Burke and Hare (2010)

By Mr. Tropnevad

Summary

When a man in Burke (Simon Pegg) and Hare’s (Andy Serkis) boarding house dies, the two decide they can earn some money selling the body to a medical school. They get the idea to sell more bodies for money, but there is a lack of fresh cadavers and the men are forced to murder people.


Expectations Going In

This is based off a true story and several years ago I read that John Landis wanted to direct it. As a fan of Landis’s comedies such as The Blues Brothers and his horror films such as An American Werewolf in London, I was interested. I found out Simon Pegg was going to star in it, so I figured it would be good. Then I found out it was only to be released into theaters in the United Kingdom and not America. Disappointed and worried, I figured it must be bad. Since its release to DVD late last year in America I have heard mixed reviews on it. Still remaining hopeful I am going to give this film a watch.

The Bad

I have issues with the DVD more than the movie. The movie is presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen. Which makes it look like it was made over ten years ago. This gives off a mess of gray and blues mixed in to something that should be black. I figured this out because the characters are wearing clothing that appears to be black and since it is in widescreen, you can compare the colors of the black clothing versus the black bar over and under the movie.

The audio for this is annoying and be ready to hold on to your remote to lower or raise the volume. You will have scenes of dialog between characters and then a follow up to music. Once the music starts the audio is turned up and you must turn the volume down. The most annoying scene was when Burke and Hare are chopping down a tree so it will kill a man. This scene had me annoyed with how loud it had gotten due to the music and the horse carriage coming down the road.

I did like Andy Serkis in this, but I would have preferred Nick Frost as Hare, because Frost and Pegg have a natural charisma between the two. They have been in five movies together and I don’t recognize Serkis as a comedian, but he did a good job.

The Good

The story is true for the most part when it comes to Burke and Hare and at the beginning of the movie it tells you that. The film is a dark comedy and it works well for this type of true story telling. It is similar to the movie Sweeny Todd when it comes to dark humor.

There are good performances throughout the movie especially from Pegg. He was able to deliver on the romance and the laughter. Serkis feels out of place next to Pegg, but I was able to look past it. The two of them had me laughing when they had to decide on how to put bodies into barrels and how to kill their next victim. Serkis did deliver on the facial expressions, which added to the hilarity. I think this is because of his role as Gollum in The Lord of The Rings.

There are several cameos and costars in this film that help keep this movie interesting. Tim Curry does an excellent job at being the deviant Doctor Monro who wants to make sure that Tom Wilkinson’s character Doctor Robert Knox is no longer in business. Christopher Lee has a cameo in this movie and it is hilarious.

The film makers did a good job at recreating 1820’s London by making the streets look dirty and the way the characters dress, except for the hair. I always complain about characters hair in movies because they just wouldn’t look that good and especially not in London in the 1800’s, but I am going to try and not nitpick. The music was able to set the tone for the film, too.

Overall Thoughts

Burke and Hare delivered on the laughs and on the story, unfortunately I can only give this a rental. I don’t blame the movie for being a rental I blame the production company that brought it to DVD. This movie is only available on DVD in America and on Amazon it sells for around twenty dollars. If this was 2001 then I might spend twenty dollars on a DVD, but not anymore. If you come across it for under ten dollars then I say pick it up. I highly recommend renting this, but you will not find it at your local Redbox. You can find it on Netflix as a disc rental, stream via XBOX 360, or your Apple product.

Overall- Rent