22 - The Burning

    A handful of campers decide to play a prank on a the camp caretaker.  It goes bad, and winds up severely burning the man.  After he's reconstructed, he kills a prostitute, then stalks kids at camp.
    I saw that this was going to get a Blu-ray release sometime soon, and I thought I was pretty familiar with camp-based horror from the 80s.  I'm so embarrassed that I had never seen this before.  I think I'd put this on about the same level as the Sleepaway Camp movies.  Less corny, but the camp nostalgia feel that this one has is fantastic.
    And it helps that there are a few familiar faces.  Holly Hunter is in it, although I don't know her.  Notably, Jason Alexander is in here, and Brian Backer, who I know from his excellent performance in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.  And another guy - Brian Matthews - wasn't actually anyone I recognized, but I kept thinking that he looked like Jamie Bamber.
    Since this came out in the early 80s, it actually is more of a 70s-style horror, but it's shot pretty well.  The effects are cheap, but they seem to have actually shot on location, which goes a long way to making this look good.  The killer isn't interesting, but the handling of the story, as well as the kind of realistic way that the kids goof off, is very charming.
    Maybe I'll come back to this.  I mean, I own the Sleepaway Camp movies.  Why wouldn't I own this?