The Burning has some unique elements that’ve assured its own cult status.
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First, just to get it out of the way, watching
The Burning in 2021 carries with it the startling site of seeing Harvey Weinstein’s name in the credits; the film, which was produced by Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s then-fledgling Miramax, based its script on Harvey’s original idea. But there’s an asterisk appended to the “original” there—the future disgraced mogul actually drew upon a New York-area urban legend centering on a boogeyman named “Cropsey” to come up with the film’s villain. The legend even gets a proper framing within the film when a version of it gets shared around a campfire on two different occasions as the story progresses. (For more Cropsey-related urban folklore, check out the spooky 2009 documentary