The Burning movie storyline. At Camp Blackfoot, five boy campers decide to frighten the caretaker, Cropsy (Lou David). The group heads over to his cabin with a box, and one boy goes inside, puts the box down, lights something and walks out. They rap on the window until Cropsy wakes up, and sees a wormy skull with lit candles in the eye sockets.
He screams and inadvertently knocks over the skull, setting the bed afire and burning a nearby gasoline can which explodes, spreading flames all over the cabin. Cropsy runs out, engulfed in flames, and falls down a small incline into the nearby lake. One week later, at St. Catherine’s hospital, an orderly takes a nebbish intern to see a man, badly burnt, who was lucky to survive. As the orderly stands by the curtain to an oxygen tent, Cropsy’s charred hand grabs the orderly, who screams in terror.
Five years later, Cropsy is released from the hospital, apparently very disfigured from the scorching episode. Cropsy walks the streets at night, dressed in all black clothing with a hat and hiding in the shadows so no one will get a clear look at his face. A prostitute standing by the entrance to a seedy apartment building offers to take him inside. Cropsy enters the prostitute’s apartment (being careful to turn out the lights before he enters). As she is preparing, Cropsy gets close and the terrified hooker tells him to leave after seeing his (still unseen) disfigured face. Cropsy struggles with the prostitute, grabs a pair of scissors, and stabs the hooker to death.
Several days later at Camp Stonewater, several of the campers are playing baseball, Cropsy is glimpsed crouching in the bushes armed with a pair of garden sheers, but he does not intervene. That evening in the cafeteria, one of the campers, Karen (Carolyn Houlihan) tells the counselor Michelle (Leah Ayres) that she likes the camper Eddy, but she is a little frightened of him because of his macho nature.
The next morning, another camper named Sally (Carrick Glenn) wakes up and goes to shower. While showering, she hears a noise and screams “who’s there?” She throws back the shower curtain and screams. Michelle, Karen, and the rest of the girls from her cabin run in and they see Alfred (Brian Backer) running away. Coucelor Todd (Brian Matthews) stops Alfred and has a serious talk with him in his office. Alfred says that he just wanted to scare Sally and that people are always picking on him. Todd says that he knows how Alfred feels because, five years ago, when Todd was a camper at a nearby summer camp, he and several of his friends were sent home from camp for a practical joke that went wrong. A little later, Glazer (Larry Joshua), Sally’s brutish boyfriend, warns Alfred to stay away from his girl.
Later, the campers are swimming in the lake when Glazer pushes Alfred off the dock and into the water. One of Alfred’s friends, Dave (Jason Alexander) jumps in and helps Alfred out because he cannot swim. Dave, Woodstock (Fisher Stevens), Eddy (Ned Eisenberg) and Fish (J.R. McKechnie) help Alfred get revenge against Glazer. Woodstock shoots Glazer in the butt with an air pistol while he is on a raft trying to woo Sally.
In the cabin that night, Cropsy is hanging around and spying on the campers when Alfred reacts when he sees Cropsy’s at the window. But the other campers don’t see anything. Glazer asks Fish to buy some condoms from him for his upcoming intimate time with Sally, while Dave and Woodstock play cards. In the cafeteria, the head counselor talks to Michelle, Todd, and the rest of the campers about a three-day canoe trip to Devil’s Creek, several miles downriver from the camp.
The Burning is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Tony Maylam, and starring Brian Matthews, Brian Backer, Leah Ayres, and Lou David. The plot tells about a summer camp caretaker named Cropsy who is horribly burnt from a prank gone wrong. Years later, after being released with severe disfigurements, he seeks to target those responsible at a nearby summer camp.
Based on the New York urban legend of the Cropsey maniac, the screenplay was written by Bob Weinstein and Peter Lawrence, from a story conceived by producer Harvey Weinstein, Maylam, and Brad Grey. The film marks the debut of Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, and Holly Hunter. Rick Wakeman, of the progressive rock band Yes, composed the score.
The Burning was theatrically released on May 8, 1981 by Filmways. While the film did not generate the interest nor revenue achieved by other slasher films at the time, it has since become a cult classic and received positive reappraisal from film critics.
The Burning was shot in the late summer of 1980 around Buffalo and North Tonawanda, New York. Much of the filming took place in and around existing summer camps to give it an authentic look whilst keeping costs down. The cast wore their own clothes throughout the production. Many of the cast were local to the New York area, and were aware of the Cropsy legend.
The Burning (1981)
Directed by: Tony Maylam
Starring: Brian Matthews, Lou David, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua, Jason Alexander, Ned Eisenberg, Carolyn Houlihan, Sarah Chodoff, Kevi Kendall, Ame Segull, Therese Morreale
Fisher Stevens as Woodstock
Screenplay by: Bob Weinstein, Peter Lawrence
Production Design by: Corky Burger
Cinematography by: Harvey Harrison
Film Editing by: Jack Sholder
Art Direction by: Peter Politanoff
Makeup Department: Suzen Poshek, Tom Savini
Music by: Rick Wakeman
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Filmways Pictures
Release Date: May 8, 1981
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