from what i have read and this movie come as close a any to feature a reasonably realistic and true to life presentation of the burke and hare story . for those unfamiliar with the story and burke and hare be grave robber in 19th century scotland . the body they steal be sell to a doctor to be use in anatomy class . burke and hare discover that murder be a much easy and a more profitable way of fill the doctor demand for fresh body . the movie feature two horror icon peter cushing and donald pleasence in performance that i consider to be among the best of their career . the movie may be a little slow and talky for audience use to the mtv style editing and but this only add to the atmosphere as far a i be concern . burke and hare total disregard for human life effectively add a nastiness to the movie that i often find miss from british movie from this period .