User reviews

It's very boring to guess the plot by the mid series. This one I didn't figure out. What a plot twist at the end, whoah. I had no idea.

Samantha Morton is absolutely amazing in this. Very touching and gut wrenching performance. It was very well worth the watch just for this reason.

Would've put more effort into the effects but I can forgive that. I still genuinely felt the creeps and eeks here and there. It's not so much a supernatural thriller anyway but more of a drama - mystery type of show. It walks the line in between a lighter afternoon or early night show and the midnight thriller with a content warning.

If you are in the mood for a thriller mystery, then I think this is above average, but not spectacular. Admittedly, I am a bit biased because I enjoy, and purposely watch most all of Samantha Morton's work where she gets to stand out. The first episode was a little soft getting into it and I was concerned she was going to have a bit of a vapid character role, but in episode 2 and beyond it gets a bit more engaging and we see a little more expected contribution. I had figured out about 60 percent of the mystery pretty quick, but there is enough concealment to keep some surprises at the end that fits together well and makes a good mini-series binge.

Samantha Morton is brilliant as always, but the messy sub-plots and indecisive supernatural story line create too many loose ends and unanswered questions.

The motivation of most of the various murderous and sadistic characters are not explained, nor are most of their actions.

The supernatural visions of burning girls, ghosts, the dead rabbit / bird theme, lights going out and doors banging shut, and the cursed village plot in general, is clearly designed to build suspense and keep viewers watching, but then is left dangling with zero explanation, other than a brief moral subplot.

This is a decent rainy Sunday slow burner with a bit of a twist, but overall has a frustrating finish and is ragged around the edges.

Samantha Morton kept me hooked, rooting for her all the way. Like others have said, I didn't see the end coming at all

Even though there were 6 episodes it kept my interest. Nice to see a uk drama as well which can compete with the us shows, the locations show off the uk countryside to an advantage, can we see more uk dramas.

Great plot, and characters, the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat. And made me jump. Very binge worthy,

The acting was superb, I would like to see more shows like this please. Shows with substance, good story acting and whilst I like us shows uk ones are good too.

I was sceptical about this show but wow it left my mind blown, very clever series and I most certainly did not see that huge twist coming in the last episode! I would go as far as saying this is the best series I have watched in a long time.

Loved the fact it had a very small but impressive cast, very cleverly produced and the writer should also take so much credit for writing a masterpiece.

Samantha Morton is one of my favourite actresses and she did not disappoint in this show, I was also super impressed with Conrad Khan, he played his role so well and he has a great future in front of him.

The final episode of this cliched series is a bizarre helter-skelter of twists, reveals, revelations, perfunctoy attempts to tie up loose ends, mind stretching resolutions for subplots and red herring characters; and some bug-eyed OTT acting all around.

It's as if the writers woke up one morning, realised there was only one episode left, and panicked. Suddenly there's a mad rush to reveal that she, he, they - anybody! - aren't what they seem, that events we thought happened didn't happen the way we thought they did, that THAT storyline actually had nothing to do with THIS storyline after all.

And wasn't it called THE BURNING GIRLS?? Mmmmm...

After meandering through 5 episodes of trope soup, Episode 6 is a manic joy.

Hans Rosenfeldt and Camilla Ahlgren have been my favorite screenwriters ever since I watched The Bridge (Bron / Broen). The Burning Girls was announced last year and I had great expectations for this serie because of Mr. Rosenfeldt and Ms. Ahlgren. Believe me this serie has one of the biggest shocking endings that you can ever watch. I was not able to guess it and I had zero clue that the serie would end like that. You need to watch this serie carefully because there are so many deaths in a town that is believed to be cursed because of the inquisition events that took during the mid 15th century. Each death is somehow connected to a certain time period that has an impact for the future. It is like almost like a circle. I vote this serie 9 out of 10. It worths it believe me and watch it !

I don't know what to say, acting was great, I liked the twist at the end, very well written. I recommend everybody to watch this mini TV series, so entertaining. It is not very scary in my opinion but full of little stories which dragged you in and grab your attention. Jack was the hero of the movie, an inspiring character, a loving trustful mother with tremendous support for everybody. I am so happy that I picked this TV series, really worth watching. Be ready to hear lots of stories from the past, scandals, betrayals, religious beliefs, sacrifice, myth. I just could not imagine the pain has gone through.

I really did love The Burning Girls! Loved the cast, loved the characters, loved premise, loved the location and loved the supernatural elements. By about the second or third episode I was starting to worry that there might be too many plots and subplots on the go for 6 episodes, but all of the stories intertwined and came to an extremely satisfying conclusion. I watch a fair amount of mystery dramas, and I am always incensed when I reach the final episode only to discover the main murder was actually an accident. This obviates the need for a proper motive and is extremely lazy writing. You will not get this with The Burning Girls, there are motives galore (even if some of them stretched my credulity a little bit). The Burning Girls follows a tried and true crime/mystery drama formula, while throwing in a spoonful of Wicker Man, Happy Valley, The Exorcist and a pinch of Scandi noir. It worked for me and I have given it full marks, as I cannot image a more enjoyable example of the genre.

I'd read glowing reviews about this so was disappointed when I was completely bored by the third episode. The writing isn't great, the acting is either fantastic or ropey, there's no in-between. There are too many plot threads that either go nowhere or are totally predictable. It just doesn't make sense - it's like the writers had half an Agatha Christie style plot and half a sort of supernatural one and decided to chuck them together and see what they ended up with. It definitely isn't horror- it's basically Midsomer Murders with some unscary ghost kids. Very disappointing and not worth bothering if you think you're going to be watching a supernatural horror.

