Burke & Hare [M]

In 19^th century Edinburgh two men, William Burke and William Hare, are scraping an earnest living. But when the demands for recently deceased bodies, for medical purposes, grow higher and higher, the two find themselves a little niche market that soon escalates into one of the most famous murders in the history of Edinburgh. 

Inspired by true events and featuring a few characters, whose names have become rather famous and household, Burke & Hare is a bizarre, but very funny little black comedy that will have you cringing, swooning, admiring, and unable to turn away. 

In 19^th century Edinburgh two men, William Burke and William Hare, are barely scraping a living. But when the demands for recently deceased bodies, for medical purposes, grow higher and higher the boys, who have recently had the bizarre fortune of having a customer die on them, find themselves a little niche market that soon escalates into one of the most famous murders in the history of Edinburgh. 

This was really a bizarre little film. It had me laughing, but at the same time it had be somewhat repulsed. The story was there from the start: basically these two street mountebanks, trying to scrape an earnest living, come back to the hotel to learn that a tenant has died on rent day. Upon hearing that doctors and professors will pay good money for fresh bodies, the heroes sell their recently deceased tenant and suddenly fall into that business, escalating to grave robbers and eventual murderers. 

The subject matter is rather bleak and macabre, but the lively music, the setting, the accents, and the vibrant characters make it all the more hilarious. 

I’ll admit that some of the characters and their separate stories were a little tricky to keep up with and some of the gore humour was not precisely to my taste, but ultimately I found this movie bizarre, but very funny. 

Featuring memorable performances from Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher Bill Bailey, Tom Wilkinson, Michael Smiley, Jessica Hynes, David Schofield, and Tim Curry, Burke & Hare was a very funny little black comedy filled with sex, romance, gore, murder, Shakespeare, and comedy. I found it light and entertaining and I would recommend it.