The Burrowers

I actually wanted to rate it a 6 (out of 10), but I liked the ending so much I had to give the movie an extra point. Plus it does dare to be different. And I think it does succeed most of the times, with combining known ingredients and mixing them up. Of course this is a western, but there is more to it than "cowboys and Indians" (much more and no pun intended). Most of the time we do know more than the main actors. And while we do know, it might feel a bit too slow moving for a few people. Of course I haven't watched the short (look in the movie connections on IMDb) or the web series, that are connected with this. It's a great nice idea though, that has some nice acting and a decent enough plot to follow.

Good acting, interesting horror plot, and a realistic portrayal of characters and events makes this a compelling low budget film. It's not an action movie and is not particularly frightening, but there are plenty of creative twists and turns and the characters carry the ball. The special effects are adequate to portray what is happening while avoiding a cheesiness common in low budget movies because they don't try to be spectacular. We actually see the rarely seen realism of men shooting with revolvers and missing most of the shots. The idea of being buried alive, then eaten, is sufficiently eerie to lend an aura of horror which is quietly reinforced but not overly dramatized. Definitely worth seeing. It drags a bit in the last hour but not much. Underrated.

This movie begins quietly on the prairie like other great western films with a man profess his love to a woman. A causal viewer would mistaken this as a western love story. Boy, would he or she be surprised. This movie is a cross between "The Searcher", "Days of Heaven", and "Feast". For me, I like the quiet opening of the movie without any loud and overbearing music, and its subtle overtone might strike others as being slow, but for me the subtleness sets up the creepy atmosphere of the film. I love Doug Hutchison's performance as cavalry officer, he gave this film a realistic feel to it, although, I doubt all cavalry officers behaved like him back in the old west days. The monsters which I am sorry to say are the weak point of the movie. Even though, they are scary but not well put together consider this film has some budget that are higher than other horror films. Also, I found the settings of the movie a bit disruptive at the end of the film as the characters went from a prairie setting to a forested mountain setting and back all too quick. It's too bad that this movie didn't see its theatrical release. Perhasp a better title would help.

I just finished watching "The Burrowers" and it was such a waste of my time I am going to keep this short. The first 30-35 minutes start of sufficiently mediocre -enough to slightly draw in your interest- but leaves you hoping things pick up a little, and fast. The middle of the movie is spent setting up plot lines which in the end amount to nothing (an attempt was made to have some action, but was pathetic). An attempt was made but there was no real climax to the movie, also pathetic. I know that some movies are just low budget, but that shouldn't mean the writers do a terrible job. In the end this movie was a joke. Instead of watching this movie, call your grandmother and ask her about when she was young, how she walked up hill to school in the snow-both ways. At least that will actually be slightly entertaining, and have some amount of purpose. Or better yet, go play bingo with her and maybe you will win a copy of the burrowers.

In the DVD extras the director talked about how smart horror fans are. It may be a stretch, but that statement must mean that the director considers this movie to be intelligently written. Such is not the case. The Burrowers are creatures that have hind legs like grasshoppers, yet they do not hop. Perhaps it's just artistic license that trades realism for cool-looking-ism. But why, then, present the movie as something that is for the "smart" horror fans? Maybe that was just the explanation for the total absence of nudity, with the exception of a male urinating in front of the camera. Getting back to the creatures, they have some traits that belong to spiders, like using venom that paralyzes prey and also liquefies (predigests) the innards. But "smart" horror fans would know that spiders do that to bugs, and bugs have innards encased in hard shells. Humans don't have that. Another silly trait of the Burrowers is that they disintegrate in sunlight, like vampires. That's pretty much the only way to do away with them. That's funny – of all the subterranean creatures known, not one species has that reaction to sunlight. The Burrowers apparently feasted exclusively on buffalo. but after honkies reduced their population, the Burrowers switched prey choice to humans. I may not be a biologist, but I just don't see that as realistic. There are many more creatures that are more similar to buffalo than us humans. Without spending the whole day asking myself if I am a genius for seeing past what "smart" horror fans must have overlooked, I'll just make one final observation that got past the censors. If the Burrowers were really a species known by Indians, why were there no records, and why were the creatures not discovered after "smart" folk moved into the west? Oh, that's right, they probably changed prey to something like gasoline cannisters. In the DVD extras, the director said that he always wanted to make a western, and then he said something about throwing a monster in it. It's OK that he made a silly monster, or should I say, species of monster. But if there wasn't any real thought put into the monsters, he shouldn't have talked about how the movie was for "smart" horror fans. If you chose "shop classes" instead of science when you were in high school, then maybe you'll consider this movie idea to be intelligent. Unless you like stereotypes, unrealistic dialog, bad depiction of a period in history, and visuals that have no logical basis other than the "look" of them (miniature crop circles that point to where burrowers came or went), then this movie is best left buried.

