John Landis

BURKE & HARE (Blu-ray)
Entertainment Films

Release date: February 21st 2011
Certificate (UK): 15
Running time: 91 minutes

Director: John Landis

Cast: Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry, Ronnie Corbett, Paul Whitehouse and Christopher Lee

Burke & Hare Blu-ray Review

John Landis’s first feature film as a director was Schlock, made in 1971 and released in 1973. Since then he has made notable contributions to cinema, television and of course music videos with Michael Jackson’s Thriller(1983), and is regarded as one of the iconic directors of the 80’s alongside Joe Dante, Sam Rami and Steven Spielberg.

Landis’s best films are characterised by combining unusually dark elements of comedy with visual horror, and he has often spoken about his love for the old Ealing Studio movies like Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and The Ladykillers (1955).

His most recent film is based on the true life case of Burke and Hare, two 19th Century mass murderers who killed 16 people and sold their bodies to a medical researcher in Edinburgh. This will be the 8th time their story has been told in film, but it’s the first time they are portrayed as likeable characters with heavy dozes of comedy written in to lighten the mood.

Landis’s face lights up as he recalls the names of these comedy greats, but as a director he also got to work with some of them too.

Although it seems like the director has been away for a while, this couldn’t be further from the truth. He has in fact been very busy; directing television shows such as Pysch (2008), Fear Itself (2008) and Masters of Horror (2006), made appearances in films like Spider-Man 2 (2004) and produced numerous television movies and documentaries including the Emmy Award winning Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007).

Patrick Samuel

The founder of Static Mass Emporium and one of its Editors in Chief is an emerging artist with a philosophy degree, working primarily with pastels and graphite pencils, but he also enjoys experimenting with water colours, acrylics, glass and oil paints.

Being on the autistic spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome, he is stimulated by bold, contrasting colours, intricate details, multiple textures, and varying shades of light and dark. Patrick's work extends to sound and video, and when not drawing or painting, he can be found working on projects he shares online with his followers.

Patrick returned to drawing and painting after a prolonged break in December 2016 as part of his daily art therapy, and is now making the transition to being a full-time artist. As a spokesperson for autism awareness, he also gives talks and presentations on the benefits of creative therapy.

Static Mass is where he lives his passion for film and writing about it. A fan of film classics, documentaries and science fiction, Patrick prefers films with an impeccable way of storytelling that reflect on the human condition.

Patrick Samuel ¦ Asperger Artist

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