The Burning [1981] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Average customer rating:

Uncut and in widescreen - cheap price too

A DECENT SLASHER FILM

ONE OF THE BEST SLASHERS EVER MADE !! !! !!

Beter than friday the 13th

Simplistic slasher delivers the gory goods

The Burning [1981] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Starring: Brian Matthews , Leah Ayres , Brian Backer , Larry Joshua , and Jason Alexander
Director: Tony Maylam
Manufacturer: MGM
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

All Science Fiction & Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Categories | DVD | Video
Fantasy & Futuristic | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Categories | DVD | Video
All Horror | Horror | Categories | DVD | Video
Region 1 | Special Features | DVD | Video
DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
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Don't Go In the Woods Alone [1982]

ASIN: B000UDGO9S
Release Date: 2007-09-11

Customer Reviews:

Uncut and in widescreen - cheap price too.......2007-11-15

At last one of the best of the so called "video nasties" gets released on dvd. You will be relieved to know that the print is uncut with the notorious finger cut shot intact. The print is excellent and is in 1.85 widescreen and puts the fullscreen UK Vipco dvd release to shame. There is also a very insightfull audio commentry by the directer and a short featurette on Tom Savini who did the special effects.

The film was originally released on Thorn EMI video back in the 1980's, but the print they released was accidently uncut. As a result they had to withdraw all videos and get them replaced with the BBFC certified version. This didn't stop is being banned. As a result the uncut video release is highly collectable nowdays.

The plot is not the most original - a vengefull caretaker who was badly burned kills a number of campers in various graphic ways. It's rather like Friday The 13th with all the gore effects intact. This shows why Tom Savini is number 1 for special effects. No CGI in those days.

This is an excellent release and is very cheap on Amazon. So what are you waiting for ? Buy this dvd now is you enjoy a good slasher film.

A DECENT SLASHER FILM.......2006-05-19

Finally after twenty years The Burning has been given the great respect and restoration treatment it finally deserved. These days, all the moaning about cutting violence and sex means nothing, since obviously uncut editions appear on DVD within months of a theatrical release of any film.

The Burning is one that is sneaking its way back and by word of mouth is most likely going to be an extremely prized part of a horror fans collection just like the excitement over the long awaited re release of Killer Klowns From Outer Space or even the extras filled The Boneyard. Someone at Vipcos Vaults Of Horror is very clever, releasing many cult horror films in uncut editions (though still putting 18 ratings on the cover), but in most cases by not mentioning these changes on the cover a less informed viewer will not bother in some cases.

Well lets just say the film didn't live up to all my expectations, but it wasn't terrible. The story is fairly generic, complete with rehashed about Cropsy being burned to near death by some mischevious campers. After five years in the hospital he's finally released. The first thing he does is murder a prostitute with gory results. Eventually, he makes his way to a summer camp, armed with some gardening shears to do some dirty work as only a slasher film villain can.

The real deal doesn't start until some counselors and campers head off on a canoeing trip down the river. Cropsy comes along, and then only then manages to do away with some of our unlucky characters. So who are these people - well, there is Todd, the brown haired counselor who wants everyone to get along, Michelle, his likable co counselor and girlfriend, Alfred, the weird outcast who seems to eternally annoy Glazer, the bully character. Rounding off the main characters are Karen and her slimy boyfriend Eddy, prankster Dave, Glazer's girlfriend Shelly and Woodstock who is plain weird.

Anyway most of these people are all killed before the credits roll, and only the ones you really end up liking survive. As for who survives is a bit predictable earlier on in the film. It took me a while to figure out who was playing who. I thought Karen was the "final girl" as first, and Michelle was the slutty friend. In the end though, there is no final girl, at least not in the conventional manner. Sure, there's a female character left standing but most of the climatic action is left to two male characters, which while unique to the genre, did not work for me. I realize that Alfred's character was supposed to be sympathetic and we were supposed to worry about him during that never ending run through the woods, but the job is better performed by a token heroine. I don't mind a male hero but when all the heroines is given one scene of peril and, then some dull scenes on a boat, the tension all but dies away for me.

Speaking of all the carnage, the gore n this film is unbelievable. I definitely winched a few times and I would expect nothing less from Tom Savini and that leads me to the raft scene. It was a letdown for me. The suspense that builds as you realize what is going to happen in the scene, is really well established and I was on the end on my seat but then.... its over in a few seconds. The scene is extremely rushed and while somewhat gory, it didn't really seem like a whole lot of carnage. I was hoping the scene would live up to its reputation and it didn't (to my dismay).

As far as the music, there is an excellent score that works well with the film, and always adds a little edge to things. Acting wise everyone does pretty well. Leah Ayres was a little uneven. Whilst at some points she was excellent, and her delivery was right on, at others, like when she was angry, she got a little melodramatic. Jason Alexander shines, and its no surprise he went on to be something big. Holly Hunter the movie's other star, is barely in the film. You see her a few times once they go on the rafting trip, but she has very little dialogue and not much to do. Everyone else is decent to say the least. There's quite a bit of nudity in this film, more then I expected.

Anyway, The Burning isn't a bad film but it isn't great either. There isn't many genuine scares, and towards the end things begin to loose a lot of suspense. I suggest you see it and its required viewing for slasher fans.

Thank you for reading my review.

