Review of Burke & Hare (2010) by Catine M — 07 Oct 2011

BURKE AND HARE is an easily entertaining yet morally skewed period black comedy concerning the infamous Edinburgh West Port murders of 1828. William Burke and William Hare were the perpetrators of the murderous crimes, though John Landis's first film out of his extended filmmaking hiatus comically portrays their situation as a quick fix/only option for earning a living. Sure, they could have bailed out of the "cadaver" business in providing fresh corpses to Edinburgh's premier school of medicine, yet the money ball kept rolling and a whole new life began for Burke and Hare. Too bad the families of those who went missing went to the militia...

Seeing as BURKE AND HARE's murders are more famous than their actual story, Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft's screenplay gives a goofy, rambunctious tone to this fictional rendition of the "cadaver" business Burke and Hare set the ball rolling for. And while there are scenes showing corpses and dismembered limbs, the gore factor is surprisingly low for an Unrated film (in general). Then again, for director Landis to maintain his goofy tone he probably wanted to keep the gore quotient during the mostly discreet murders at a minimal level.

BURKE AND HARE's true saving graces are its on-the-spot set production and costume design, and the spirited and talented cast: Simon Pegg as the right-minded and good-hearted William Burke, the wonderfully-cast Andy Serkis as the conniving and businessman-like William Hare, the passionate Tom Wilkinson as Dr. Robert Knox (the man who hires the notorious duo for fresh cadavers), the lovely Isla Fisher as the aspiring theatrical actress Ginny Hawkins, and screen legends too good to spoil making brief yet entirely welcome appearances.

The production and costume design in John Landis's newest film allows the film to look and feel like a period piece. Where the goofy tone, Pegg, and Serkis come in is to enliven the proper period setting with black humor and total goofiness.

Mr. John Landis's still got the magic touch in making an unlikely story seem and feel a lot funnier than it should be. He made werewolf stories have humor along with the requisite gore factor, made college sororities a classic laugh-fest, and made two brothers on a god-given mission extremely funny (this film was the easiest one to be naturally funny).

If you're a fan of any of these actors, black humor in period pieces, goofy comedy, and bittersweet endings, see BURKE AND HARE. John Landis's film is not as outlandish as you may think it to be, nor is it as wild as it should be. It's right in between these two markers.