Laid to Rest

My first reaction to the first few minutes of Laid to Rest was that it was a cheap, no-budget horror film typical of the direct-to-video nonsense that you so often see populating the new release wall at the video store. Well, that I remember seeing on the new release wall at the video store, anyway. It's been a couple yeas since I've lived in the states and even longer since Netflix left me with any reason to ever visit a video store, but back in 2004 or so I used to have that monthly no-limit rental service at both Blockbuster and Hollywood Video and for a brief period I tried to keep up with ALL of the new movies, which included this horizonless stream of train wrecks that seemed to come out of nowhere.

And in many ways, that's what Laid to Rest is, but in some interesting other ways, it's not. Yeah it's true that the story is a prime example of mind-numbing pointlessness, but it would be a mistake to relegate the thing to the dark world of bottom shelf obscurity. Sort of. You see, there's not a scrap of originality or significance to the movie, but it is a perfect example of something bigger that is happening around us in the movie world at large.

80 years ago, movie-going audiences would have been shocked out of their chairs to see a man and a woman kiss on screen. Hell, 50 years ago they were still pretty uncomfortable with it. 10 years ago, even the most brutally violent horror movies more often than not showed the KILLER during the kill scenes, as movie blood sprayed all over them. Then Scream came along (by the way, true story – just this second I mis-typed "Scream" and it accidentally came out "Scarem." Interesting.) and we saw the hugely famous Drew Barrymore get stabbed in the chest in the opening scene. No cutaway or anything, remember that? The movie briefly goes into slow motion and audiences the world over were shocked that we were actually looking at this knife going into this girl's chest. I'd been watching scary movies for years by that point and even I was pretty amazed. Strangely, to this day it is still a scene that makes me a little uncomfortable.

Now, on the other hand, such a thing is as tame as those monster movies that had people jumping out of their chairs in the 1950s, so we get movies like Laid to Rest which, if you were to show it to some of those audiences, would probably flood the theaters with heart attack victims. There is no cutting away here, man. Not by a long shot and it's going to be a pretty good idea for you to be well aware of that before you start watching it.

Such a movie could never be released in wide theatrical release, you understand, but that's the huge shift that's taking place in the movie world right now. Making movies is getting easier, nearly to the point where any jerk with a camera and a computer can get a movie made as long as he can find someone to distribute it. Of course, it's to be expected that these movies are almost uniformly awful, and Laid to Rest is a prime example. It's pretty bad, but these things are getting better and they're only going to continue to get better as people learn to make better and better movies with simpler equipment, at which point the direct-to- video market will grow and improve, and the important thing is that all of this will happen beyond the grasp of the censorship-happy MPAA.

The result, of course, is that we get movies like Laid to Rest which feature nothing but the grotesque developments of pushing the violence envelope, which is really all that this movie does. Like literally. The movie has absolutely nothing to it except violence, which is why all this stuff about the MPAA came to my mind.

There is no backstory to the killer in the movie whatsoever, or really any backstory to the story itself. Some big-breasted brunette wakes up in a closed casket, no idea who she is or why she's there. She manages to knock the thing over and escape, but before she gets out of the funeral home she witnesses a man wearing a chrome skull mask brutally kill another man, and then the killer comes after her.

Why does he want to kill her? Who knows? Who cares? Any explanation would just waste time. We understand that this is a slasher movie, and this particular slasher movie has no interest in such time-wasting things as character depth or coherent story structure. The important thing is that for the rest of the movie he relentlessly pursues her, viciously killing anyone who gets in his way with a serrated, double-edged knife.

Gore hounds will be highly impressed, as the movie is astonishingly and graphically bloody. We get sustained shots of the killer sawing away at various body parts, and one scene where we the central cast pops the lids off of a succession of coffins, revealing some of the killer's past kills, which he has taken the time to save, for future reference, let's say. I won't go into any details about the state of the victims in the coffins, let's just say that they are one of many reasons that the movie is not for the faint of heart, or the squeamish, or really anyone who, for example, would feel some hesitation at taking up the opportunity to do a little dissecting work on a human cadaver. But the rest of you are going to love it

This is a okay slasher with a few gruesome deaths that are actually sort of creative. The movie doesn't even really have a plot, just tries to make a excuse for some blood and gore. I am usually forgiving when it comes to movies like this but the plot holes were just way too noticeable. And it never tells or shows why the killer does what he does, he just goes around filming everyone of his kills while wearing a chrome skull mask. It had a strong start though, it was actually pretty creepy but after the first scene it quickly ran out of it's flair. A young woman waking up inside of locked casket with no memory of who she is or how she got there is a unoriginal but cool concept, but after that first scene the suspense dies. I thought it would have a cool build up and a decent twist, but the twist was actually pretty stupid as well. You just end up wanting the chrome skull killer to kill everyone, cause like I said I am forgiving but the characters or victims are just too damn stupid. I guess it's worth a look though for major slasher fans or if your in a appetite for slaughter.

