I still haven’t had the chance to check out John Landis’ Burke and Hare, his first feature-length film since 1998’s Susan’s Plan. Although we’ve had 2004’s Slasher, his fantastic made-for-tv documentary about an eccentric used car salesman, and his Masters of Horror episodes which were some of the highlights of the show (Family in particular), the idea of the man returning to his dark comedy roots with a genre flick sounds too good to be true. It opened in the UK late last year and played the festivals around here but never seemed to amass much buzz.
Certainly this lousy trailer didn’t help things.
But hey, it’s a new John Landis film starring Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis. You know you’re going to check it out.
The first feature length film in over 10 years from director John Landis (THE BLUES BROTHERS), and featuring an all star cast led by Simon Pegg (SHAUN OF THE DEAD) and Andy Serkis (THE LORD OF THE RINGS), BURKE AND HARE is a comedic take on the true story of the 1828 Edinburgh body-snatchers William Burke (Simon Pegg) and William Hare (Andy Serkis). These two Irish entrepreneurs discover that a dead body can fetch a hefty price when the demands of the leading medical professors Dr. Knox (Tom Wilkinson) and Dr. Monroe (Tim Curry) reach beyond that of the local supply.
While the film is finally getting a limited theatrical debut here in the States on September 9th, we’ve just learned that the film will be available on SundanceNOW– Sundance’s online home to stream indie films- a full month earlier on August 5th.
Here’s the rest of their current lineup- the twisted Spanish Cannibal flick We Are What We Are gets a thumbs up from me-
FLYPAPER: 7/11
CRACKS: 7/19
PEEP WORLD: 7/19
WE ARE WHAT WE ARE: 7/26
PARK BENCHES: 7/26
HEARTBEAT: 7/26
LIFE DURING WARTIME: 7/26