Telling you the premise of "Burn" makes it sound like a tired, pretentious, painful indie, the kind that litter the post-midnight dead zone of the Sundance and IFC channels. It's about two writers in an apartment, talking about, well, writing. With a girl in the middle. Hmmm... sounds like "Tape". Well, guess again.
Burn IS a movie about two writers in an apartment, but the execution of said premise is unlike anything you'd expect. Scott Storm mounts the film like a thriller, with the tension between the two leads, scribes on opposite ends of the social scale, a palpable force that drives the entire film. It's a masterful piece of direction, a slowly tightening nail-biter that just keeps getting more and more intense. I won't include any spoilers here - the ending is better if you don't know what's coming - but let's just say that the feeling of dread is paid off very, very well.
Now, I don't know how much of this suspense-tale stuff was intended in Dylan Kussman's script (hats off to him, though - lots of terrific dialogue and character stuff keep the journey interesting), but certainly much of what ended up on the screen was the filmmakers desire to rise above the two-writers-talking-about-writing fold. This is more like a cross between "Deathtrap" and "Insomnia" than another version of "Tape".
I don't think this movie was ever released properly and is very, very hard to find. Basically, there must be a bunch of bootleg dubs from festival screeners floating around. But if you can locate a copy, do yourself a favor and snatch it up! At least until some bright video label grabs this thing and gives it the release it's due.
I also wonder if the recent heat on Scott Storm is amping up the circulation of bootlegs of this movie. Coincidentally, I saw the trailer for his new movie "Ten 'til Noon" on the web last month, and it looks like its going to kick some serious butt.
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