Laid to Rest

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...

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.

"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.

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.

What can I say? This movie delivered everything I wanted it to. Strong brutal killings/unique killings, cheesy acting, not half bad music, and decent atmosphere. I love watching horror movies that don't require any thinking, its as if you can almost take a nap through it and still know what happened. I feel that some of these movies that are released right to DVD actually deliver more than the ones that make it to the theatre. A lot of the time those movies are really watered down and get the pg-13, but with a straight to DVD you know they are not gong to cut back AT ALL. So all in all the movie was a fun watch and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to have a really bloody fun watch on a Friday night.