Burke and Hare

Name: Burke and Hare
Genre: Thriller, Comedy
Released: September 9, 2011
Duration: 91 min
Rating: 46

2011

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Mixed or average reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Ratings

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5.4	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Ratings

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Burke & Hare

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Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: September 9, 2011 | Not Rated

Summary: Burke & Hare is adark comedy/thriller staring Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry and Isla Fisher as the unfortunate denizens of 19th century Edinburgh, a setting rife with murder, theft, prostitution, corpse snatching, experimental medicine, and of course Shakespeare. (IFC Films)

Director: John Landis

Genre(s): Thriller, Comedy

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 91 min

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Critic Reviews

Nathan Rabin

Sep 7, 2011

The new Burke & Hare offers many pleasures, chief among them the return of the Landis of old. Read full review

Neil Genzlinger

Sep 8, 2011

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. Read full review

Kyle Smith

Sep 9, 2011

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. Read full review

Ray Bennett

Aug 29, 2011

A so-called black comedy that is more sort of dull, spotty and yucky. Read full review

Keith Uhlich

Sep 6, 2011

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." Read full review

Ty Burr

Dec 1, 2011

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.'' Read full review

Mark Holcomb

Sep 6, 2011

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. Read full review

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User Reviews

HighwayUK

Jun 1, 2012

I quite liked the casting so that was enough to make me want to watch it, I was quite satisfied with the movie, had some good acting, decent reworking of the story and grisley too...

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

DawdlingPoet

Nov 28, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is quite an entertaining film, a bit over the top as far as the accents are concerned (and thats perhaps putting it lightly!), one which doesn't take itself too seriously, in the depiction of the characters and the area its set in. There's a lot of cheery pipe/celtic style music played, although otherwise the city looks very dark and rather spooky but the people do seem quite animated, almost like a sort of stereotyped caricature of the type of person they are (a Scot, an Irishman, a drunk etc.).

This did seem to me a bit of a mish-mash of a comedy/spoof/drama. It has a really cheesy feel to it and I suppose some people may feel its a bit inappropriate, given the serious nature of the pairs crimes (as far as the relatives of the victims are concerned certainly, although, of course, this all happened a fair while ago). I felt that the music used was rather off putting at times, in terms of the emphasis placed on it. I did think it was quite amusing in some of the comical scenes, such as a drunken mans response to somehow recovering from a rather nasty long fall. I also found myself paying quite close attention to the new characters that appeared on screen, due to the numerous well known cast members, well known British comedy stars, who regularly made an appearance. The film includes a sub-plot involving Burke's romantic interest, which seemed perhaps superfluous, or otherwise not entirely necessary. Given I felt this film had a spoof element, I suppose it could be argued that it was simply 'par for the course' but it didn't seem to be entirely integral to the main storyline and just a bit of 'fluff', shall we say. This film is definitely quite comical and as I say it doesn't take itself seriously, so don't expect it to be a completely hisorically accurate re-enactment of the supposed true story its based on (which is one thats quite famous in Scottish folklore). The accents are rather toe curling in a silly, overly dramatic and rather comedic way. I found it to be a highly watchable, entertaining film, if a bit over the top and perhaps too blase given what supposedly occured being a true story. To be fair to the film, though, I believe it opens up with the lines 'based on a true story. The parts that are true anyway' or something similar, so there you go!.

One thing that confused me (as a side note) is/was the constant referring to what seemed to be the police, as the militia, which wasn't a label I was familiar with. Yes there are slightly squeamish moments but its certainly not what I would categorise as a horror film - its quite mildly gory I suppose but as long as you can stomach a small amount of blood spatter then that shouldn't cause many issues. I think its fair to say that this is primarily a quite light hearted film, in tone and content generally. At around an hour and a half long, there are certainly worse ways you could spend that time, or worse things you could see but it probably won't appeal or suit all and I suspect I won't remember a great deal about it in the weeks to follow, as it did seem rather unmemorable. For the type of film it is, its ok, possibly worth renting or catching on TV but I wouldn't go out of my way to spend much seeing it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

LewisDanny

Oct 14, 2017

I think this might possibly be the only movie in Simon Pegg's gigantic filmography that I haven't liked - very little redeeming features in this film, unfortunately.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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