Burial review.
Burial makes for a pretty good post war movie that could have benefited from leaning harder into horror conventions. When it doesn’t…it simply leaves you wanting more.
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Burial
Directed by Ben Parker
Written by Ben Parker
Starring Tom Felton, Harriet Walter and Charlotte Vega
Burial Review
Burial is a good-looking movie that does a fine job telling the story that it intends to. It’s just not quite the story you want from it. The bulk of the film is a flashback to the days after Hitler has killed himself. A group of Russian soldiers are on a mission to return Hitler’s remains to Stalin in Russia. German Werwolves (Nazi loyalists adorned in Wolf skins) are after the body as well. That means we eventually get some Nazi killing. You’d think this staple of war movies would have gotten stale decades after World War II…but it never does.
Burial has a fantastic opening scene. Set in 1991, a neo-Nazi breaks into the home of Anna (Harriet Walter) only to be immediately subdued by the elderly woman. He is after the truth about a story he’d heard regarding the final days of the war and the true fate of Hitler. With the man chained up…Anna grants him his wish. She tells him the truth about what happened back in 1945.
Everything about this opening is great. It sets a high bar that the remainder of Burial can never quite reach again. Walter is so good in her limited role that she immediately draws you into the story. We briefly return to this time period at the end of the film. Knowing that Anna is never in danger in 1945 does a bit to diminish some suspense…but it’s worth it to have this opening.
Back in 1945…Anna, then called Brana (Charlotte Vega) is the lone woman in a Russian troupe on a secret mission. They are tasked with finding a coffin and transporting its contents back to Russia. The contents, of course, are the remains of Adolph Hitler.
Brana is beset on all sides by enemies. Nazi sympathizing Werwolves, dressed in furs are after their cargo. The people in Germany don’t like or trust them. The captain of their unit is a violent, untrustworthy person. When she discovers what it is they are transporting, she is resolute in finishing the mission against all odds.
Director Ben Parker made a damn fine-looking movie. He has a great feel for atmosphere and for building tension. He also wisely saves most of the fun for the final act of Burial. When you have budget constraints that’s usually a smart move. The gore effects we get are very well done. The filmmaking is so solid that it makes the fact that Parker’s screenplay takes so few risks a surprising disappointment.
Again, what we do get is perfectly fine. Burial is an enjoyable watch with some interesting characters and good performances. You just find yourself waiting for something else to happen. Eventually some good violence fills the frame to satiate some of that need. But knowing all the rumors surrounding Nazi occult and supernatural beliefs…Burial playing things so straight is a disappointment.
But it’s a disappointment that isn’t really the movie’s fault. It never promises anything more than what it delivers. While what it delivers checks all the boxes…you’ll be forgiven for your mind wandering into missed opportunities to take the story off the rails and into a more fun direction.
Scare Value
Burial is a perfectly fine movie. It’s a well-made, well performed story about the last days of World War II. There are a couple issues, however. It’s main story never quite rises to the promise of its first scene. The biggest strike against it is that finding it on Shudder makes you think some more horror elements will show their face eventually. There is something to be said for the danger of the real German Werwolves…but it isn’t enough to keep you from wishing some actual werewolves would jump into the middle of the conflict.
3/5
Burial Link
Streaming on Shudder
Buy on VOD from Amazon
Burial Trailer
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