Before They Were Stars (2-for-1 Special): Jason Alexander and Holly Hunter in “The Burning”

The Burning is one of a jillion Friday the 13th clones that came out in the 1980s, telling the story of a disfigured caretaker named Cropsy who uses his garden shears to terrorize teenagers at a summer camp. However, the film does feature some early work from quite a few notable people. Believe it or not, The Burning is one of the very first efforts from a little production company called Miramax Films, and both Harvey and Bob Weinstein had a hand in producing and co-writing this movie. It also features the screen debut of George Costanza himself, Jason Alexander, sporting a full head of hair as a horny camper, and amusingly enough, the writers of Seinfeld actually made an inside nod to this role when they named one of their episodes “The Burning”. Holly Hunter also made her acting debut in The Burning, though you would easily get through the whole film without even noticing her. She mostly functions as a background player, with the other characters usually talking over almost all her dialogue, but you can catch a glimpse of her at the 4:15 mark of the previous clip, sitting on the left side of the cafeteria table in a blue shirt. However, Miramax would make it up to Miss Hunter 12 years later when they released The Piano, the film that won her an Academy Award. For an extra laugh, here’s the original trailer for The Burning, which obviously inspired Edgar Wright when he made Don’t, his faux trailer in Grindhouse.