Cropsy, a psychopathic serial murderer, is featured in the 1981 horror thriller “The Burning.” Tony Maylam directed the film, which was produced by Miramax Films. The film is about a sadist, alcoholic, and violent summer camp caretaker who was inadvertently burned in a terrible prank committed by a bunch of kids. After five years, he returned to avenge his accident and began a vicious serial murdering spree. The film, which was made on a $1,500,000 budget, did not perform well at the box office, but it became a legendary slash horror film.
The film begins at Camp Blackfoot, where five youngsters are preparing a cruel prank on the camp’s caretaker. They lit a frightening human skull and placed it in front of the caretaker, who was inebriated and fast sleeping. They jolted him up by pounding on the window. When the caretaker saw the skull, he felt scared and panicked. When he unintentionally hit his head, his bed caught fire, and his body was enveloped in flames. The frantic caretaker dashed outside, screaming in pain, only to trip and fall into a river, where the flames were extinguished.
Even the physicians were shocked to see his burns and thought it a miracle that he was still alive when he was transferred to Saint Catherine Hospital. After five years of treatment with scorched skin, the skin grafting was unable to cover up the extensive burns, and he was released. When he was discharged, the physicians recommended he settle into his new life and forgive the lads who had teased him, as forgiveness is a virtue.
Cropsy stepped out of the hospital with a heavy coat, boots, and hat to conceal the burnt wounds. Then Cropsy went back to the area of the camp where he used to work with a vengeance mind. A prostitute standing on the street invited him to her house but got brutally killed by him as he revealed his burnt face to her.
The camp was seen full of people enjoying themselves. The girls were seen playing baseball when suddenly the ball went into the bushes. The camper who went to face the ball was about to get stabbed by Cropsy, but he narrowly missed her. The main characters were Todd, struggling as the head counselor, and his girlfriend Michelle, Eddie, who had a crush on Karen; Alfred, who was trying to befriend Dave, Woodstock, and Fish; and cruel Glazer, who desired Sally. At the dining hall, the girls chatted merrily about their experiences with the boys flirting with them, and then they all went to sleep while Cropsy watched them from a distance. The next morning as Sally went to take a shower, she had a queer feeling of someone’s presence, and ultimately, she pulled the curtain and pulled out Alfred. Sally screamed at the top of her voice, gathering Karen, Michelle, Todd, and Eddie in front of the bathroom, catching Alfred, who was trying to escape.
Michelle was distraught with Alfred’s behavior and insisted to Todd that he should be thrown out of the camp, but Todd assured her that he would look into the matter seriously. When Todd lashed out at Alfred about his inappropriate behavior, he confessed that it was a silly prank to scare Sally as she wanted to make her laugh since he was bored as he had no friends in the camp. Eventually, Todd saw Glazer threatening Alfred to stay away from Sally, and he warned Glazer to behave correctly in the camp.
Everyone went to the lake to swim in the afternoon, and Glazer pushed Alfred into the water though he knew that Alfred couldn’t swim. He then dived into the water and swam across to a jetty where the girls were relaxing to request Sally to join him in swimming. Dave, Fish, and Woodstock saved Alfred from drowning and helped him get out of the water. Consequently, they started harassing Glazer by shooting a BB gun, and while Glazer was shouting back at the boys, one of the girls pushed him back into the water.
That night when everyone was busy enjoying, Alfred was lying depressed on his bed when suddenly he got a glimpse of the monstrous face of Cropsy. He screamed in terror, but no one believed him. The dark shadow of the killer equipped with a pair of garden shears hovered over the entire camp.
During dinner at the mess hall, the supervisor spoke about the three-day canoe trip to the Devil’s Creek, where some of the adult campers were going on the next day. He suggested some precautionary and safety measures to be taken by each group. The next day the campers set out on a canoe- trip enjoying to the fullest. At night when the campers sat around the campfire, Todd told them about the abundant Camp Blackfoot not very far from there and the ghastly burning incident that had occurred there. He also told them about the terrifying rumors that had spread about Cropsey, stating that he had turned into a monster and was strolling everywhere in the camps to take revenge.
Late at night, Karen and Eddie strolled around when they decided to take a skinny dip in the lake. While swimming, Eddie tried to molest Karen, and she came out of the water in frustration. Outside the water, Karen found her clothes scattered everywhere. As she looked for her clothes one by one, suddenly Cropsey grabbed her and slashed her throat with his garden shears. Todd and Michelle came looking for Karen in the morning as she was not back in the camp and enquired about her from Eddie, who was fast asleep beside the lake. Eddie told them that Karen had left the lake abruptly, and he believed that she had gone back to the main camp. Suddenly the other campers started shouting that all the canoes were missing.
