TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Oslo Jargo (Bartok Kinski) *** This review may contain spoilers *** *Plot analyzed* Dead Man's Burden is a completely average Western film. Although it is commonplace, it is still nice to see Westerns being made. The New Mexico scenery is always stunning to behold, but the acting is quite average. No one stands out at all. Some of the scenes are just plain routine, since the cast can not elevate them beyond the limits of their paltry acting range. Some may like this style, as it reflects a homegrown flavor that is found in many of today's Westerns.A brother returns to home to find most of his family dead, and his sister may be responsible. It is slow, at times a bit soporific. It's still worth a watch.

Paul Vernon I, personally, love slow burners like this one - with beautiful western scenery, long single- take shots, and interesting and attractive characters. I agree with nearly everything already mentioned in the previous reviews so won't repeat all that here. Save to say I felt the dialog, and this the film, was spoiled by Martha's mumbling! I had to turn on the sub-titles to understand what Clare Bowen was saying as she truly is one of the world's greatest mumblers. (Even in Nashville I have difficulty understanding her.) And even the sub-title writer must have had problems, because quite often in Martha's speech it would just say "inaudible". That said it is a beautiful western! And we don't see too many of them around these days.

Genivieve DeClare This is one of those movies where people who do 'bad' things even for good reasons must be punished. In final denouement some will be moved but if you are like me you will just be annoyed at the clichéd predictability of it all. It really doesn't start out this way but as the story progresses the intent becomes clear, though we hang on, however vain the hope, that something good may develop. I suppose that's a positive. The director does keep us clinging to our wishful thinking, though we know deep down that our hearts must be broken in this version of the western kabuki play. There are some decent performances. Clare Bowen makes a valiant effort but her character was never fully believable for me. The others seemed like competent stock characters. The direction seemed to be amateurish at times and the numerous attempts to use lens flares and back-lighting 'creatively' I found irritating and distracting. Then there is the matter of a shotgun being able to drop a fast moving horse at a distance of 200 plus yards and other assorted improbabilities and inconsistencies. I hope the director gets another shot. I think with experience and some competent mentoring he may do some fine work.

Lauren Kritzer Dead Man's Burden was an incredible film and the end was enjoyably unexpected. Throughout the film, you focus on understanding each character and their motives. The scenery is beautiful as it takes place in a western "slow moving" deserted town but don't let the characters fool you - they are more deep, twisted, and intelligent than you think! After the movie finished, it was very easy to sit there and think back to all the 'signs'. I really want to see the movie again so I can watch the progression of how the characters became who they were. There are not many movies out there that put the focus on acting, plot and scenery. It seems movies have animations and various scenes that are very distracting and then they spoon feed you the story line - Dead Man's Burden did not do that and I enjoyed every minute of it.