Continuing in the Halloween theme started with The Flesh King, my wife and I sat down to watch the 1981 film The Burning. We both had a lot of fun and were surprised at just how good the movie is, considering we’ve never heard of it.
Pacing is the film’s biggest strength. The big bad of the movie is created before the opening credits even roll. We get a quick setup for revenge, and the tension builds from there with summer camp fun, lots of relationships between potential victims, and brief allusions to the waiting evil.
I’m trying hard not to sound like too much of a film nerd. Because I’ve never studied film. At all. But every scene of the movie was easy to read, without giving anything away. The isolation is palpable. What lurks around the corner? They can’t keep living this carefree life, can they?
All the characters had just enough depth and development to be unique. The gore and the nudity were positioned perfectly, generating a response before quickly moving on.
From a 2025 perspective, the biggest monster of the film may be convicted sex pest Harvey Weinstein. But Tony Maylam did a great job directing a diverse cast that surprisingly includes Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter, and Fisher Stevens.