Why do we have to resort to obscene language to sell a movie? This would have been good perhaps if I could of got through the movie. I have never heard of a movie in my life that used the Lord's name in vain over and over and over. If a show is good it will sell itself,without having to use this type of language. We are adults, smart, makes me kind of wonder about the producer and what type of guy he is. Also makes me wonder out of a whole set of crew, production etc. not ONE person had the nerve to come forward and say, "hey is this really necessary?" The beauty of TV you get to change the channel. Its kind of scary to know that this movie was popular...really what is the world coming to?

Basically a Horror Western with heavy overtones of racial morality. But is it worth watching? Well, in my opinion yes. It has suspense, horror, action and of course - cowboys and Indian's, what more do you want? Monsters? Well it's got them too. And yes, it really is as silly as it sounds. But overall, it's a good flick to rent. Nothing in this film is top drawer, but it's not far off. The characters are a little over the top with stereotypes, eg. Henry Victor - the Indian hating military commander (quite comical at times, whether this was intentional I don't know), the Irish settler, the 'token' black guy. The overtones of racial morality are present throughout, almost as though this is supposed to be a tale about 'loving thy neighbour'. I can understand why they did this, It's set in the late 1800's and the Indians were the bogeymen at the time, but it's a bit overdone IMO. Anyway, it's not about 'loving thy neighbour' it's about monsters...keeping it real. Overall, Cowboys, Indians and Monsters (just missing the voluptuous blond I guess). Grab a few beers and rent this film. 6/10

I really don't get the negative press and review this flick is getting, this is pure gold. If H.P. Lovecraft wrote a western, this would probably be the story. This story doesn't need toe be blood and guts, it isn't relaing on gore, just shear suspense and story. It is a simpel story, but such a well played one. At the start you think you know what will happen, but it doesn't pan out that way at all. As for the whole "evil white men' stick, well the indians weren't treated right, deal with it white people. I think it was a pretty good representation of the times. I am sorry if I offend some people, but you would have to b a complete idiot not to love this one. On of the best horror flicks I have seen since In the Mouth of Madness. HP Lovecraft would be proud!

When i started watching this film i didn't expect a masterpiece but rather something pleasant to kill time. I chose this film because it has an actor who i really appreciate, but the result was disappointing. I ended up pausing this film so many times that it took me more then four hours to finish it. If you end up watching this movie the only way to see it through is by doing something else at the same time. Read, talk to your friends or whatever... You can also see it in fast-forward or pause it - but this way it will take forever to finish it. The plot was boring and sometimes I got the feeling that something is missing (not that this would save the movie, but it could make it a little more watchable). Also the creatures weren't something interesting. Only the moral of the story was fun!

On 11 August 1879, in the Dakota Territories, the Irish Fergus Coffey (Karl Geary) intends to propose his beloved Maryanne Stewart; however her family is attacked apparently by the Sioux and they vanish. Fergus joins to the experienced John Clay (Clancy Brown) and William Parcher (William Mapother) and a teenager to track down the family of settlers. Along their journey, the team-up with the army troop led by the sadistic and racist Captain Henry Victor (Doug Hutchison) that also believes that the Sioux are responsible for the abduction of the families in the territory. The quartet has friction with Henry and decides to ride without the escort of the army and the black cook Callaghan (Sean Patrick Thomas) decides to travel with the group. After an Indian attack in the woods, the survivors discovers that the Sioux are not responsible for the slaughters but actually a pack of carnivorous creatures from underground called The Burrowers and they have to fight to survive. "The Burrowers" is a creepy, original, weird and brutal film in the environment of the Wild West, with good special effects. However these effects are too graphic and gruesome and most of the characters are non- likable. Doug Hutchison, from X-Files, performs a sadistic and racist captain of the army and his character is really hateful. The conclusion is pessimist and the black humor never works. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): "Escavadores" ("Burrowers")