Fergus Coffey (Karl Geary) heads to the Stewart ranch to court pretty Maryanne.
When he arrives, he finds her father lying dead in the doorway in a pool of blood and the rest of the family missing.
He draws the natural conclusion: They’ve been kidnapped by Indians.
John Clay (Clancy Brown) shows up too. Seems another family living nearby has been massacred, some are missing.
Coffey is eager to get on their trail, fearful for what the Indians will do to poor Maryanne. Clay convinces him to wait for the cavalry patrol, led by Indian-hating Henry Victor.
Turns out Victor is as interested in torturing a Sioux warrior the patrol catches than in going anywhere fast.
After four members of his patrol disappear in the middle of the night, presumed deserters, Clay and Coffey decide to break off on their own along with rancher William Parcher, a young boy named Dobie Spacks and Victor’s cook, Walnut Callaghan (Sean Patrick Thomas).
But it’s becoming clear this is no ordinary band of redskins they’re trailing. The captive Sioux kept talking about Burrowers, a tribe no one has heard of.
All of the dead have had strange wounds on their necks. And the small band has just discovered a young girl, buried alive, but seemingly comatose.
Nearby is another of those mysterious circular indentations in the prairie that they keep running across.
Karl Geary as Fergus Coffey, encouraging William Parcher to help search for the missing Stewart women in The Burrowers (2008)
Jocelin Donahue as Maryanne Stewart, the girlfriend Coffey is desperate to find in The Burrowers (2008)
Review:
If you like your Westerns with monsters, well, this one’s for you. We’ve come a long way since The Valley of Gwangi.
Of course, it could also be for those tired of 21st century direct-to-video Westerns that look like they cost $10 to make and rounded up a cast from a local community theater or senior citizen center.
Greary, Brown and Hutchinson (in the role of the cavalry commander) turn in fine performances, and there’s enough suspense to keep you watching.
In true horror fashion, we don’t catch a glimpse of the “monsters” until well into the film. The ironic ending helps, too.
William Mapother as William Parcher, bearing the mark of a burrower on his neck in The Burrowers (2008)
Galen Hutchinson as Dobie Spacks, helping investigate the aftermath of an attack in The Burrowers (2008)
Directed by:
J.T. Petty
Cast:
Karl Geary … Fergus Coffey
Sean Patrick Thomas … Walnut Callaghan
William Mapother … William Parcher
Clancy Brown … John Clay
Galen Hutchison … Dobie Spacks
Laura Leighton … Gertrude Spacks
Doug Hutchison … Henry Victor
Jocelin Donahue … Maryanne Stewart
Runtime: 96 min.
Sean Patrick Thomas as Walnut Callahan, the cavalry cook who decides to join the search in The Burrowers (2008)
Clancy Brown as John Clay, a frontiersman constantly confronting the cavalry commander in The Burrowers (2008)
Memorable lines:
Henry Victor to Coffey: “You want to go track a war party on your lonesome? Those blanket heads will peel you like an orange, boy.”
Clay to Coffey, after he’s fired at an Indian offering a trade: “If you so much as touch that gun without my say-so, I’ll holster it up your ass.”
William Parcher, as the small band decides whether to continue its pursuit of the Indians: “John Clay would piss on us from heaven if we turned back now”
Henry Victor, in response to Clay’s objections to the pace the patrol is taking: “I’d rather walk in the right direction than ride with my head up my ass.”
Doug Hutchinson as Henry Victor, the Indian-hating leader of the cavalry patrol in The Burrowers (2008)
Anthony Parker as Ten Bear, scout for the cavalry patrol led by Henry Victor in The Burrowers (2008)
Alexandra Edmo as Faith, an Indian woman who has lost her family to the burrowers in The Burrowers (2008)
Laura Leighton as Gertrude Spacks, who watches her beau and son ride off in search of the missing in The Burrowers (2008)
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