(Granted, hearing future Seinfeld sidekick Alexander talk about spermicide is memorable, too. Seeing his bare behind on a high-definition Blu-ray, however, is something I’d like to forget.)
In the prologue, Cropsy (Lou David, The Gumball Rally) is a caretaker at Camp Blackfoot. One night, a few kids have the bright idea to “scare the shit out of [him]” via a skull with candles in its eyes — no biggie, except that Cropsy accidentally kicks it over, thereby setting himself aflame and forever disfiguring his already funky face.
Flash-forward and after scissoring a prostitute's flabby belly, Cropsy goes about exacting his revenge — not on the youths who actually are responsible, but an entirely different camp! His reign of terror is obviously cast in Friday the 13th mold, complete with:
• a false scare by the campfire,
• a completely gratuitous shower scene,
• young adults playing well below their actual ages,
• said young adults being super-horny (the men bond over pornographic magazines),
• and the bloody-good effects of Tom Savini (who discusses them for 18 minutes in a featurette), with a boat assault being the highlight.
But The Burning is an improvement over 1980’s Friday in every sense, and Shout! Factory once again delivers another solid special edition in its ever-reliable Scream Factory line. It puts the previous, now out-of-print MGM DVD to utter shame. —Rod Lott
Hey! Read This:
• Halloween II / Halloween III: Season of the Witch Blu-ray reviews
