Oh the poor, young innocents that we sacrifice in the name of entertainment. If our gladiatorial ring is projected onto the silver screen, then teenagers are some of our most frequent victims. Whether we subject them to serial killers, metaphysical terrors, subterranean monsters, cosmic invaders, or some other murderous being, the outcome is the same: a brief moment of care-free humor, ribald behavior, budding sexuality, intoxication - and then, the (often) bloody end.
Why this predilection for slaying the young? Maybe because it's sexy: show some vital people indulging in libidinous behavior, and then condemn these acts with a blood bath. It's a win-win situation: we see attractive people doing the naughty things that appeal to the naughty-minded, and then we see violence. Were those kids in the wrong, after all? It's too late to ask that, because they're dead. What a simple equation.
The Burning is a slasher movie. It runs at just about ninety minutes, and in that time a number of actors pose as teenagers and re-enact the traditional fun of summer camp. There are baseball and love and cafeteria food and campfire stories. The outdoors is picturesque and inviting. The teenagers are good looking, animated, and humorous.
They are also fodder.
Fodder for whom? The Burning sets this up by opening with an accident that renders a camp counselor horribly scarred. The perfect candidate for mass slayings is introduced, and in his first foray he flenses an innocent woman. The gore that ensues is surprising, until one realizes that the man behind this debauchery is Tom Savini, famed make-up artist and horror guru. After this scene there is a lull: here are those lovely teenagers, playing around and being young, and here and there is a scene from the perspective of the killer. The teens are so close, and the pining soundtrack implies that the next killing is just a few seconds away . . . but a wait remains. This suggests an attempt at tension, but it also speaks to practicality: you can't fill the entire running time with murder.
Since it is inevitable that some of these teens will meet their demise, the real questions are "when" and "how" - or, more appropriately, "how badly"? In this film, the answer to the latter is - wow, that's gross. Savini's craft is on full display in these scenes, and as the casualties mount, each successive death is that much more macabre. I, for one, was stunned, despite having subjected myself to such gory notables as Jackson's Brain Dead, Henenlotter's Brain Damage, and a Japanese guinea pig movie, Mermaid in a Manhole (which I will never see again). I just didn't expect to see so much blatant violence in a film from 1981.
Everything about this film surprised me. The direction and cinematography were adequate, and nothing got in the way of climatic (i.e. gory) moments. Said slayings are all well-framed and shot so that each one has impact; more than a few of them made me gape. This could have something to do with the sound, which provided an excellent complement to on-screen actions. Every major and minor character is given depth by dedicated actors, such that it is possible to muster some compassion for the victims. The music is reminiscent of Carpenter's soundtrack in Halloween, and here that tone works well.
Further comparisons can be made with Friday the 13th, which preceded this film by about a year, and also featured Savini's make-up effects. Apparently, this was synchronistic: producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein had conceived of this story close to the release of Friday the 13th, and decided to go ahead and add their take to the budding slasher genre. Sadly, the final cut of the film rarely saw the projection booth, and all of the care and skill that went into it was lost to audiences for years.
You can thank DVD for its revival, as Savini does in a short interview that is part of the special features. He mentions the fact that, thanks to this medium, a number of older films are now available for new generations to discover. That's exactly how I feel about this movie, and because it was so enjoyable, I will be recommending it to horror fiends for many years to come.
10/28/07
