Fantasia: Burke and Hare

Directed by John Landis
Written by Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft
Cast Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry, Ilsa Fisher

Burke and Hare is a black comedy set in 1820 Edinburgh. Two grave robbers, played by Pegg and Serkis, try to make a business selling corpses to medical schools in the city. Eventually, they start to run out of corpses so they start murdering people to make some extra money. The story is very morbid and intense, but the comedy makes the content seem light and almost alright, that is until we remember that they were killers and they did pay for it at some point.

What I loved most about this film was all of the characters; they were lively and bright, although some of the dialogue was hard to understand because of the strong accents.

Simon Pegg brings his brilliant performance to the 19th century and nails it on the head. His delivery and facial expressions made me laugh and care deeply for his character. Andy Serkis was equally as funny, and together they are certainly a dream team in the making.

The thing about a period piece is that your décor, sets and costumes have to be spot on so that it can actually be believable. Landis nailed it and brought me to Edinburgh; the colours were dark and dirty, and the background people were filthy and miserable looking. All in all, it was a job well done.

I did enjoy the film, but I don’t think I will be purchasing it any time soon. As glad as I am that I got to see it, it didn't make it onto my top must sees of the summer either.

3 out of 5 stars

-Andrea Boulet