hyped garbage

Brilliant and touching

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

1879: The Dakota Territories. A family of settlers are brutally attacked, the victims either dead or missing; suspicion falls on the local Indians. A rescue party sets out to find the missing people only to discover a race of subterranean creatures that feed on human organs (because—***heavy handed message alert!***—their usual diet of buffalo has been seriously depleted by the white man—boo hiss!).Despite a promising basic premise, I didn't enjoy The Burrowers very much: it's as if the film-makers came up with a good idea and then figured out every possible way to suck the fun out of it. They desaturated the colour, made the action as slow as molasses in January, kept the monsters hidden from view for the majority of the time (not that they are much cop when we do get to see them), and shot almost everything at night so that it was extremely difficult to see what was going on. Then, to round it all off, they gave the film one hell of an unsatisfactory ending, killing off the only vaguely likable characters and closing in a manner that I guess is intended to be daringly unpredictable, ironic, and downbeat, but which only succeeds in being hugely irritating.

The Burrowers is written and directed by J.T. Petty. It stars William Mapother, Sean Patrick Thomas, Clancy Brown, Laura Leighton, Doug Hutchison, Karl Geary and Robert Richard. Music is by Joseph LoDuca and cinematography by Phil Parmet.August the 11th 1879, the Dakota territories, and after a family of pioneers are abducted a posse is formed and go off in search of the culprits. It is believed they have fallen prey to hostile Native Americans, but once out in the wilds the truth hits home and the posse find themselves in a brutal and bloody fight for survival.It's not like Tremors! That wonderful homage to the B movie creature features of the 1950s is played for laughs and action thrills. The Burrowers admittedly on plot synopsis' does lend one to think that a fun packed creature feature is in the offering, but as many unaware film fans have found out, this is far from being the case.I would rather walk in the right direction than ride with my head up my ass.The Burrowers takes itself seriously, and not insultingly so. J.T. Petty wanted to make a Horror/Western but not in the schlocky sense. He even infuses the narrative with some human concerns and statements, ecologically and racially so.The pace is very, very deliberate, so potential first time viewers need to take that into consideration. Once the plot is kick started in the opening salvo, the posse go out into the wilds and interact, for better and worse, dialogue is sharp and pointed, intelligent even.A number of great character based scenes are setting the tone for what is a downbeat picture, while when the action comes in tantalising spurts, it's well marshalled by Petty, and it's not just all about the creatures either.The look is of a classical Western, which considering the modest budget is quite some achievement. From costuming and props, to the colour palette, the film convinces as the Old West of 1879. In this regard it would have been very interesting to have seen Petty make a standalone Oater.Practical effects are very decent and CGI is wisely used sparingly, though the big showdown at pic's end is something of a let down. Elsewhere Sir Clancy of Brown and Doug The Thug Hutchison are sadly under written, though the face fuzz department scores high marks!A tricky one to recommend to either Horror or Western fans, but for atmosphere and a great sense of period - and no little amount of originality as well, it's worth checking out as long as you don't expect Tremors. 7/10

"The Burrowers" may not be on the level of, say, "Tremors", in its placement of a creature feature in a rural type of setting, but it isn't bad at all either. It does sort of suffer from a "been there, done that" feeling most of the time, although the way it puts a horror genre on a classic "The Searchers" type of Western plot is commendable. Where it works best is in the creation of a period feel, from the acting to the few locations used; mostly, it's filmed in the wide open spaces, and establishing that feeling of isolation can always help in a horror movie.A rural family is set upon by mysterious forces, and when only some of the bodies remain, some of their neighbours determine to find the supposed survivors. Among this group of searchers are Fergus Coffey (Karl Geary), who intended to marry Maryanne (Jocelin Donahue of "The House of the Devil"), one of the missing. They assume their people have been abducted by Indians, but are in for a shock when the perpetrators turn out to be something FAR worse.Writer / director J.T. Petty has his movie unfold at a deliberate pace, so some genre fans may grow a little impatient waiting for the good stuff. However, this does allow the actors time to create some well defined characters. Coffey, for one, is a basically good guy, but is shown to be fatally impulsive. Sean Patrick Thomas is quite engaging in the role of Callaghan the cook. Doug Hutchison, best known for playing Percy in "The Green Mile", adds another memorable interpretation of an incredibly unlikable part to his repertoire. Veteran Clancy Brown is solid in a tough but stolid role; however, he disappears from the movie a little too soon. The music (by Joseph LoDuca) is good as is the gorgeous widescreen photography. The creatures themselves don't sport particularly innovative design, but there is at least one entertaining aspect to what they do with their victims. The ending, too, falls short of being really satisfying. Still, Petty and company deserve some credit for preventing it from being wholly predictable, and for their blunt and honest depiction of the in-your-face racism of the time.Taking everything into account, one could do better than this and one could do a lot worse. Horror junkies should find it reasonably entertaining.Seven out of 10.

Strange movie. It's nearly Tremors, nearly Ravenous, nearly The Descent and nearly interesting.But three 'nearly's' ain't getting it done I'm afraid.Set in 1879 – 100 years before Billy Corgan found a year worth singing about – The Burrowers refer to… things, that beset a group of soldiers, civilians and cowboys searching for members of a missing presumed taken by Indians in a violent raid.The civvies have a more direct interest in finding those missing, but it seems the soldiers are driven by more sketchy motivations. It is after they indulge in some basic prolonged torture that the civvies decide to break and head off alone deep into Indian territory.It is here that things finally get to the point – and by that I mean the plot starts dealing with the events and 'things' referred to on the DVD cover. Only took half the film to get there.As the searchers forge ever onward they begin noticing shallow but obvious holes in the terrain, unnatural looking holes, near one of these a young girl is found buried in the dirt – literally buried – only her scalp barely shows on the ground surface. Stranger still the girl is alive, though catatonic, and she is immediately sent back to the town with a young boy as her chauffeur.The remaining crew move forward, by this stage as confused as we are. Until they finally meet those responsible for the holes, after this everything quickly falls into place, meaning the film can be wrapped up similarly swiftly.The design of the 'burrowers' is only so-so, they don't really look that effective which explains also why they are not shown on screen mostly as glimpses and in the fringes. In fact the director showed more close ups of various insects in the first hour than the titular creatures.I kinda liked the brief National Geographic explanation behind the burrowers living habits (think spiders) and I kinda liked the pacing near the end. But really this is like a Dean Koontz book, come up with an interchangeable monster/creature/virus/'insert scary thing X', spend two thirds of the book lazily setting the scene, then have the final third about dealing with 'X'.It's all quite straightforward and not quite worthwhile.Final Rating – 5 / 10. A brave, sincere and futile attempt at creating an original horror movie that doesn't work because even in small borrowings the original sources are obvious (and better).