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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Gore the Merrier! Don't forget the Extras..., May 3, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Okay, let's face it: If you're thinking about watching a horror movie in the slasher subcategory, you're not searching for a think-piece on the dangers of unresolved Oedipal complexes. You're not looking for a movie to challenge your way of thinking. You watch these movies for lots of killing, bad acting, and the plot, well...is there ever really a plot?
It'd be easy to say that Laid to Rest is another dime-a-dozen slasher movie, another entry into a misogynist genre that's been overdone since the late 1980's...but that would ignore the vast efforts put into it by the director, his wife, the cast, and the crew.
The Director: Robert Hall, owner of the special effects company Almost Human, made this film for two reasons. He wanted to make his first horror movie, and his wife needed her first starring role.
The Lead: Bobbi Sue Luther, to me, is known for her role in Star Trek: Enterprise as a green-skinned Orion Slave Girl. She's been in countless men's magazines, and even became the face of St. Pauli Girl beer in 2007. She also co-produced this movie.
The Film:
The movie starts off with a heavy metal riff, and we see an MTV-video style montage of young nubile women getting sliced up in various ways. We see events from the aspect of "The Girl", a young woman who wakes up in a coffin with no memory of who she is or how she got there. Over the course of this horrifying night she forms an alliance with two men, Tucker and Stephen, who do their best to protect her from our unrelenting antagonist, a killer known as Chrome Skull.
I was expecting a slaughter-fest, and I was not disappointed. Chrome Skull got to use a variety of weapons: a steel rod, a shotgun, tire sealant, and of course, his trademark brass knuckle knives. The most vicious kill in the film, by far, is the one against Lena Headey's character Cindy. I was COMPLETELY unprepared for her facial reaction...the knife twists in her temple, her mouth opens and her eyes dart about. As the knife comes out, her right eye is completely bloodshot. I'm used to special effects that cut away and take the cheap way out, but this put it right in my FACE. Bravo!
I got a case of the giggles whenever Chrome Skull came on screen - he looked like Timothy Olyphant from Hitman with a shoulder camera he borrowed from The Predator. That probably wasn't Robert Hall's intention, but it made Chrome Skull a memorable character for me, whether scary or not.
Some things irritated me during this movie, such as the editor's quick-cuts. I'd see a full segment of Chrome Skull killing someone, but if I blinked, I'd miss the 13 clips pasted together of him getting stabbed in the eye at the mortuary (yes, I counted). The dialogue from most of the characters was pretty bad, but then again, I wasn't expecting a David Mamet film.
The ending was a pleasant surprise, giving me some answers but begging more questions. Usually I keep my brain turned off during a slasher film but this one made me switch it on at the end. How diabolical of you, Robert Hall!
DVD Treatment: At the beginning of Laid to Rest, there are a few movie ads:
(1) Lightning Bug (Robert Hall's directorial debut)
(2) The Alphabet Killer (Directed by Rob Schmidt, who directed Wrong Turn)
(3) Crowley (Known as "Chemical Wedding" outside of the U.S.)
(4) Tokyo Zombie
How about them Extras? Well, there's a lot to be found here:
(1) Commentary track with Bobbi Sue Luther and her husband Robert Hall - Robert never tries to hide the fact that he's making a slasher film and doesn't try to build it up to be more than it is. The commentary focuses on him and his wife being able to make a movie with a core group of friends and a non-existent budget. I enjoyed hearing their stories about the use of "Smash! Plastic", the difficulties of a few interior window scenes, and the kindness of Cookie Moreland, among others. The bit about filming in houses with black mold was kind of creepy, though.
(2) The Making of Laid to Rest - We get a brief interview of each character in the movie, and several crew members. Everyone shares their serious and goofy sides while discussing the film. Thomas Dekker even got to compose some music!
(3) Torture Porn - the SFX of Laid to Rest - No, this isn't a segment about Eli Roth: the makeup effects supervisor is named Erik Porn. He showcases the creation of Chrome Skull, the bodies in the film, various head molds for special effects, and more.