4.2/10

Let me get this out of the way. If you like gore please see (possibly buy) this movie. This movie has some of the best (practical?, if it was all CGI I couldn't tell except for a few scenes) gore effects in recent years. A kill in this movie is easily a front runner for kill of the year. The acting was okay, and fans of people under the stairs will be happy to see Roach getting some work in a horror flick. I think its pretty well shot. This leads me to the plot............oh the horror.

The writing in this movie is possibly the dumbest I have ever seen in my 15+ years of watching horror movies. The characters do so many stupid things that it actually hurts the movie...........I can't believe I am saying this. I can usually appreciate horror movies just for the gore but this plot was just too much. Stupid decisions topped by even more stupid decisions. There is a plot twist in the movie that is less of a twist than it is a fun fact. This was just awful, it was like one of those internet stories where dozens of users write it one individual page/paragraph at a time.

So in short, great gore, worst story ever. Myself and my buddies have watched the gore parts on this movie several times, but none of us can stomach the real horror, the plot.

"Laid to Rest" (2009), is a classic slasher film; facial deformity, mask, big knife, final girl, and all. People run, people hide, people die immediately after they have done something endearing or redeeming. Everyone tries to figure out who the killer is or why he is killing folks. Acting by Lena Kathren Headey (who later became famous as Cersei Lannisfer) largely carried the acting side of the film (think Jamie Lee Curtis in that other series). The kills were often essentially off-camera and there was not much gore (bar for the final kill). I could not really pick up on suspense building, but that is often par for the course for slasher films. In short, it was a pretty run of the mill slasher and gets a run of the mill.

A woman wakes up in a "dead box" (what most of us would call a coffin) and has no memory of how she got there or who she is. But she quickly discovers a man with a metal face is seriously interested in killing her, which isn't something she's particularly looking forward to. Will she be able to escape and find the answers she's looking for, or is her running just a delay?

The soundtrack music was provided by Deadbox and Suicidal Tendencies. I'm familiar with the latter, but not the former, and I have to give them a fair amount of credit for this film's mood. The opening scene and music really sucked me in, and I can't say I recall any opening having such a strong effect since the Nine Inch Nails' beginning of "Seven". Well played, maestro.

The director of this piece is Robert Hall, probably best known as a special effects artist. Not surprisingly, this film has pretty much the best gore effects ever. Okay, a slight exaggeration -- but not much. One scene where a man's face gets sliced clean off? Gloriously sadistic! The only film in recent memory I can compare this to is Ryan Nicholson's "Gutterballs", though there is a marked difference -- Nicholson goes for grit, Hall goes for shock and awe.

The killer, ChromeSkull, is both cool and cheesy -- he writes his own name on his car? I find it hard to believe a guy who does that remains uncaught. Especially a guy who films himself killing -- in the open sometimes -- and dresses like Destro. But he's a menacing figure, and far more threatening than Jason or Michael simply for his pure intensity. This is the kind of killer "Hatchet" promised us, but couldn't deliver.

Many of the classic horror clichés are here -- no phone, no gas, the killer tracks victims for miles. I almost wonder if this was done intentionally to be a bit over the top, because if not I think the writer (also Robert Hall) tried to hard to be clear about the peril. This many obstacles in one film takes the "isolation" factor and makes it more of a hilarity factor. I had trouble taking this film completely seriously.

"Laid to Rest" is likely to be overlooked by many, which is a shame. I freely admit I was not overly excited upon seeing the unoriginal skull and crossbones cover. My expectations were somewhat low, and I fear others will walk past this one in the video store, as well. Don't. Unlike other mask covers (this means you, "Bryan Loves You") this one is the real deal. I don't know if it's worth a purchase, but neglecting to rent it would be a mistake for any slasher fan -- a fatal mistake.