Movies
Burke & Hare (VOD)
“Burke and Hare is poorly constructed and painfully unfunny, underutilizing Pegg and depending on funny faces to carry the entire film.”
Back in 2009, I got a chance to chat with John Landis for our podcast and it ended up being one of the best interviews I’ve ever done. Landis is extremely straight-forward and cantankerous in the best way possible; he’s the only person I’ve ever had refuse to answer a question not because his hands were tied, but because he just didn’t feel like it. It was around the time he was in the midst of pre-production on Burke And Hare, his first feature-length narrative film since 1998’s Susan’s Plan. On paper, it sounded like a geek’s wet dream: Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis starring as grave robbers in a horror comedy directed by Landis, who’s directed some of the greatest comedies of all time as well as dabbling in the genre with An American Werewolf In London, Thriller, and Innocent Blood. It’s really shocking that, even with all this going for it, Burke And Hare is as unfunny as the real-life case it’s based upon.
After discovering they can turn a profit for selling corpses to progressive anatomist Dr. Knox (Tom Wilkinson) when one of their elderly tenants dies, entrepreneurs William Burke (Pegg) and William Hare (Serkis) realize their primitive 19th century pharmaceuticals hocking was the wrong racket for them. While slightly hesitant to begin down a path of moral impropriety, the two entrepreneurs quickly change their tune when they realize they can make enough money to fund Hare and his wife’s (Spaced alumni Jessica Hynes) and Burke’s would-be girlfriend’s (Isla Fisher) all-woman stage production of Macbeth. As the bodies and money begin to pile up, so do Burke and Hare’s problems as a group of opportunists and the police begin to catch onto their scheme, putting their vision of a cushy future in jeopardy.
Having a charismatic villain that audiences latch onto isn’t anything revolutionary, but Burke and Hare completely misses the mark by taking two devious murderers and turning them into romantic-comedy leading men. Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft’s screenplay tries to create sympathetic, identifiable characters out of Burke and Hare, and although I’m sure everyone can relate to having financial issues, especially in this economy, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone approving of premeditated murder as means for monetary investment. The film, however, finds it hilarious, and somehow tries to make light of knocking off old women for money, and then decides it wants to be straight-faced once the men are prosecuted.
The terribly dark and unfunny sense of humor doesn’t end there, as the bulk of the comedy revolves around Burke and Hare making awkward faces at each in other in disgust of hauling around dead bodies, or being in the same vicinity as a cauldron of feces. When the actors and script fail to deliver any chuckles, the editing takes a swipe at it but stumbles even harder as Hare plows his wife in bed, only to have her stare off and moan apathetically before it quickly cuts to the next scene. Burke and Hare wears its cultural appreciation on its sleeve with fantastic production design and an endless parade of character actors from across the pond, but fails to deliver any actual dry, British humor.
After two great Masters of Horror episodes, I thought Landis was back on track, returning to a subgenre that he practically turned mainstream all by himself. But Burke and Hare is poorly constructed and painfully unfunny, underutilizing Pegg and depending on funny faces to carry the entire film. The whole is not as great as the sum of its parts, putting it in the same boat as Beverly Hills Cop III.
It was almost one year ago that Warner Bros. brought the entire original A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise to 4K in one massive 7-movie collection, with the limited edition SteelBook version of the set quickly selling out and becoming highly sought after. But we’re happy to report tonight that the SteelBook set is currently back in stock over on Amazon!
While supplies last, grab the Elm Street SteelBook collection for $154.99 right now!!
Orders placed for this re-release are scheduled to begin shipping out September 15, 2026.
[Related] Freddy’s Back: New ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Movie in the Works at Paramount
From New Line Cinema, the collection includes the original seven films – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989), Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) – along with the uncut versions of A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Dream Child.
Two BRAND NEW SPECIAL FEATURES for this set include:
- Boiler Room Confessional: The king of slashers, Robert Englund, takes us on a journey through the dream world, sharing what inspired Freddy Krueger, his rise as a cultural icon, and the legacy of A Nightmare on Elm Street, plus his favorite kills, scenes, and more.
- Freddy’s Footnotes: Robert Englund and original A Nightmare on Elm Street filmmakers revisit iconic scenes, revealing the movie magic and chaos behind our favorite nightmares. Pull back the curtain and relive epic moments through the eyes of those who made them.
Here’s the full breakdown of included Special Features for each movie…
A Nightmare on Elm Street
· Ready Freddy Focus Points
· Commentary with Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, Robert Shaye, and Sara Risher
· Commentary with Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and Jacques Haitkin
· Alternate Endings – Scary Ending, Happy Ending, Freddy Ending
· The House that Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror
· Never Sleep Again: The Making of A Nightmare on Elm Street
· Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven’s Nightmares
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
· Freddy on 8th Street
· Heroes and Villains
· The Male Witch
· Psychosexual Circus
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
· Behind the Story: Burnout
· Behind the Story: Fan Mail
· Behind the Story: The House that Freddy Built
· Behind the Story: Onward Christian Soldiers
· Behind the Story: Snakes and Ladders
· Behind the Story: That’s Showbiz
· Behind the Story: Trading 8’s
· Dokken Dream Warriors Music Video
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
· The Finnish Line
· Krueger, Freddy Krueger
· Hopeless Chest
· Let’s Makeup
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
· Behind the Story: Womb Raiders
· Behind the Story: The Sticky Floor
· Behind the Story: Take the Stairs
· Behind the Story: Hopkins Directs
· Behind the Story: A Slight Miscalculation
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
· 86’D
· Hellraiser
· Rachel’s Dream
· 3D Demise
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
· Commentary with Wes Craven
· NEW – Boiler Room Confessional
· NEW – Freddy’s Footnotes
· Becoming a Filmmaker
· Filmmaker
· An Insane Troupe
· The Problem with Sequels
· Two Worlds
· Welcome to Prime Time: It Really Happened
· Welcome to Prime Time: A Childhood Memory
· Welcome to Prime Time: Sometime in the Early 80s
· Welcome to Prime Time: So It Began
· Welcome to Prime Time: Beauty and the Beast
· Welcome to Prime Time: Making the Glove
· Welcome to Prime Time: Shapeshifter
· Welcome to Prime Time: The Shoot
· Welcome to Prime Time: The Revolving Room
· Welcome to Prime Time: All’s Well that Ends Well
· Welcome to Prime Time: Talalay’s Tally
· Welcome to Prime Time: It Couldn’t Have Happened
· Welcome to Prime Time: Alternate Ending Version
· Conclusion: Where Gothic Plots Come From
· Conclusion: Why We Like Gothic
· Conclusion: Sadomasochism
· Conclusion: Freddy vs. Pinhead
· Conclusion: Freddy’s Manic Energy
· Conclusion: Creating Lasting Characters in Horror
· Conclusion: No More Magic Tricks
· Conclusion: Monster with Personality
· Conclusion: Freddy as Sex Machine
· Conclusion: Campfire Stories
The Elm Street collection is available in this collectible SteelBook packaging (exclusive to Amazon) and as a standard 4K collection that’s also available now over on Amazon.
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