(4) Deleted Scenes - I loved the intro with Nick Principe doing Roy Batty's speech from Blade Runner, but this could have gone in the bloopers section. There are only a couple of scenes here - nothing to write home about.
(5) Bloopers - A typical blooper reel, everyone looks like they're enjoying themselves and not getting frustrated.
(6) Trailer - The trailer that piqued my interest in this movie!
You might think independent horror movies are a waste of time, but remember: a filmmaker named Sam Raimi started out shooting low budget horror movies like The Evil Dead, and he's now making multi-million dollar movies about some teenager in Queens who got bit by a spider or something.
Laid to Rest gets 3 stars, but the efforts of everyone involved pushes it to 4.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An ultra bloody, old school, enjoyable slasher, April 22, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
What Laid to Rest lacks in terms of coherent story, it more than makes up for with inventive kills and ingenious practical gore effects. Bobbi Sue Luther stars as an amnesiac girl who wakes up in a coffin, only to find herself hunted down by a chrome-skull-faced killer with a video camera strapped to his shoulder. Soon enough, she finds herself taken in by a kindly couple (Kevin Gage, Lena Headey) and naturally, the killer isn't far behind. There are cameos and small roles featuring genre stalwarts like Richard Lynch, Johnathon Schaech, and Headey's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles co-star Thomas Dekker, but what really makes Laid to Rest worthwhile is its no-holds barred attitude and fantastic gore effects that combine to make for some inventive and gross kills. Anchor Bay's DVD features are also worthwhile, including an interesting commentary from writer/director Robert Hall and Bobbi Sue Luther, who also co-produced the film; and a blooper reel that is actually funny. All in all, for die-hard slasher fans that are sick of all the crummy PG-13 teen horror flicks and sadistic but not scary torture flicks, Laid to Rest should definitely be right up your alley.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
That Bloody Thing You Do, Johnathon Schaech!, June 13, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
It's hard to believe that it's been 13 years since 1996's "That Thing You Do!" starring Tom Hanks, Liv Tyler and Johnathon Schaech, whose career certainly has not gone in the direction I would've predicted for him back then. Somehow he's ended up doing slasher films like this one--and if you're buying "Laid to Rest" to see him, you will be greatly disappointed. He's not bad in his role--and he can do a decent Southern accent--but the actor's only onscreen for all of 3 minutes. I won't give away what happens to his character, but since this is a "slasher shocker", well, don't think too hard trying to figure it out. It just made me sad to see Schaech, who still looks mighty fine, in a movie like this.
I confess I'm not a slasher film fan. I do like the original "Halloween" with former scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis as well as her other scary flicks from back then. But since I haven't watched any current slasher movies, I thought I would check out "Laid to Rest", which is described as having "the most inventive death scenes in years". And this is true. There's a heckuva lot of bloody, gory violence going on this film--enough to turn anyone's stomach. So if that's what you're interested in seeing, then this flick's definitely for you.
As for the story of "Laid to Rest", it's somewhat intriguing with a young girl waking up inside a casket with a head injury and no memory of her identity. And for some mysterious reason, there's a crazy killer after her, and, of course, she's in an isolated rural area. If this film doesn't make you want to move to a safe big city, I don't know what will. But I have no desire to spend a weekend in the country after watching this movie, which is somewhat predictable. Our heroine and a few friends move to a new location, where someone gets killed, then they go to another place. More blood and gore and it continues on in this vicious cycle.
I'm giving "Laid to Rest" two stars because of two reasons. First, I really liked actor Kevin Gage as Tucker, who befriends the young girl. He's a good actor who gives a much better performance than I would ever expect to find in such a film. And, second, there is a certain sick and twisted fascination in seeing what horrible situation will happen next and who will survive until the very end. That's the whole point of slasher flicks--I think. And "Laid to Rest" does this well enough. Is it as good as the original "Halloween"? Hell no. But if you're looking for a mindless 90 minutes of graphic carnage with some decent gory special effects, maybe you'll get a kick out of "Laid to Rest".
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