Shot in various areas of New Mexico, J.T. Petty's Burrowers could easily be recognized for some quality cinematography alone. The background of New Mexico is beautiful on the screen, and you are automatically sucked into a movie that brings in two different type of genre fans. Instead of opting for a leap into a post-apocalyptic future with these monsters, Burrowers is set back in, you guessed it, the Wild West.

     The movie starts with Irishman Fergus Coffey (Karl Geary) near to winning his love, Maryanne’s hand in marriage. But, Maryanne and her family are abducted in the middle of the night at their home. Being in the late 1800's, the settlers close by automatically suspect that hostile Native Americans have taken them. Ex-Indian fighters John Clay (Clancy Brown) and Will Parcher (William Mapother) attempt to rescue the abducted with their newly formed posse of Coffey, a teenager trying to prove himself, and an ex-slave in the middle of soul searching (Real badass bunch right?). However, when men in the posse start vanishing as well, the settlers begin to realize that they aren't hunting Indians, and whatever they're looking for, they are in for a hell of a fight.

     The Creature FX were of quality, combining what looked like a mix of mostly animatronic and  a few dashes of CGI here and there. That's all I'll give away about the monsters, because seeing them is probably the best part of the film.

     The cast all had their "A game" for The Burrowers. Mapother, Brown, and Hutchison all play believable settlers back in the Western days, combining great acting for both the Western genre, and Horror cinema alike. There were really no stragglers when it came to the acting department; just about everyone involved held there own and proved more than capable of handling there role.

     The problem with The Burrowers is definitely not the Cinematography. It's not the writing or the story, both of which are solid. It's not the director, Petty does a great job with the low budget I'm sure that Lionsgate stuck him with. It's the fact that the movie moves slow. Some people would argue that it was intelligently building tension to the climax of the movie to carry through the end credits. While I agree that Burrowers is a much more intelligent horror flick than most, I felt the lack of the monsters was a disappointment, and hurt this movie from being better in many aspects. Up until the big ending, you never really get full glimpses of these damn things!

     With that being said, The Burrowers is a movie I would probably check out again. It's definitely worth seeing it, and seeing the monsters is worth the wait till the end. Your average horror fan will probably lose interest 30 minutes in, but those that are dedicated to the genre or those that like more deliberately paced movies will find that The Burrowers is different and for the most part better than most of the mindless dreck that comes out straight to DVD.