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THE MOVIE |
THE DVD |
REVIEWER |
REVIEW DATE |
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Chucky |
8th September, 2004 |
Review Quote
"Yes, the raft scene is ultimately violent and looks very realistic in most aspects but that's about the extent of its violence (except for maybe the hooker scene) and doesn't do much from other slashers considering all other scenes involved."
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The Plot
A bunch of kids at a camp decide to play a prank on Cropsy. The prank goes wrong and scars Cropsy for life with severe burns. Now he's back out of rehab and wants his revenge!
The Movie
Yes, this is the full uncut version being reviewed but I don't see the big deal with the uncut footage. I'm sure the VHS copy I rented here in Australia had the exact same scenes. Yes, the raft scene is ultimately violent and looks very realistic in most aspects but that's about the extent of its violence (except for maybe the hooker scene) and doesn't do much from other slashers considering all other scenes involved.
There are a few young actors in "The Burning" who rose to fame many years later after this film had been released but contributed nothing to their popularity. Those being Jason Alexander (you know, George from Seinfeld) and Holly Hunter (who is hardly in this movie at all and not really worth mentioning). All of the cast give no great performances but do the movie justice for what it's worth. No awards to give here...
I can't say the music is all that enjoyable to listen to either. This may just be me but I hardly ever enjoy 80's music in horror films. It just seems loud and noisy but if you like music in your older horror film, the music here should be nothing to worry about. Tom Savini does a nice job on the gore effects here which don't seem to be all that different from his works on "Friday the 13th" which this film is strangely similar to in style (as is most 80's slashers).
The Cropsy character is an interesting character though gives no evidence of being a mean person before his accident. I wish I knew what he was like before he got burnt but then again, maybe he was a bore and was better off not being showed before the prank. Either way, Cropsy looks rather monster-ish in his one and only film debut. I'd be interested in a sequel if that were to ever happen but most likely never.
Overall, "The Burning" is your standard slasher film that wins points for being one of the earliest 80's slashers and being so daring as to being so violent that the movie was actually banned in many countries. Unfortunately, "The Burning" falls into the "if you've seen one slasher, you've seen them all" category. If you don't like your mindless violence, you're not going to love it...
The DVD
Vipco loves releasing uncut versions of old horror films. Unfortunately, I've found that to be the only part about the company worth mentioning. I own a couple of their DVD's and I've not once viewed a good picture quality version of their film. Also, none of their movies that I own have many extras to watch. This DVD looks to me like a poorly PAL coversion of the U.S. uncut NTSC VHS that was being sold on Amazon. The picture quality is poor but still watchable, to describe it you'd get the same quality out of watching an old horror movie on VHS that has never been viewed before. Get what I'm saying?
The DVD contains only 4 movie trailers, talent profiles on the cast and a photo gallery. The DVD menu is very poorly made, it looks like a poorly made menu on a computer using one of the generic fonts. The DVD cover isn't too shabby and is nicely presented.
This is it. Crappy extras, a horrible DVD menu to navigate through but you do get the full uncut version of the film and a decent DVD cover (front and back) to use to get your friends jealous.
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Director
Tony Maylam
Cast
Brian Matthews
Leah Ayres
Holly Hunter
Jason Alexander
Lou David
Screenplay
Harvey Weinstein
Tony Maylam
Brad Grey
Peter Lawrence
Tagline
"A legend of terror isn't a campfire story anymore!"
Country
USA
Classification
18
Year
1981
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Format
PAL
Region Coding
2
Aspect Ratio
1.33:1
16x9 Enhanced
No
Running Time
88 minutes
Year Released
2002
Packaging
Keep Case
Extra Features
Photo Gallery
Cast Profiles
Movie Trailers
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If you find any errors in this review, know of any other versions of this DVD available or no longer available, send us an e-mail so we can get the word out to the horror community.
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