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| Awesome alternative movie poster by Phantom City Creative |
The Burning (1981)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082118/
The Burning, directed by Tony Maylam was released in 1981 right at the height of the original teen slasher cycle. The film is notable for launching the careers of the venerable Weinstein brothers, marking their first foray into the movie business. A summer camp slasher in the vein of Friday the 13th (released the previous year), The Burning, whilst owing quite a bit to that film, is so well crafted on all fronts that I feel it topped its predecessor in pretty much every way.
The movie opens with a flashback to 1976 at Camp Blackfoot, where several young campers plot to get even with the sadistic caretaker Cropsy. Their prank goes horribly wrong, and Cropsy ends up being burnt alive, stumbling from his cabin and into a river below. The film cuts ahead five years and Cropsy is released from hospital, suffering from severe burns and failed skin grafts, the former caretaker is forced to disguise himself as he makes his way towards Camp Stonewater, armed with an iconic pair of rusty sheers and ready to take his revenge.
Camp Stonewater is an extremely authentic location, the dorms and the mess hall feel like real places, the campers like real people, their over-lapping chatter reminded me of The Goonies, allowing for a real connection to the main characters, before their killed off of course, in increasingly inventive ways. SFX maestro Tom Savini turned down an offer on the first Friday sequel to work his magic here and he doesn't disappoint, with some great make up and awesomely bloody deaths.
All of this is appealingly shot by cinematographer Harvey Harrison and supported with an atmospheric, sometimes pretty wild synth-score by former keyboardist for prog rock band Yes, Rick Wakeman (who also composed for that prostitute-stalking, steel dildo-wielding psycho priest film by Ken Russel, Crimes of Passion (1984) I really enjoyed the hell out of this one, the pacing was well-judged, I never felt bored and the movie as a whole is a prime example of how to do a slasher film right. Look out for the debuts of Holly Hunter and Jason Alexander, George Costanza from Seinfeld who puts in a memorable performance as one of the campers.
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| Is it just me, or does that look like Abe? |
C.H.U.D. (1984)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087015/
So what the hell is a C.H.U.D. then? Well, it stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller (or does it) and it's a pretty meandering horror sci-fi set above and below the streets of New York. George Cooper, played by John Heard (the dad from Home Alone) is a world-weary fashion photographer who shares an apartment with his beautiful and incredibly understanding model girlfriend Lauren (played by Kim Griest) In between fashion shoots, George seeks more relevant subject matter, photo documenting the lives of the homeless that take refuge in the underground tunnels below the city (think Dark Days)
Running in tandem to this is the story of mustachioed NYPD captain Bosch who teams up with paranoid hippie soup kitchen proprietor "The Reverernd" Shepard, played by Daniel Stern (one of the 'Sticky Bandits', also from Home Alone) to investigate a series of missing persons. At some point along the way all of these characters end up in the city's sewerage system in confrontation with the titular CHUDs, bringing to light a coverup involving the dumping of toxic waste below the city.
Honestly, the film is fairly obvious and unimaginative through out. None of the elements are particularly bad, it just has this unexceptional seen-it-all-before kind of feel to it. The performances, the music, the effects, they're all grand, (actually, the monster effects are a bit shit really), the film is perfectly watchable, but if you were to pass it over, you'd be no worse off. Early cameo from John Goodman aside, C.H.U.D. is spectacularly average in every way.
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