A surprisingly good film for the horror genre. It's not a truly outstanding film, but it is a fine flick to rent and sip some beers and eat some popcorn while watching. The acting is pretty good in this film save for Doug Hutchison who's a bit over-the-top in his portrayal of the racist army captain. Racial undertones are presented throughout this movie: how whites treat Indians, blacks, and even certain white ethnic groups.

This movie is really more of Western that happens to have some horror elements thrown in. Go into it expecting to watch a "cowboys and Indians" film and I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Most of the violence in this film is man against man rather than man against monster. The "burrowers" themselves are a bit disappointing once revealed, mostly because of the poor CGI. The final battle is not as satisfying as I thought it would be, but the extremely dark and depressing ending was well done. This film is much better than most straight to DVD releases.

7/10

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

For a movie probably pitched as "Tremors in the old West", The Burrowers turned out to be a pleasant surprise, a movie almost better than it has any right to be or at least better than one would expect given its budget and straight-to-DVD status. Unlike the vast majority of western horror hybrids it works so well exactly because it takes its western self as serious, if not more so, than its horror one. Even though it's made like a horror movie, comes with all the generic paraphernalia of one (jump scares, loud sound cues, etc.), and panders to the straight-to-DVD Lionsgate audience more than western loyalists, it still convinces that its western credentials have as much place in it as the horror hijinks, that they're not mere exotic props to be wielded as diversions from the usual clichés of another monster movie. Before the rather forgettable schlock of the finale, the movie has soaked up enough eerie frontier atmosphere of wide open prairies, deserted Indian camps and abandoned wagons, to make the creature feature aspect seem almost redundant. And in doing meets Neil Marshall's The Descent and Dog Soldiers in equal terms. Let's face it, the Old West could be a pretty terrifying place without us having to add supernatural touches to make it scarier 150 years later. This I believe is The Burrowers' greatest success: it earns its horror credentials by remaining serious within its western setting.

That's not to say it's gonna win any accolades for originality. But it's competently made sufficiently acted and well lensed to hold together at the seams. If the prospect of a western creature feature sounds like something you would enjoy, The Burrowers will rise to the occasion and try and please. If not then it never had a chance with you. Fans of both westerns and horror (two genres that sadly don't mix as often as they should, still waiting for the filmic equivalent of a Blood Meridian to prove it) will have a ball, traditionalists of either will probably cock an eyebrow.

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")

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.

I really enjoyed the Western setting for this horror. The film starts of promising, but then becomes way too slow moving for such a short film (96 minutes). There's also always the promise of something about to happen, but then doesn't - to the extent where it became more of a drama about the characters. Don't get me wrong, it was never boring, just a bit too slow and not entirely what I expected.

The acting was okay, the visual effects were okay. Nothing really blew me away. It was a very different cowboys and Indians film, a very different Western, and a very different horror. In a way, this was like 'Tremors', just with much less happening and not nearly as interesting or entertaining. The film does live up to the horror genre during the final moments, but I fear I'm gonna forget this one very soon. It wasn't bad; just not memorable enough...

The Burrowers is written and directed by J.T. Petty. It stars William Mapother, Sean Patrick Thomas, Clancy Brown, Laura Leighton, Doug Hutchison, Karl Geary and Robert Richard. Music is by Joseph LoDuca and cinematography by Phil Parmet.

August the 11th 1879, the Dakota territories, and after a family of pioneers are abducted a posse is formed and go off in search of the culprits. It is believed they have fallen prey to hostile Native Americans, but once out in the wilds the truth hits home and the posse find themselves in a brutal and bloody fight for survival.

It's not like Tremors! That wonderful homage to the B movie creature features of the 1950s is played for laughs and action thrills. The Burrowers admittedly on plot synopsis' does lend one to think that a fun packed creature feature is in the offering, but as many unaware film fans have found out, this is far from being the case.

I would rather walk in the right direction than ride with my head up my ass.

The Burrowers takes itself seriously, and not insultingly so. J.T. Petty wanted to make a Horror/Western but not in the schlocky sense. He even infuses the narrative with some human concerns and statements, ecologically and racially so.

The pace is very, very deliberate, so potential first time viewers need to take that into consideration. Once the plot is kick started in the opening salvo, the posse go out into the wilds and interact, for better and worse, dialogue is sharp and pointed, intelligent even.

A number of great character based scenes are setting the tone for what is a downbeat picture, while when the action comes in tantalising spurts, it's well marshalled by Petty, and it's not just all about the creatures either.

The look is of a classical Western, which considering the modest budget is quite some achievement. From costuming and props, to the colour palette, the film convinces as the Old West of 1879. In this regard it would have been very interesting to have seen Petty make a standalone Oater.

Practical effects are very decent and CGI is wisely used sparingly, though the big showdown at pic's end is something of a let down. Elsewhere Sir Clancy of Brown and Doug The Thug Hutchison are sadly under written, though the face fuzz department scores high marks!

