United Kingdom · 2010
Rated R · 1h 31m
Director John Landis
Starring Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher, Georgia King
Genre Comedy, Thriller, History, Horror
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Two 19th-century opportunists (Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis) become serial killers so that they can maintain their profitable business supplying cadavers to an anatomist (Tom Wilkinson).
By swinging between broad laughs and cheap pathos - Pegg's specialties as an actor, apparently - while avoiding the more fertile ground between, Landis renders his Burke and Hare sociopolitically toothless and bizarrely insensitive.
Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz
Burke and Hare is a waste of a good cast and a better story, as well as a hollow reminder of how John Landis seemingly has lost his touch.
Slant Magazine by Joseph Jon Lanthier
Broadness this indolent hardly even stirs one to antipathy.
The film doesn't come within spitting distance of vintage Landis, e.g., "Animal House" or "An American Werewolf in London." But at least it's not "The Stupids."
All of the actors are enjoying themselves, and the movie is stuffed with history, atmosphere and vivid characters. What's in short supply, though, is laughter.
The new Burke & Hare offers many pleasures, chief among them the return of the Landis of old.
The New York Times by Neil Genzlinger
Those who care less about such stuff than about being entertained will find plenty to like in this ghoulish comedy, a droll take on one of the most notorious mass-murder cases of the 19th century.
The Hollywood Reporter by Ray Bennett
A so-called black comedy that is more sort of dull, spotty and yucky.
If anything, Burke & Hare is a slaphappy mess that recalls Landis's earliest work on 1970s midnight movies like "Schlock'' and "The Kentucky Fried Movie.''
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They accused him… They beat him… They condemned him… and after all that, they were more afraid of him than ever.
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