Chromskull - Laid to Rest 2

When Laid To Rest came out, I thought I was in slasher heaven. The movie was no BS when it came to what it was about and solidly delivered the goods with gore. A few years later I revisited the film and realized a problem. I was too intoxicated with the gore when younger that I failed to see the horrendous acting. watching it again, I found myself cringing at almost every piece of dialogue. However I still liked the gore.

So here comes the sequel, which promised to be better and gorier, like all slasher sequels should. But I wanted to keep the expectations in check in case everyone stunk again.WRONG! Main girl Jess is very nice to look at and is a great scream queen, unlike the gratingly annoying girl from the first. Thomas Dekkar reprises his role and performs fine, but Jess is the main focus. Brian Austin Green steals the show when featured, I won't say his role but its massively entertaining.

With Chromeskull though, the main attraction is the gore. I write this review after viewing it on demand so I cannot tell if I saw the unrated, but WOAH, I'm more than sure I did. The body count reaches double digits, and every death is more elaborate than the next. not like Saw elaborate, but I've never seen blades used in so many shockingly graphic ways in one film. Director Robert Hall outdid himself here, it's just bloody beyond belief, really, and the energy keeps the film chugging along. There are also some legitimate scares and tension which Laid to Rest sorely lacked.

Did I have any problems with the film, sure, but they're too small to mention. See this if your a horror fan, and be prepared to see so much blood you'll be knocked back. Also, be sure to stay after the credits!

I watched this movie just because Danielle Harris is in it. I wasn't very impressed with the first one, because acting was terrible and the whole movie didn't have the right "groove". So I didn't expect very much from this one. But I was pleasantly surprised. The acting was on a much higher level, the script is well written and it opens many questions, which hopefully will be answered in the next one. The killings are technically better made and the whole movie has that intense feeling. So this is one o the best slasher movies made in the last few years and I'm now waiting to see what will they do in the next one. At the end I want to apologize the makers for not seeing the movie in theater. I had to download it because I'm from a country where horror genre isn't very popular for our distributors.

Robert Hall's 2009 horror debut Laid to Rest wasn't perfect by any means, but offered a great gore-scheme and pacing and suspense that came to its favor. Its characters weren't very well crafted, and logic had to hide out so the film could do its thing, but overall it was a cute and enjoyable little gore flick. Did it ever need a sequel? Well, to Hall, since it was a moderate success on the message boards and online yes it did.

Laid to Rest 2, accompanied by the "Chromeskull" subtitle, is a bleak and ugly film not because it's gruesome and violent, but because its plot becomes blown out of proportion and it becomes a cocky horror film. Somebody should've whispered in the filmmakers' ears that this wasn't a big success, but a fairly unexpected one. The story has now become enlarged and has now gone to expand its boundaries to the point where it's unbelievable and contrived.

The film picks up right where the first left off, then manages to fast-forward three months later where we are introduced to Jess (Michaels), a girl going blind because of scar tissue in her eyes. Jess is drugged, kidnapped, and locked in a coffin by the killer who has a video camera on his shoulder and a shiny, chrome-silver mask in the shape of a skeleton on his face. He uses deadly, homemade knives that are something straight out of a sadist's mind, but are crafted with such detail they become one of the strongest points in the film.

I'm not going to even try to explain the backstory of the killer because I feel ashamed for even asking for it. I wished for minor backstory after seeing Laid to Rest. I thought, I'd like just a small, brief explanation of why this person was killing and videotaping it. I didn't need a huge, bloated, and exhausting storyline that is convoluted and outright ridiculous. The film wants to bring the top-secret, government business into play but it doesn't have the budget nor the skills to do so. This is a slasher film. It's a hack and slash, gorehound, bloody, disgusting, gruesome horror film that deserves zero conspiracy talk at all.

The fact that they bring the overblown backstory into play is just a clear sign of cockiness, but who can really blame them? If you spat out a random, unknown horror film into stores with a promising cover and you made big bucks off of it, you'd take the obligatory sequel one step further wouldn't you? Well, Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2 doesn't take just one step, it takes about two leaps and, when you think it has officially stopped in one place, it manages to tip-toe a bit further and further. Have mercy.