ONE OF THE BEST SLASHERS EVER MADE !! !! !!.......2006-01-28

When i baught the burning i was expecting an average horror film in the 'Vipcos Vaults of Horror' collection. (not that i dont like these films, i love them!). Instead i got a master piece! The acting isnt that bad, there is no out of time dubbing, the special effects are great, it has a great ending!!!
I love the Vipco' films but dare i say this, The Burning doesnt deserve to be in a collection of films that are famed for bieng cheap B-movies! And although it is almost a complete rip-off of Friday the 13th i still loved it!
On the subject of Friday the 13th, im a huge fan of the series and have watched all the films hundreds of times, but i must admit. The Burning is just as good as some of the Friday the 13th films, if better! Obviously it is no-where near as good as the origonal Friday the 13th or part 4 but is certanly better that Friday the 13th part 2 or part 8!!!!
Tom Savini had done the blood and gore special effects for Friday the 13th and carried on to do it for many of the other sequels too! But not part 2, because he was working on this film! This is probably one of the main reasons why the special effects on The Burning were so good! Tom Savini done a great job on this film!
So as youd expect, this film is violent and some scenes are very gory! The story is mainly about a man who goes crazy and massacres a bunch od kids at a summer camp so the only break between the killings is just after the first death scene, so the violence is pretty much non-stop! Unlike the Friday the 13th films there isnt really a variation of weapons used in the murders, eccept from a pair of cissors at the start and an axe at the end all the victims are disposed of with some hedje trimmers! But dont worry, they are used in a veriaty of different ways!
Another thing i liked about this film, and one of the main reasons why this is different from most of the other slashers of its kind, is that it does actually have some good acting! Obviously some of the characters may not be award winners but most of the main characters are way above avarage!
And the film on avarage is of a decent quality! The picture doesnt have many flikers or bits of dust on it almost all the way through the film!
And last but not least this film has a good ending! (again, copying off Friday the 13th!) Just when you thought that the killer was dead he jumps up from behind the main characters, and has an axe whaked into his face!!!!!
So overall this is one of the best slashers ive ever seen! And i find it amazing how such a fabulose film has kept so quiet, Id expect this to be one of the main films slasher fans would talk about but now you are pushed to find a copy!
If you like this type of film then you should buy this film right now!!!!!!

Beter than friday the 13th.......2004-08-17

I've just bought a copy of the movie, and must say i was pleasantly surprised! This is a movie that i (as a 80's horror fan) had missed. the gory effects, by Tom Savini are (as always) very imprissive!! The story is very fun to watch. To be very honnest i think the movie is beter than Friday the 13th. (mostley because of death scenes, which has a pique on the rafting scene) REALLY A GREAT MOVIE!

Simplistic slasher delivers the gory goods.......2003-04-02

THE BURNING (1980): An abusive caretaker at a lonely summer camp is disfigured by fire during a prank which goes horribly wrong. Five years later, he returns to the area to take revenge against one of his former persecutors (now a camp counsellor) and the kids in his charge.

Makeup artist Tom Savini turned down the opportunity to work on FRIDAY THE 13th PART 2 (1981) in order to create effects for Tony Maylam's THE BURNING, yet another in the assembly line of low-budget horror movies which emerged in the wake of HALLOWEEN (1978). Savini warned the film's producers - including a fledgling Harvey Weinstein! - that the script for THE BURNING shared uncomfortable similarities with the 'Friday' sequel, though fans may have been too dazzled by the gruesome set-pieces to either notice or care. In truth, THE BURNING shares only a handful of superficial details with 'Friday 2', including a late night campfire episode in which the villain is dismissed as an urban legend, culminating in a false 'scare' which today's audiences will probably see coming a mile off. Despite a couple of groan-inducing incidentals ("Oh, I forgot my vitamins - I'll have to go back to my cabin through the dark, creepy woods!"), the narrative develops organically from one scene to the next, and characters react believably to the unfolding scenario. Unfortunately, the climax - set mostly within an abandoned mineshaft - is a disappointment, staged and executed with little flair or suspense. Of course, the main point of interest (besides seeing some familiar faces in early roles, including Jason Alexander [TV's "Seinfeld"], Fisher Stevens [SHORT CIRCUIT] and an unrecognisable Holly Hunter) is Savini's horrific makeup effects, all of which are presented here uncut for the first time on home video in the UK. Victims are slashed, stabbed, punctured and poked in graphic detail, and blood flows copiously from some horribly convincing wounds. The film reaches a high-point of absolute horror during a notorious sequence involving an 'abandoned' canoe, which I'll leave first-time viewers to discover for themselves. Briskly paced, and scored with a series of electronic doodles by no less than Rick Wakeman (!), THE BURNING may seem awfully simplistic to modern viewers, but it delivers the goods in spades and will satisfy gore-hounds everywhere.

Vipco's all-region DVD - which runs 87m 21s in the PAL format at 25fps (90m 59s at 24fps) - presents the film in full-screen format only, which is a shame. Viewers with 16:9 monitors can blow the image up, cutting off dead space at the top and bottom of the frame, but some shots seem a little cramped when viewed this way. Picture quality is fair to middling, but at least the contrasts have been lightened from previous theatrical and video prints (the details of a graphic throat-slashing are now completely visible, unlike earlier versions which darkened this shot to the point where it could hardly be seen at all). Sound format is 2.0 mono, and there are no captions or subtitles of any kind. Extras include a fairly ho-hum trailer and filmographies for some of the film's key players, including a rather cheeky listing for Holly Hunter, even though she barely features in the movie at all!

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