“Burke & Hare” Trailer Make Graverobbing and Murder Fun Again

The mere mention of Simon Pegg sends the hearts of fanboys aflutter and all summer long they've been panting in anticipation for the first footage from "Burke & Hare," the Bit's upcoming comedy co-starring the great Andy Serkis, about a pair of real-life graverobbers. Your time has come, gentlemen.

"Burke & Hare" is based on the true story of Williams Burke and Hare, a pair of Irishmen who emigrated to Scotland in the 1800s and took up graverobbing to make money. When cadavers became hard to come by they began getting them the old fashion way: killing people. The infamous duo are said to have murdered at least 17 people.

A trip to Wikipedia--the most unassailable source for information on anything-- reveals that in the old days before you could check off a box on the form while getting your driver's license, the only way to legally get a dead body for medical research was executed prisoners. Tragically, early in the 19th Century there was a sudden drop in the number of executions, causing a great shortage of corpses among med students.There's a lesson in there somewhere, but we're unsure what it is.

The trailer looks pretty good, but we still have some reservations about any film directed by John Landis. Few men have made as laugh as much as Landis, who rightly belongs in the comedy pantheon, but it has been a long time since he made a funny movie. By our reckoning, you have to go back to "Coming to America," which came out in 1988.

"Burke & Hare," which also stars Tim Curry, Isla Fisher and Tom Wilkinson, still has no release date. Weird.

Contact Us