DVD Review: Laid to Rest (Unrated Director’s Cut): Bobbi Sue Luther, Kevin Gage, Lena Headey, Sean Whalen, Richard Lynch, Johnathon Schaech, Thomas Dekker, Nick Principe, Jana Kramer, Anthony Fitzgerald, Robert Hall: Movies & TV
DVD Review: Laid to Rest (Unrated Director’s Cut): Bobbi Sue Luther, Kevin Gage, Lena Headey, Sean Whalen, Richard Lynch, Johnathon Schaech, Thomas Dekker, Nick Principe, Jana Kramer, Anthony Fitzgerald, Robert Hall: Movies & TV
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Product Description
A terrifying story of a young girl who wakes up in a casket with a traumatic head injury and no memory of her identity. She quickly realizes she was abducted by a deranged serial murder and must survive the night and outsmart the technologically inclined killer who is hell bent on finishing what he started.
Better Than Your Worst Nightmare!,
By Christopher Thomas Rennirt
(Louisville, KY USA) -
I have read reviews that praise Laid to Rest as one of the best movies of its kind, while I have also read those that condemn it as one of the worst. Ultimately, with this movie most especially, it’s all about what exactly one expects from a slasher film. If it’s an information-rich plot that explains who the killer is, why he’s killing and/or specifically why he kills who he kills, you will be sorely disappointed. Otherwise, I think you will be most highly pleased, as I was.
Laid to Rest, quite honestly, has some of the most brutal and graphic kill scenes I’ve ever seen in a slasher film. What’s more is that these kill scenes are given more on-screen time for the viewer than those in most any other I’ve seen. The camera never cuts away too soon, and, for better worse, little is left to the imagination. For example, when a certain victim gets a knife through the head, the viewer sees a most uncommon amount of detail. When the knife is finally pulled out of the impaled head, the victim appears to be truly real, with bloodying eyes twitching, and skin on the head pulling and stretching, as the knife is removed. To be honest, I’m not even sure how they did it. Yes, one can quickly tell that director Robert Hall loves the genre with a passion, since he goes all out to satisfy his fellow fans. Such exceptional gratuitous detail is dished out more than once in Laid to Rest, as each victim is eliminated by Chrome Skull–the stylishly-masked psycho slasher. In other scenes a victim’s head is filled with air, through his ear, via a tire flat-fixer, a woman’s head is sawed off, and a man’s face is literally chopped off of his head. Don’t worry. I won’t spoil everything. I’ll leave the excessive details for you to witness yourself.
Speaking of Chrome Skull, here is a killer that is as original, vicious, brutal, and scary as he is lacking in personality and/or background. This villain literally comes from nowhere and kills everyone he kills for no particular reason that is ever explained. Chrome Skull has no context. There is not even a hint of who he is and why he does what he does. From the film’s very beginning, a woman wakes up in a casket, escapes, and quickly finds that she is being pursued by someone trying to kill her. From that point, everyone with which the woman comes in contact is either killed or meant to be killed by the villain. The viewer never knows why anything is happening, and never has as much as a single clue to make an inference.
Yes, this lack of context is one of the main criticisms about which I’ve read from many others. However, in all truth, exactly how much of a difference does context ever make in such movies anyway? So what! If anything, we get the clichéd, dicey background about some vengeful social misfit who vents his rage on those who arguably deserve it and/or society in general. Yes, is it ever that much different, and how much of a difference does it ever really make? Is that really why we watch such movies anyway? Of course not! In reality, we mostly watch slasher films for the very things that Laid to Rest concisely and copiously delivers–blood, guts, gratuitous gore, and killings galore! No pedigreed gorehound can walk away from this one without at least being satisfied on that level. If you want more, maybe you’re looking for something different anyway. Maybe wanting more and watching Laid to Rest is like watching a movie you know you won’t like, just wanting to gripe about something. Well, from this point forward, let it be known that you have been warned about what exactly this movie is. From this point forward, if you watch it anyway, spending your time and money on it anyway, then maybe it’s really you who should be criticized.