A tricky one to recommend to either Horror or Western fans, but for atmosphere and a great sense of period - and no little amount of originality as well, it's worth checking out as long as you don't expect Tremors. 7/10

1879: The Dakota Territories. A family of settlers are brutally attacked, the victims either dead or missing; suspicion falls on the local Indians. A rescue party sets out to find the missing people only to discover a race of subterranean creatures that feed on human organs (because—***heavy handed message alert!***—their usual diet of buffalo has been seriously depleted by the white man—boo hiss!).

Despite a promising basic premise, I didn't enjoy The Burrowers very much: it's as if the film-makers came up with a good idea and then figured out every possible way to suck the fun out of it. They desaturated the colour, made the action as slow as molasses in January, kept the monsters hidden from view for the majority of the time (not that they are much cop when we do get to see them), and shot almost everything at night so that it was extremely difficult to see what was going on. Then, to round it all off, they gave the film one hell of an unsatisfactory ending, killing off the only vaguely likable characters and closing in a manner that I guess is intended to be daringly unpredictable, ironic, and downbeat, but which only succeeds in being hugely irritating.

A western horror movie with creatures? Yeah, that's really all you need to know if you want to see this or not. Hey, you may not like it, but at the same time you may love it. I'm in the middle ground.

Story revolves around a rescue mission of sorts. The native Americans are blamed and that's where the rescue team is headed. Well, during the pursuit, people are mysteriously disappearing during the night. And what the hell are those weird holes in the ground? And why is the young girl they found not reacting to anything? Find out this and more in The Burrowers.

Like I said before, creatures in a western horror movie. That should be enough for you to make up your mind. If it's not enough, I can say that the creatures are pretty cool and the idea behind them is pretty original. But, you don't see them very often, and when you do, occasionally, they're in CGI form, but not always. And when not in CGI form, they look pretty sweet. My biggest gripe with the flick is....anything non-creature related. I just didn't give a damn about any of the rescue mission or the social-commentary or anything. Call me immature, call me a dumby, but hey, I like me some creatures, and these were pretty cool creatures, so it really grabbed all of my attention.

The Burrowers was a pretty slick lookin flick, with nice shots of rugged New Mexico, decent music, cool creatures (have I mentioned that??), a gaggle of carefree characters (especially Doug Hutchinson) and a pretty weak ending. The flick is a pretty mixed bag. It's a pretty solid rental, that you may just end up really enjoying. Or not.

It was just so boring. Everything about it. All the acting, the script, the characters (I don't remember any names), the "horror" elements. This is a really uninteresting movie. There isn't a whole lot to say about it - it's just boring.

I really enjoyed it. It cleverly mixes a Western with a fun creature-feature, striving to keep the best parts of both genres. The way in which the creatures prey on people is very creative and fresh, and allows for some disturbing imagery throughout. The acting, too, helped keep the premise believable, despite how bizarre it starts to get. One of the weaknesses of the film, however, was that it took too long to get going...and felt a little too slow in key parts. The climax, on the other hand, is strong and worth the wait. If you feel like watching an elevated horror film...this is definitely one to keep in mind.

The idea of underground creatures menacing the old west was well portrayed in "Tremors 4". "The Burrowers" adds some interesting twists relating to why these burrowing beasties appeared, and the Indians way of dealing with them. The film opens strong with a slaughtered family, and everyone wrongly blaming the Indians. What follows is a prolonged hunt for the hostiles. Unfortunately character development is sacrificed in favor of hitting the trail. A lot of effort went into the burrower monsters, with not a hint of c.g.i., and unfortunately it is mostly wasted in the barely discernible night attacks. Another glaring problem is the lack of subtitles for the cowboys, as their mumbled jargon is no easier to understand than the Indians language which is subtitled. Somewhere in here is an intriguing movie, but "The Burrowers" obvious flaws are objectionable. - MERK

I love these quality B-flicks and I always get excited when I find a new one. Now I just found The Burrowers and from the cover and some stills I even started having expectations. Furtunately this is not bad at all. It's actually a movie of very good quality. Where most B-Movies tend to be lashed-together, obviously realized for some profit exclusively, apparently some are crafted with love. The small details, the refined tone, quality cinematography and gross creatures will get you over some flaws in the script. But the fact, that it takes it's western side serious and manages to score in that genre too, makes Burrowers a cool feature, absolutely worth your time. 6/10

The first half is a bit dull with it's constantly having the characters (and the viewers) waiting for something to happen.

The actor playing the commanding officer of the Indian hunters, fresh off his role as Loonie Bin Jim in Punisher: Warzone, appears to be playing the same person, only with a stiffly waxed fake mustache and an absolutely dreadful fake southern accent.

What was the point of making him a Southerner? Any Southerner with an ounce of self respect wouldn't have joined the Army in the years following the war between the states, not until the first world war and the institution of the modern draft. Are Yankee filmmakers trying to rewrite history and lay the mass murder of Indians at the feet of the the South? That's their cross to bear! It was the victorious northerners that did to the Indians what they perfected in the countryside and on the battlefields of the south. I think the only reason he's even in this movie is to get some torture in it to satisfy the low brows.

