There’s a part of me that can’t believe that it has been over a decade since John Landis last directed a feature film, the little seen Susan’s Plan. Can Burke & Hare launch him back up to the career heights he enjoyed during his Animal House/American Werewolf In London/Blues Brothers days? As a fan, I’m certainly hoping so. He’s got great leads in Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis and an admirable supporting cast including Isla Fisher, Jessica Hynes (Pegg’s former co-star on the British series Spaced) , Tom Wilkinson, Hugh Bonneville, Tim Curry and Sir Christopher Lee.
This first trailer for the movie has me optimistic that this could be Landis’ comeback film, but only after getting past the obvious jokes in its first 15 seconds. I can’t vouch for the clip’s origins – It first showed up over at SlashFilm – but I doubt that it is the official US trailer due to a few incidences of language and the lack of an MPAA title card at the beginning.
The only real obstacle I would see to this film’s success is its subject matter. But the trailer hints that Landis is going for a gleefully dark comic tone, which is probably the best course for it.
