THE BURNING

One night at Camp Blackfoot, campers play a prank on Cropsy, the alcoholic and abusive caretaker, by placing a worm-infested skull with candles in the eye sockets next to his bed. When they bang on his window, he is startled and accidentally knocks the skull onto his bed, starting a fire. The flames reach a gas tank, igniting Cropsy and the cabin. Engulfed in flames, he runs outside into the river as the campers flee. Despite severe injuries, he survives.

Five years later, Cropsy is released from the hospital, still badly scarred after failed skin grafts. He conceals his disfigurement with a coat and hat. One night, a prostitute invites him to her apartment, but recoils at his burned face, prompting him to kill her with scissors. Armed with pruning shears, he makes his way to another summer camp, Stonewater. During a softball game, a camper narrowly avoids him.

The next day, Alfred frightens Sally as she exits the shower, attracting the attention of counselors Michelle, Todd, Karen, and Eddy. Michelle demands Alfred leave, but Todd learns he is bullied and only wanted revenge on Sally’s boyfriend, Glazer. Later that night, Alfred sees Cropsy outside the boys’ cabin, but no one believes him.

The next day, Todd and Michelle lead a canoe trip down Devil’s Creek. Around the campfire, Todd tells the legend of Cropsy. Eddy later scares the campers wearing a mask and wielding a machete. When Eddy and Karen go to the lake, she decides not to have sex, and he leaves. Cropsy suddenly appears and slashes her throat with shears.

The next day, Michelle discovers Karen and the canoes are missing. The campers build a makeshift raft to search the creek. Cropsy attacks from a canoe, killing several of them. That night, Glazer leaves Sally to fetch matches, and Cropsy kills her. Glazer returns and is pinned to a tree with a blade through his throat. Alfred witnesses the attack and alerts Todd, who is knocked unconscious by Cropsy while he chases Alfred. Michelle finds the bodies and leads the survivors back to camp to contact the police.

Todd regains consciousness and confronts Cropsy with an axe in an abandoned mine shaft. Cropsy traps Alfred and attacks with a flamethrower, recalling the prank that caused his disfigurement. Alfred breaks free and stabs him with shears, then Todd strikes him in the head with an axe. Alfred finishes Cropsy by setting him alight with the flamethrower. They rejoin Michelle and the police as Cropsy’s body burns.

Later, a new group of campers retells the legend of Cropsy around a campfire.

Cropsy is ultimately confronted and the threat he poses to the campers is brought to a violent end.

The finale serves as a grim reckoning for the prank gone wrong, reinforcing the slasher cycle where violence begets violence. The ending closes the revenge arc, with Cropsy’s rampage stopped, yet the legend is poised to live on through another campfire tale.