When the caretaker is awakened by the campers banging on his window, he gets frightened by the skull and accidentally knocks it onto his bed, starting a fire.

Five years later, Cropsy is released from the hospital despite dealing with failed skin grafts and wears a coat and hat to hide his disfigurement.

That night as they're all gathered around a campfire, Todd tells them the story about the legend of Cropsy; Eddy, wearing a mask and wielding a machete, sneaks up on the group to scare them and they all share a laugh after discovering it was just a prank.

Meanwhile, Michelle finds the mutilated bodies on the makeshift raft and brings the remaining campers back to Camp Stonewater in order to ensure their safety and to contact the authorities.

Having heard stories about the Cropsy legend when he was a young camper in upstate New York, Weinstein brought the idea to Cohl, who loved it.

[4] During his discussion with film critic Alan Jones on the audio commentary of MGM's DVD, Maylam said that once he came on board things moved very quickly.

Knowing that the slasher craze would not last forever, and wanting to get their film released before it fizzled out, the producers rushed into production.

"[4] The production company became Miramax, named after Harvey and Bob Weinstein's parents, Miriam and Max, who helped fund the picture.

Savini turned down the chance to work on Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), ostensibly because he could not understand the logic that Jason was fully grown and was now the killer, as well as what he described as "miscommunications" with the film's backers.

[5] In the interview on the MGM DVD, Savini recalls that the cast were literally queuing up to find out how they would die, making him feel like an assassin.

He only had three or four days to make the Cropsy make-up – the mask was created in his dressing room in-between special effects duties elsewhere on the film.

In Grande Illusions, his first book on his life as a special effects guru, Savini says he based the look of Cropsy on a burnt beggar he had seen as a kid in Pittsburgh, as well as textbooks on burn victims.

The scene where a victim has her throat cut by Cropsy with the shears was similar in execution to the demise of the hitchhiker in the earlier film.

[5] Maylam has recalled that Carolyn Houlihan, who was Miss Ohio USA in 1979, found her nude scenes extremely difficult to do.

In February 1981, Filmways Pictures picked up the rights to distribute the film from Miramax for an undisclosed sum after viewing it in Los Angeles.

Aside from having the very similar-plotted Friday the 13th Part 2 also playing, the film suffered from competition with Happy Birthday to Me, Final Exam, The Fan, Graduation Day, Eyes of a Stranger, and a successful re-release of Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

[6] The Burning opened in New York with new poster artwork (showing a face with a fire reflected in an eye) on November 5, 1982, distributed by Orion Pictures, who had recently merged with Filmways.

Within a couple of weeks it was on a double feature with When a Stranger Calls (1979), which did not boost its fortunes, as Variety said it soon "hit the skids" with "pathetic" results.

When the film was accidentally released uncut on video in the United Kingdom by Thorn EMI, the tape was liable for seizure and prosecution under the Obscene Publications Acts.

Thorn-EMI had unwittingly released a "video nasty", a term used to describe films judged as obscene and too violent for home rental.

[16] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "The Burning makes a few minor departures from the usual cliches of its genre, though it carefully preserves the violence and sadism that are schlock horror's sine qua non".

[17] Kim Newman of Empire magazine was critical of the film for being "an obvious imitation of Friday the 13th" but praised Tom Savini's special effects.

[18] AllMovie wrote: "With deliberant pacing and shocking scenes of full-on gore, The Burning delivers on the creep-out levels and would probably be better regarded if not for the boom of familiar flicks that came out after this release".

[19] While reviewing the film's 2013 Blu-ray release from Scream Factory, Scott Weinberg of Fearnet wrote, "[The Burning is] dated and sort of dull.

[22] The DVD contains several extras, including a commentary by director Tony Maylam, a featurette covering Savini's make-up effects, a stills gallery, and the theatrical trailer.

[25] A soundtrack album featuring Rick Wakeman's score was released on LP in 1981 in Europe, and shortly after in the United States and Japan.

Brad Grey, who received a writing credit on The Burning, became the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, a position he held from 2005 until his death in 2017.

[34] In October 2017, former-production assistant Paula Wachowiak alleged that producer Harvey Weinstein's history of predatory behavior went back as far as the initial filming of The Burning in June 1980.

Then a 24-year-old University at Buffalo graduate and divorced mother, Wachowiak was tasked with getting Weinstein to sign checks for an auditor working with the production's accounting department.

When Wachowiak arrived at Weinstein's hotel room to have him sign the checks, he allegedly answered the door wearing only a towel, that he then dropped and asked for a massage from his employee.