Todd and Michelle discussed that probably Karen got upset with her fight with Eddie and returned to the main camp with the canoe while the other canoes accidentally got loose, or maybe it was just another silly prank by the young campers. The campers split up into groups and started looking for the canoes while Todd, Michelle, and a few other campers made a raft out of wood in the forest. Five of the campers, including Eddie and Woodstock, left for the main camp on the raft. On their way, they found one of their canoes floating on the lake, and as soon as they reached the canoe, Cropsy jumped out and slashed everyone ruthlessly.
The killers are next targets were Sally and Grazer, as they were intimidating in the forest. Alfred, who witnessed Grazer’s murder from a distance, quickly ran to Todd and told him what he saw. At first, Todd didn’t believe him, but then he followed Alfred and found Grazer’s dead body when suddenly Cropsy attacked them and knocked Todd unconscious. Alfred ran for his life, chased by Cropsy, but somehow he managed to hide from the killer. Michelle, Dave, and the other campers saw the raft loosely floating back in the lake. Michelle swam to the raft and discovered the dead and mutilated bodies of her friends. Everyone was terrified, panic-stricken and the young campers started crying. Todd regained consciousness and asked Michelle to reach the main camp somehow and get some help.
Michelle took the campers along with her on the raft and frantically rowed towards the camp. Todd desperately looked for Alfred while Alfred played hide and seek with the killer. Finally, Cropsy managed to catch him and pinned his arm with his shears into the wall. Todd followed Alfred’s screams and reached the abandoned mine shaft where Alfred was captured. Michelle came back with the supervisor and searched for them while the police also reached by helicopter. Todd confronted the villain with an ax, and when his burnt, disfigured face is revealed, Todd remembered all the events when he and his friends accidentally set fire to Cropsy. Alfred was somehow able to free himself, and when Cropsy was about to kill Todd, he forced the shear through the killer. While Todd and Alfred walked out, suddenly Cropsey popped back and attacked them, but this time Todd hit him hard with the ax and set him on fire to die.
The movie concluded with the new set of campers sitting around the campfire, and their counselor was repeating the same Cropsy rumors to them as Todd did to his campers.
The Killer Cropsy: Explained
With “The Burning,” Cropsy became a terrifying rumor amidst the summer camps. It was said that he had turned into a monster, and his soul wandered in the summer camps looking for opportunities to kill people and avenge his death. He was believed to be out there, watching everyone, waiting patiently for his next victim. Campers were scared to death with the stories of this psychopath serial killer.
So often do we find that the guilt of few forces many innocent people to face the punishment. Cropsy was an alcoholic, sadist caretaker of a summer camp who used to harass children for trivial issues. But once a group of kids in the summer camp became determined to teach him a lesson so that he would stop harassing children. Hardly did they know that their nasty prank would render the caretaker burned and deformed.
Cropsy was an uneducated, ordinary, sadist person. After he was released from the hospital, he knew his life was already ruined, and so he developed an unprecedented grudge and vengeance towards the world and especially to anyone in the summer camp. His life had only one purpose, which was to kill. His anger towards the world can be felt when he killed the prostitute for no reason. Though in the entire movie, his disfigured face was hardly shown, his dark presence was felt throughout the movie.
Serial killers are often associated with peculiar weapons, and in this case, Cropsy’s weapon is a pair of garden shears which we used to shape plants in the garden. He not only intended to kill people but his hatred and vengeance were revealed in his brutal slashing and mutilating of the victims. “The Burning” title not only referred to the literal burning of his body but also justified the burning anger inside him, which converted him into one of the cruelest psychopath serial killers.
Some Unknown Facts about “The Burning” Revealed
In this movie, the role of Cropsy was featured by Lou David though his face was hardly seen in the movie. The famous makeup artist Tom Savini was hired, but he himself was not happy with the makeup of the villain’s face as it appeared melted rather than severely burned, but he confessed that he had only three days to plan and execute.
The film’s director Tony Maylam himself portrayed Cropsy in many killing scenes as none of the actors were able to hold up the garden shears to his satisfaction.
The original movie had more footage shots of the killer, but in the end, the director decided to cut those scenes to keep the killer more frightening in the film.
Many actors deputed in the movie like Holly Hunter, who had a minor role as Sophie; Jason Alexander, who featured Dave; and Fisher Stevens featuring Woodstock, who is better recognized as Ben Jabitua from the 1986 film, “Short Circuit.”
The film was mainly shot in Western New York, while the camp and lake scenes were shot at various camps in Olean and Franklinville in New York.
“The Burning” came under a lot of controversy in the UK when the videotape of the uncut version was accidentally released by the British video label Thorn-EMI. The tapes were confiscated under the Obscene Publications Act. The objections were apparently for the frantic raft massacre scene and the scene of a pair of scissors piercing a woman’s flesh. Even the Motion Pictures Association rating system demanded several scenes to be removed before they conferred an R rating to the movie.
The character Cropsy and the film were inspired by a legendary story told at summer camps in and around New Jersey and New York, which are in circulation even today.