[The Burrowers]
Plot:A group of men searching for a family of recently vanished settlers, come across a vicious enemy lurking beneath the surface.

Cast:Doug Hutchinson, Clancy Brown, William Mapother, Sean Patrick Thomas, Karl Geary, Jocelin Donahue, Laura Leighton, Robert Ri'chard, Alexander Skarsgård, Brighid Fleming, Galen Hutchinson, Anthony Parker, Christopher Hagan, Stan Burd, David Busse, Jon Kristian Moore, Seri DeYoung, Cole Resch.

My Thoughts:Above average creature feature.

Review:"The Burrowers" was being deemed early on as a pretty big deal as far as monster movies are concerned. Personally, I didn't see the film as a huge deal, but it wasn't a waste of time either. The movie is set way back in the frontier days where Native Americans and White Settlers often clashed. As if the two groups didn't trust each other enough, and have enough bad blood between them...when the women of a white family go missing after a vicious attack, a group of lawmen immediately suspect indians are responsible.

So they set out to rescue the women, but they soon come across an even more dangerous and deadly foe. One that lives underground, and has a taste for human flesh. One of the interesting things about this film is the very well-crafted and socially intriguing story that writer/director J.T. Petty put together. The film isn't just a "wham, bam, thank you mam" monster movie where a group of people are slaughtered and the monster moves on to the next person.

But it's also a great story, and gives an interesting perspective into the social order of things back in those times. And how certain peoples back them co-existed, attempted to co-exist, or didn't co-exist at all, for various reasons. The films cast is led by Karl Geary, who decides to join the hunting party due to one of the vanished women being his girlfriend. Geary, who put on a great performance in "Mimic:Sentinel" as Marvin, puts on another good performance in this movie as the often laid-back, but brave and intelligent Coffey.

The movie also finds a a way to weave Geary's real life Irish heritage into the pictures storyline as a stereotype which makes him ripe for suspicion from some of the white settlers, much like the blacks and natives were back in those days and still are now to a certain extent. The movie spends alot more time crafting the story and furthering the characters relationships with each other, and their eventual fates, before it interjects the creatures into the movie.

In case you're wondering what the monsters in this movie are like, let me warn you that this isn't a film like "Deep Rising" for example, where there are various scenes of monsters eating people alive or attacking them. This movie uses the monsters as a more discreet threat. They mostly attack at night, and because most of the creature scenes occur during the dark, we don't get to see much of them.

But the performances, loud noises, and way those scenes are choreographed still manage to make them effective. Even if we're not seeing much monster in 80% of the movie. The Burrowers themselves are an interesting antagonist, similar to the Tremors in the fact that they travel underground, and catch their food that way. But different in the ways that they devour their pray, and how the process of their devouring exactly works.

"The Burrowers" isn't a super bloody movie, but it's bloody enough to be workable, based on the situation it presents, and the outdoorsy setting is a nice change of pace from the standard suburbs, city, or small town in the middle of nowhere. The film really succeeds in it's performances and characters though. Each character, from the villains, to the good guys, to those who may be a bit in-between, is entertaining to watch. And also, the characters all of them, manage to not come off as annoying.

This includes the films meanest character who sports a sinister-looking moustache. The films final act carry it home nicely, with a very clever twist injected into the films storyline which connects to a possible way of defeating the underground-dwelling burrowers, and an exciting climax where Geary's character has to do battle with the ferocious beasts himself or suffer a similar fate of those before him. "The Burrowers" is more interesting, entertaining, and well-written than the A-typical creature feature. It's a nice and refreshing change of pace for an indie horror picture.

Positives:Great performance by Geary and most of the other actors. Interesting monsters, a refreshing setting for the movie, interesting characters, and a satisfactory amount of suspense-filled scenes.

Negatives:The monsters could've been seen more, and even though their nighttime attacks are eventually explained in the end very cleverly, still I think one big time daytime kill scene would've been cool.

Overall:Three and a half out of four stars.





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