In the last half everything gets better, apparently even the directing! Actual suspense begins to build and the encounters with the Indians begin to become increasingly bizarre. The atmosphere becomes more sinister and the movie begins to take on the aspects of a nightmare in which you can't wake up. The finale is pretty harrowing.

Despite my gripes, it's definitely worth viewing and ten times better than those awful and dull After Dark Horrorfest films.

Ever since I saw Blood Red Earth (a freebie on Fearnet/on demand), I've wanted to see the actual film. Blood Red Earth was a prequel, 20 minute short film, that introduced the "burrowers" without ever showing or naming them, and I was so intrigued by the native American actors and the idea of a spooky prairie monster in the wild, wild west, that I was actually waiting for this to come out in the theater.

I found it at Hollywood. Straight to video, which is a shame.

It's a dark film, so if you're like us and have a DVD-to-TV that plays darker, it's hard to watch. That's because all the action and spook is at night, by moonlight or campfire light.

There is some violence in this that may be disturbing, although the human on human violence is very historically accurate, but I think most middle school and older kids would be fine watching this. The question I was asking myself was "who is the real monster?" Anyway, the creatures are not that exciting, except for what they do. The CGI was hard for us to see, so maybe it was spookier because our DVD plays dark shots without much contrast, we watched it on "vivid" and nothing helped.

I think it could have been filmed in a way so that it would have played better on DVD, if they intended to go straight to video, that's my only real complaint. I loved the vistas and the creepy loneliness of the prairie. There was some artistic cinematography that worked for me (camera angles) and a few devices I think are homages to Peckinpah and Eastwood style westerns. I think it's a smarter film than other "creature features" and was more enthralling than most westerns.

As far as creature features, my taste runs towards Pitch Black/True Blood and my horror runs towards Event Horizon/The Exorcist, and my sci fi is Star Trek/Firefly type stuff. Indian/Westerns I like include Jeremiah Johnson/A Man Called Horse/Windwalker. My guess is, if you are anything like me genre taste-wise, you're really going to enjoy this flick and it's well worth at least one watch, but play with the DVD player to get the best dark.

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.

As it got some good reviews and as I like SF and cowboys I thought I'd enjoy it. Not so, it was pedestrian and unshocking, no real depth to the characters and the plot, it just meandered to an uneventful finish. I'm surprised at the good reviews but each to his or her own.

A kind of combination Western/Horror flick, "The Burrowers" is set in the 1870's, as a group including both civilians and military set out in search of a family, who appear to have been attacked by local Indians.

We the viewers of course know that there's a lot more to the story than that, and as the search goes along, the group encounters more and more mysterious things including - most strangely - unusual holes in the ground. Some of the movie portrays the tension within the group. The military officer in charge is a bit of a tyrant, and there are portrayals of racism (directed mostly toward Indians, although also toward the cook, who's the only black man among them). But the real issue is what happened to the missing family. Eventually, the searchers find a body buried in the ground, but still alive, and when they encounter an Indian woman the story comes out - the kidnappers are really strange creatures known as "the Burrowers" who emerge every three generations and who bury victims and eat them alive.

The premise of this movie isn't bad - and the idea of being buried and eaten alive is enough to make anybody squirm. Promising though it may be, however, this just didn't strike me as a particularly exciting or frightening movie. Part of the problem was the Burrowers themselves. We never really did get a good look at them, and what I did manage to see wasn't very effective in filling me with fear. There's a message about the devastation brought by white settlers to North America - the point being made that the Burrowers used to live on buffalo meat, but once white men had slaughtered most of the buffalo, they turned to humans - which honestly struck me as a strange choice, since in that area at that time, there probably would have been other prey in greater abundance than humans. However, message received: settlers did a lot of bad things to the Indians and to the land and there's a price to be paid.

To me, the movie kind of fizzled out at the end. I'm not too sure why the Burrowers would simply disintegrate when struck by sunlight - but that seems to be what happened - and, given that there are surely other Burrowers, the ending doesn't resolve anything. A handful of the creatures die, after most of the humans have already perished. But that's all. There really doesn't seem to be anything more to the story than that. (4/10)

A low budget thriller, breathes life into a tired genre. This Western works in providing isolation that all great horror movies have. Though you won't jump out of your skin, you will feel tense and uneasy. You can make comparisons to vampire fare, the Descent, and Tremors, to name a few. With a few tweaks to the story, you have something unique and interesting. Although not entirely a new concept, the humanoids can be the bigger monster. There is poetic justice based on this concept, stemming from altering the creatures feeding habits to racism getting in the way of finding the answers. The way the creatures feed is unique and plays into common human fears. Creature design and effects are acceptable and above par for the budget. The only real technical issue, moments of low dialogue levels. I boosted the center channel, lowered my front left and right speakers on my sound system and left the subtitles on. Keep your expectations in check, and you will come out pleasantly surprised.

Slow , boring , not satisfying , bad ending , No direction of the movie