Bobbi Sue Luther, director Robert Hall's wife respectively, played the heroine from the original film and makes a quick appearance in this one as well. Sadly, she's killed off very quickly just to bring in an annoying and obnoxious blonde girl instantly. She's no Bobbi Sue, and she's not even interesting enough to be concerned for unlike her.

Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2 was somewhat promising, but ultimately falls flat on its face. There is a third film planned which I assume and sort of hope will close the series. I hope after this ludicrous sequel we at least get a final and respectable entry in a series that never got off its feet completely. Aside from gore, the series never truly accomplished much else. It succeeds in being a standout for a few reasons, but overall, when closely examined, or even mildly, it's just another horror film inspired by too many others.

Starring: Brian Austin Green, Danielle Harris, Mimi Michaels, Nick Principe, and Thomas Dekker. Directed by: Robert Hall.

Short and sweet, with no spoilers.

As noted in other reviews, the movie picks up where part one ended, but quickly goes another direction, as we find out Chromeskull has an entire team of people working for him. Again, as many reviews note, this is hard to believe, and a bit of a personal letdown, but I won't trash it like others. At the end of the day, I don't judge movies on whether they are realistic, as I take what I'm fed and go from there. Most serial killer/slasher flicks are unrealistic, so why wrestle with a plot over its "this could never happen" facets?

I put this movie in the "JUST O.K." boat. I came for the blood and gore, not superb storyline or acting, and in this respect it was fine. Due to working on intercharacter relationships, however, some of the intensity was lost, as well as the consistency of "kills," if that makes sense.

***NOTE: So I like blood and guts horror. Sue me.

But I digress.

Personally, I feel like the storyline tried to do too much for a formulaic slasher flick. I liked the original, as it wasn't about notable actors or personal relationships other than the people involved. With Brian Austin Green's inclusion, part 2 felt a bit contrived, as if attempting to find validation for the script. Besides the fact that he doesn't play a convincing maniacal killer, the beauty of part 1 is that the story doesn't rely on anything but sheer slashing. BAG was completely unnecessary and could have been played by any old chump and it wouldn't have mattered to me. Though, any time I see Danielle Harris, I'm happy.

Anyway...beyond this bit of beef, it was ok. The pace is different, since we already know what Chromeface does, and the story takes precedent over kills. At the end of the day, there just wasn't enough "meat" to take it from "just ok" to "good."

The production was on par with part 1. Shot on professional equipment, decent acting (but for BAG), editing, etc...all about the same as the original. Special fx remained decent as well.

All in all, if you watched the first one and enjoyed it, you'll be ok with the sequel (I hear there's another one in development...with BAG. Ugh), just don't expect quite as much. Not a total let down, but I think the writer just tried to do too much.

Notes on Parental Contact:

• There is a fair amount of profanity. At least as much as part 1, if not more.
• I would not call this a scary movie, but there are several scenes that could be described as "intense."
• Brief partial nudity but sex and sexual content is not a prevailing theme.
• Violence and gore is what most people would call "severe." As noted above, there are fewer killings in part 2 but the ones we do see are no less gory than the first. If you're a gorehound like me, it's fine. Lots of blood & violence with a smattering of gore for good measure.

For those who call this a terrible movie because the story is fake or the acting isn't Oscar worthy, why would you expect this to begin with? It's a straight-up slasher flick for the modern horror buff. Yes...they tried to add some "Saw"-like elements, but come on...what movie doesn't borrow from another these days.

So, if you watched the first, then you should see the second. Just know it's lost a bit of umph. Still worth the watch, just take what you're fed and go with it.

I enjoyed the first, I didn't think, I would like, I really did but can't say the same about this sequel

This movie started of where last movie left off, which I liked and then movie went down hill as the movies goes on.

I just didn't like where they took the story at all, as I didn't like the plot, it was hard to enjoy it, however the kills in this movie are really creative some really good gory death scenes.

The acting in this movie was hit and miss from some of the cast members

Not as good or as fun as the first movie but decent kills makes this good slasher movie. 5 out of 10