The Burning (1981) poster
1981 · slasher · summer-camp · savini-fx

The Burning

Directed by Tony Maylam1h 31m1981
ElsewhereIMDb6.323kRT86%Metacritic42TMDB6.2453
  • heavy
  • brisk
  • intense
  • bleak
  • cold
Movie DNA

Heavy, kinetic, extreme slasher / summer-camp, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold.

How every film is hand-scored →

A caretaker at a summer camp is burned when a prank goes tragically wrong. After several years of intensive treatment at hospital, he is released back into society, albeit missing some social skills. What follows is a bloody killing spree with the caretaker making his way back to his old stomping ground to confront one of the youths that accidentally burned him.

Our read · The Burning (1981) reads as a heavy, kinetic, grounded slasher · summer-camp · savini-fx entry — extreme in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook.

Where the cast leads
Fingerprint

The shape of The Burning

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a Tom Savini summer-camp slasher with a killer raft massacre.

ends triumphantyou’ll be fine aftera slow buildgrips by minute 12attention 3/5breezes by
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violencegorenudity

Skip it tonightYou cannot handle prank-gone-wrong burns, teen nudity, or shears gore.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
Your take
Rate it
star-clip-1-0star-clip-2-0star-clip-3-0star-clip-4-0star-clip-5-0
React
Discussion

Discussion

cmd enter to post

What does your Movie DNA look like?

Rate a few films you've seen. We map your taste across the same twelve axes and find the films you'll actually want to watch tonight.

Read my taste — 60 sec
No account needed.