinsteins but as is often the case with this genre, the ripoff is of more interest than the inspiration. Keeping in mind that by this point I've seen over 120 80s slashers and have become something of a reluctant expert on this genre, I'd likely put it in a top ten of slasher recommendations from the decade were anyone to ask me for such a thing.

[Finch]

Thanks. My exposure to slashers has been Halloween, Scream and the original Friday the 13th (which I found diverting but not really all that memorable). The Burning sounds like it's better than the latter.

[EddieLarkin]

Keeping in mind that by this point I've seen over 120 80s slashers and have become something of a reluctant expert on this genre, I'd likely put it in a top ten of slasher recommendations from the decade were anyone to ask me for such a thing.

I'd make such a request. I enjoyed Blood Rage, The Mutilator, The Burning and Slumber Party Massacre far more than I ever expected to. The Prowler and My Bloody Valentine less so, though still preferred them over Friday the 13th.

[domino harvey]

Did a quick tally and it turns out I'd place the Burning just out of the top ten, but you already know that it has my recommendation anyways. In alphabetical order:

Alone in the Dark (1982)
Anguish (1987)
Bad Dreams (1988)
Home Sweet Home (1981) Although this one is more of an "advanced studies" recommendation
the House on Sorority Row (1983) And in a rare case, the remake, Sorority Row (2009), is even better-- do a double feature!
Intruder (1989)
Maniac (1980)
the Prowler (1981)
the Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
Terror Train (1980)

[tenia]

Have to say I was quite disappointed when I saw Maniac for the first time a few years ago. I actually like the remake better.

[colinr0380]

The Burning is a very good slasher film and I'd agree better than Friday The 13th (and better than Terror Train, even if I'd agree the characters here don't really stand out too much as individuals compared to Jamie Lee Curtis and Ben Johnson in that film). The Tom Savini effects are up there with his Romero zombie work and at least in the unedited version this film doesn't suffer from some of the squeamish cut aways from the gore that the Friday films had to deal with, so it can really justify its video nasty status. The plot is your standard summer camp set, urban legend set up but the ruthlessly efficient structure for killing off a bunch of teenagers is very well handled and there are even some fun twisting of expectations, especially in one notorious scene which reverses the usual trend of dragging out all the murders as long as possible and, in an implied 'rule' that gets built up then ignored, that the campers will be safe so long as they don't wander away from the group on their own!

Plus of course scour the young cast to catch brief glimpses of Jason Alexander and Holly Hunter in early roles! (And Fisher Stevens in the raft scene, later to more famously play the human lead in the Short Circuit films and who has had a recent run of supporting roles in films like The Grand Budapest Hotel and Hail, Caesar!)

[Emak-Bakia]

Did a quick tally and it turns out I'd place the Burning just out of the top ten, but you already know that it has my recommendation anyways. In alphabetical order:

Alone in the Dark (1982)
Anguish (1987)
Bad Dreams (1988)
Home Sweet Home (1981) Although this one is more of an "advanced studies" recommendation
the House on Sorority Row (1983) And in a rare case, the remake, Sorority Row (2009), is even better-- do a double feature!
Intruder (1989)
Maniac (1980)
the Prowler (1981)
the Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
Terror Train (1980)

I haven't seen three of those (Anguish, Home Sweet Home, and House on Sorority Row), but, of the others, Alone in the Dark is my favorite (though I do also love Bad Dreams and Intruder.) It would be great to see the underappreciated Jack Sholder get into the Arrow catalog with a release of Alone in the Dark. In fact, I think all of Sholder's 80s features - particularly AitD and The Hidden - would fit right in with Arrow.

[nitin]

Nice to see a Terror Train make it, I watched it for the first time a few months ago and it was surprisingly enjoyable and well made.

[kidc85]

Dom, if you have time I'd love to read your capsule reviews for those films. It's a really interesting list, I've only seen about half of them but they're striking choices. You call yourself a "reluctant expert" - how did you come to watch 120 films in a genre you're not too keen on?

[domino harvey]

It's this forum's fault, because I realized when engaging in the Cinematic Violence thread that I was making assumptions based on a genre I was only passingly familiar with, so I took the excuse of the then forthcoming Horror List Project to familiarize myself with some of the films, and then I kept seeking out more and more of them as I became interested in their structure and function-- in for a penny, in for a pound, &c. Also, I liked that I was wrong in my initial negative assumptions about the genre, and the further I went down the rabbit hole, the more I learned. I may not "like" most of the 120+ 80s slashers, but I do find them collectively interesting, and that's often a stronger impetus to watch something, at least so far! I am pretty sure between the 80s thread and the Horror thread, I've written up nearly all of the slashers I've seen not just from the 80s but outside, as there were precious few I'd seen before I began this journey.

Here are the links to the writeups:

Alone in the Dark (1982)
Anguish (1987)
Bad Dreams (1988)
Home Sweet Home (1981)
the House on Sorority Row (1983) (and Sorority Row)
Intruder (1989)
Maniac (1980)
the Prowler (1981)
the Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
Terror Train (1980)

[MichaelB]

The late Gilbert Adair similarly immersed himself in the work of Barbara Cartland after realising that he'd been taking her name in vain. Sadly, the resulting piece doesn't appear to be online, as it was hilarious.

[colinr0380]

Mondo Digital's updated Burning review with the Arrow release