The Burrowers

Cinephile deep dive

The take

J.T. Petty directs. Phil Parmet behind the camera. Joseph LoDuca scores. Andy Grieve cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 18 years ago.
• 2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.
• 3Directed by J.T. Petty, shot by Phil Parmet. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Joseph LoDuca. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Andy Grieve shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Doug Hutchison and Clancy Brown and William Mapother carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "Evil will surface.".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0445939 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Classified under 9 themes, including "monster", "funeral", "underground", "dakota".

The technical file

Cinematography

Phil Parmet

Original score

Joseph LoDuca

Editing

Andy Grieve

Production design

Mark Alan Duran

Costume design

Deborah Everton

Makeup / hair

William 'Barcode' Rosa

VFX supervisor

Noel Hooper

Sound

Tom Bjelic

Stunt coordinator

Russell Solberg

Runtime

96 min · 1h 36m

Status

Released

Budget

$7,000,000

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

The Burrowers (2008) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

75% 🍅 Fresh

IMDB rating

5.7/10 · 9,491 votes

MPAA

R

Also by

J.T. Petty

• 
  Soft for Digging

  2001 · ★ 5.8
• 
  Hellbenders

  2013 · ★ 5.4
• 
  Stake Land: Sister

  2011 · ★ 5.0
• 
  Mimic: Sentinel

  2003 · ★ 4.9
• 
  S&Man

  2006 · ★ 4.6
• 
  Blood Red Earth

  2008 · ★ 4.0

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  THE BURROWERS Trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2014-07-20
  ★ 7/10

  The Burrower Tribe in BurrowerVision. 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

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• BL

  Blue Star Pictures

Key crew

• AuthorJ.T. Petty
• ProducerWilliam Sherak
• ProducerJason Shuman
• Executive ProducerPeter Block
• Executive ProducerJohn Sacchi
• Executive ProducerAlton Walpole
• EditorAndy Grieve
• EditorRobb Sullivan
• CastingToni Cobb Brock
• CastingNancy Nayor
• CastingShari Rhodes
• CastingKelly Wagner
• Costume DesignDeborah Everton
• Art DirectionJames F. Oberlander
• Production DesignMark Alan Duran
• Set DecorationGabrielle Petrissans
• Set DesignerMarisa Frantz
• Costume SupervisorBren Cook
• ElectricianMatthew Jacobs
• Makeup EffectsWilliam 'Barcode' Rosa
• Makeup EffectsDavid A. Brooke
• Makeup EffectsAllan B. Holt
• Production SupervisorJennifer Booth
• Art Department CoordinatorLyn Gawron

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• monster
• funeral
• underground
• dakota
• native american
• buried alive
• paralysis
• crucifix
• cavalry

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2008-09-09R

Also known as

International titles

• The Burrowers - Das Böse unter der ErdeDE
• EscavadoresBR
• Les Créatures de l'OuestFR
• The Burrowers (2008)US
• Evil UndergroundSE
• ПохитителиRU