''The Burrowers'' is a 2008
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...
written and directed by
J. T. Petty. The film is based on an original short film, ''Blood Red Earth'' directed by Petty.
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Plot
The year is 1879, and beyond the fringes of civilization a handful of pioneers maintain settlements while exploring the unknown territories. One night, a family from one of these settlements is brutally dragged into darkness by a group of unknown invaders. At first the kidnappers are thought to be hostile Native Americans, and a posse forms to bring the family back home safely.
Venturing out into the unmapped territories is an Irish immigrant desperate to find his lost love, a naïve teen eager to prove his worth, a freedman
A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...
seeking his fortune, and a hardened pair of battle-weary Indian fighters. But nature's wrath and the tomahawk
A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Euro ...
s of hostile tribes are not the only threats that this group will be forced to confront, because as the bodies begin to multiply and the truth about the abductors gradually emerges, these rescuers will find out that there are forces in this world that cannot be described in human terms—and that seem to have motivations beyond our comprehension.
A species, called "Burrowers" by the Natives, used to subsist on buffalo. When white settlers depleted the buffalo, the species began to survive on human meat – first hunting nearby Indians and later the settlers. One tribe in particular, the Ute, have experience in combating the hunter-species. The "Burrowers" first lace their victims by cutting them and drugging them with a toxin. The victim is then buried alive and eaten only after decomposition has begun. By the time the film's protagonists meet up with the Ute their numbers are severely depleted, but the Ute method of drugging someone already infected with "Burrower" toxin proves effective. When the "Burrowers" go to eat the twice drugged victim they themselves fall asleep and are vulnerable, especially to the rays of the sun, which are the only apparent thing that can kill them. However, the surviving member of the posse, the Irishman Coffey, is unable to discover exactly what the Ute used to drug the "Burrowers", as most of the remaining Ute are executed by the overzealous cavalry. The film ends with the suggestion that the "Burrower" attacks will continue.
Cast
Release
''The Burrowers'' was first screened at the Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
on September 9, 2008.
Home media
The film was released on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
by Lionsgate
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian- American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...
and Maple Pictures
Maple Pictures Corporation was the distribution arm of Alliance Films. It was formed on April 13, 2005 when Lionsgate demerged to two companies—Lions Gate Entertainment and Maple Pictures (formerly the original Lionsgate Films). Maple Picture ...
in the United States and Canada respectively on April 21, 2009.
Critical response
''The Burrowers'' received mostly positive reviews upon its release, with critics praising the film's blending of horror and western genres, cinematography, and character development. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 75%, based on 12 reviews, and an average rating of 6.02/10.
Karina Longworth of ''IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
'' praised the cinematography, and screenplay, noting that the film "plays less like a horror film than a Terrence Malick
Terrence Frederick Malick (born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. His films include '' Days of Heaven'' (1978), '' The Thin Red Line'' (1998), for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenp ...
film, with a mythological MacGuffin designed to reveal dark truths about the men forced to deal with it." Adrian Halen from ''HorrorNews.net'' offered the film similar praise, while noting that the film was more focused on its characters rather than its title antagonists.
See also
*Weird West
Weird West (aka Weird Western) is a term used for the hybrid genres of fantasy Western, horror Western and science fiction Western. The term originated with DC's ''Weird Western Tales'' in 1972, but the idea is older as the genres have bee ...
*'' Tremors 4: The Legend Begins''
* Native American
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrowers, The
2008 films
2008 horror films
2000s Western (genre) horror films
2000s monster movies
American Western (genre) horror films
American science fiction horror films
Films directed by J. T. Petty
Films set in 1879
Films shot in New Mexico
2000s English-language films
2000s American films