Laid to Rest is much like a bad dream, if that’s not exactly what it is meant to be. The setting is almost surreal at times, the inhabitants don’t always act as they should, and reality is not always what it should be. No, the movie doesn’t make total sense, it doesn’t answer enough of our questions, the logic is not always what we want, and even clues are nonexistent. However again, like a bad dream, it is sufficient to accomplish the goal it pursues. It delivers, very concisely and thoroughly, one very effective nightmare of a movie.
Laid to Rest,
By Clinton Enlow (Kansas) -
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Laid to Rest isn’t the great new horror film but for what it does I do think it introduces a director who should be given more chances to direct. Robert Hall as it is from his IMDB page has made one other film, Lightning Bug which I unfortunately haven’t seen works primarily as a make-up effects artist (which is how this film is stocked with cameos from Lena Heady to Johnathan Schaech who are barely in the film but get memorable ends)and has shot a film that while not great is really fun with a cool villain. In short I want to see him make more movies.
The basic premise has the girl, an amnesiac girl who wakes up in a coffin and finds herself being stalked by villain with a chrome skull mask and a video camera mounted on his shoulder. She meets handicapped good ole boy Tucker and his wife who then watches his wife being butchered by Chrome Skull before they flee into the night gathering potential victims as they flee while the girl tries to find clues to her past. Its as basic as a plot gets.
While theres not much to the story I will say I did find the details of Chrome Skull who’s been going throughout three states kidnapping and killing women. You only learn a little about him with the fact that He’s possibly got medical knowledge (after the first kill when He’s wounded you see him operating on himself that reminded somewhat of Predator)and unlike most villains drives around in a nicer ride. He’s an interesting kiler to say the least.
The kills themselves are also noteworthy, well with the exception of two that used CGI but did give a few shocks with some kills that were swift and using more practical effects definitely awesomely gruesome.
If I did have one complaint, well I’ll say there were two. This for all the talent behind the camera is a low budget film and looks like it with production values that reminded me of a Masters of Horror episode. Couple that with a clunky third part and to me the film wasn’t perfect. It doesn’t hold the film back from its awesome opening and great close though so thats about all I can say against the film.
In the end the film is a fun slasher film with good acting and some amazingly good effects that add to the effectiveness of the whole thing. As for a DVD the film was shot on digital video and shows it on the disc with a clear picture with great colors. On extras you get a commentary from the filmmakers, a half hour making of featurette, an eight minute featurette on the gore effects, rounding out the package with the bloopers, deleted scenes and the trailer. Its a good package for fans of the film and makes it worth the price of the disc
Silly, but fun,
By cswood “cswood” (Pittsburgh, PA) -
I’m always on the lookout for obscure low budget horror movies because at they’re best they’re way better than crappy PG-13 Hollywood horror movies and at their worst they’re at least fun to make fun of.
“Laid To Rest” falls somewhere in between.
At its best, the gore is exclusively practical (live action effects) and is the main reason to see the movie. No stupid distracting CGI blood effects here, just good ol’ school gore.
At its worst, the acting and dialog is pretty terrible and the camera work is nothing my 10-year-old niece couldn’t do. There’s also more than a few cliched scare tricks (when a girl in a horror movie steps in front of a bathroom mirror, you just KNOW something will suddenly appear behind her).
But wait! I haven’t even gotten to the plot yet! Well, that’s because there isn’t one. A girl wakes up in a coffin with amnesia and the killer (aptly named “Chrome Skull”) stalks her. Why? Doesn’t matter. To what end? To kill her, I guess, but Chrome Skull gets the chance to do so more than once and doesn’t. People don’t see movies like this for the plot anyway, so nevermind that entirely.
Bottom line, it’s a bad horror movie but it’s also pretty fun to laugh at or make fun of if that’s something you like to do (and I do), but it does have some pretty sweet gore effects and cameos from Terminator TV show actors Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker. Watch it with the one you love.
Search Laid to Rest (Unrated Director’s Cut): Bobbi Sue Luther, Kevin Gage, Lena Headey, Sean Whalen, Richard Lynch, Johnathon Schaech, Thomas Dekker, Nick Principe, Jana Kramer, Anthony Fitzgerald, Robert Hall: Movies & TV from AmAzon
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