Laid to Rest

That second star is for Stephen, who was the one character that made this monstrosity slightly bearable. Not that he's much of a character, but at least his particular brand of idiocy is the sort that draws a grudging smile out of a horror fan. He certainly has the best lines of anyone in the movie. A car in a horror flick that can only go forty miles an hour is a new one on me, and kind of funny.

Also mildly hilarious is the fact that the convenience store is clerked by a Justin Bieber look-alike.

Apart from that, there is absolutely nothing to see here. The gore gets points for being the right color, texture and coming with a minimum of stupid slurpy noises... it LOOKS better than average, but the killer and the director screw it up by not really seeming to understand how a knife is actually used. (But then, I like for the execution in excessive gore to make SENSE if at all possible--helps justify it. What can I say, I'm picky.) People who only care about the blood'n'guts bit will like it well enough.

The plot is virtually non-existent; the heroine, while not unlikeable, has no personality and is impossible to give a crap about; the acting is god-awful even by horror's already-low standards; the characters' decisions are stupid even by horror's already-low standards... and possibly worst of all, the final confrontation with the killer sickeningly reminds one of the one in "The House By The Cemetery."

Nasty... just nasty.

"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.

Laid to Rest: 7 out of 10: Laid to Rest is a real slasher film. A movie truly for hardcore horror and gore fans only and will make viewers, such as myself, who often enjoy a less serious outing really wonder if I want to see a true horror film. (Turns out I do) This film scared me in places and made me look away in joyful disgust in others. It is a film that raises the bar for horror.

On a lighter note let’s pretend you are married to a B movie actress whose claim to fame is a brief appearance as an Orion Slave Woman on an episode of The Star Trek spin off series Enterprise (Season 4 Episode 4 Borderland to be exact). She has large breasts but refuses to do a topless scene and she is seemingly challenged in the acting ability department. Oh and if she doesn’t star in your next project the audience will not be the only people to be denied a nude scene.

Solution? One brain damaged protagonist coming up.... Some people have trouble getting past the um acting of our star (and directors wife) Bobbi Sue Luther but I think poor acting is as much a part of the slasher genre as the false scare or lame back-story reveal and it good to see it represented here. (Strangely I don’t recall a false scare in Laid to Rest and what back-story reveal there actually is turns out to be fairly well done.) As if to make up for the main lead, the rest of the cast is much better than any slasher film deserves. For one thing they act like a real people would if confronted with such horror. (This is a credit to the script as well; but the cast really does sell this.) Kevin Gage in particular gives a performance that carries the film and what Lena Headey (The queen in 300 and Sarah Conner in the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ) is doing in a slasher film like this is a true mystery.

The direction by Robert Hall is also top notch with the ability to create tension and true scares. The real star of this show however is the make-up effects that are simply out of this world and make this worth a look just for that reason. (No cheesy digital blood here) The only real negatives to the film, outside of Bobbi Sue Luther performance (which isn’t really that bad and fits a brain damaged character), is the opening credits and the ending. If you hate quick cuts, shaky cam and techno music all combined together the opening credits will put the fear of God into you. Don’t worry it stops as soon as the film proper starts. The ending is simply disappointing on a few levels. Characters act... well out of character, and the whole thing is anti-climatic and gimmicky.

Overall Laid to Rest is an excellent slasher film for those people who like that sort of thing. But be forewarned this is for fans only; if you don’t like real horror stay far away.

It's a shame that a gory movie like this surely delivers in gore but fails to deliver me the creeps. You aren't even into the characters, and that's a shame. First of all, it's a bloody flick and the killings are gory and explicit but gore alone doesn't make a movie. The story line is easy to follow but I was never into the characters. When a guy picks up a girl and his wife got killed he never weeps and goes with the unknown girl into a wicked story. But somehow things doesn't fit to me, the first 20 minutes are okay but then it's just the slasher after the unknown girl. Oh yeah, you gore geeks will love some scene's but as said, somehow it fails to attract you whole the time. The last 20 minutes are good to make it a bit easier to watch but still...if you are looking for a gory flick then this is for you, if you want the creeps lay it to rest...

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.