This is supposed to be a mystery thriller. Changing up the music, increasing the volume, etc... does not equate to tension. Throwing images at us of bloody or burning people does not equal horror. Someone relied too heavily on not being able to write or build tension and instead used everything else to try and make it work - it doesn't. The show didn't grab me in the first episode, and despite not wanting to watch any further, I forced myself to give episode 2 a change... and yet again I've wasted 90mins on terrible 'turn and burn' output my a streaming platform. Can't comment on the rest of the series, maybe it improved... but if you haven't grabbed your audience in the first episode, your series doesn't deserve to be watched.

I though I was going to sit and probably enjoy a supernatural series on Halloween. Wow was I wrong. I LOVED THIS!!! Has a few threads running through it that I couldn't quite make a connection of. Till the last half hour that is. Comes to an end while tightly sewingup said threads. There are a couple of clues and I'm sure some of you will guess who's who and what's what but I suggest that to try and do this will take away the satisfaction the ending gives. Closure as well as a what next? Great cast, great execution and a feeling of "Please don't end!" would I recommend? ABSOLUTELY!!! Enjoy......

I sat and binged this...mainly because of Samantha Morton's superb acting.

This plot was actually extremely good; the twists & turns kept me hooked. I haven't read the book yet, but I'm sure the film follows closely.

The acting was excellent all round. I'm sad to say, though, that Rupert Graves is getting awfully good at playing sinister characters..

I suppose this could have been condensed into 4 episodes but that's a minor criticism.

I found the last episode heart wrenching when the full horror of the past is revealed. This wasn't your usual horror/thriller. So much about the frailties of people, vanity, child cruelty & neglect, & evil. But, thankfully, goodness shines through...and there is justice.

Another cheap Paramount+ production with budget production values and lousy screenplay, in this case a violation rape of a popular novel.

Most of the characters are life-sized cardboard cutouts, one-dimensional and without depth, played by good to middling actors one has seen kicking around on TV.

The protagonist has, of course, tragedy in her past (main characters with troubled pasts that they're trying to come to atone for are a trend that will hopefully be over soon), tragedy which interrupts the narrative in an irritating, nonsensical and ultraviolent parallel plot.

The plot, of course, connects the past (1556 in this case) to the present. Witch burnings (of which there's no historical record in England), disappearances, apparent suicides all feature and there are constant hints at supernatural evil which fail to engage.

For a while the show keeps one guessing about people's true agendas, but repetition and pacing make one lose interest early on.

Mildly entertaining.

The Burning Girls: A vicar, Jack Brooks (Samantha Morton), and her teen daughter Flo (Ruby Stokes) arrive at a rural parish, Chapel Croft. She left her last posting after being (unfairly) blamed over the death of a child. Her husband, also a vicar was murdered in Nottingham so she was glad ti see the back of it. However the bishop had failed to tell her that her predecessor in Chapel Croft had committed suicide in the village church. Back in the days of Bloody Mary two young girls were burned at he stake for being heretics Chapel Croft and they now start appearing to Jack and Flo. There are also mysteries about two teen girls who disappeared 30 years before and a curate who went missing around the same time. Not to mention psychotic teen bullies who harass Flo and her sensitive boyfriend Wrigley (Conrad Khan). To top it all the local squire acts as if he owns the village and church. A dark series which involves supernatural horror as well as the mundane murders carried out by humans which can be just as terrifying. A parallel narrative sees a strange character making his way towards Chapel Croft, killing as he goes along. Some interesting plot twists and gaslighting as all of the strands come together. Directed by Charles Martin & Kieron Hawkes, Screenplay by Hans Rosenfeldt & Camilla Ahlgren, adapted from the novel of the same name by C. J. Tudor. Six episodes on Netflix. 8/10.

In my over 2000 reviews here, I have alway endeavored to highlight the extraordinary ... and the overlooked. This production is a terrible waste of resources. Let's start with the viewer experience. The premise of a female priest coming to a small parish ripe with scandal and ghosts (!) had much promise. A promise never kept. The two female leads, playing mother and daughter, are boring as old socks. You could argue they were written that way, but then you run the risk of having to defend the screenplay. Good luck with that. There are no satisfying beats anywhere to be found. The final episode tries hard to make up for all this by going from an action-filled physical climax to a supposedly clever mental one. A big "mystery" reveal which, unfortunately, no one will care about, or even want to remember. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

A slow-burn of an uninteresting slow-burn British drama thriller series with elements of horror. The acting is averagely to quite good, especially for me, Conrad Khan's acting. The storyline and its plots are mostly soporific with the usual British drama, this time set in a small village. To tell the truth, it has nothing special and maybe (only) viewers from UK and Australia will like it.

Always pay attention to the last 10 minutes of a production and if it (really) thrills you, then you can almost be sure that the whole production is gem-like, if not, if it is nearly on par with the early-middle stage of it, if it only shows scenes and pictures, then nothing outstanding.

You cannot make a Range Rover out of a Hillman.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 4.5
• Development: 6.5
• Realism: 5
• Entertainment: 3
• Acting: 6
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 6.5
• VFX: 8
• Music/score/sound: 4.5
• Depth: 5
• Logic: 3.5
• Flow: 3
• Drama/horror/thriller: 4.5
• Ending: 2.5.