Laid to Rest (2009)

Thursday, 30 April 2009 00:00

Reviewed by Carol Sullivan

Genre: Horror
ON DVD: April 21, 2009
Rating: Not Rated

Director: Robert Hall
Starring: Bobbi Sue Luther, Kevin Gage, Lena Headey, Sean Whalen, Richard Lynch
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay

If you have a taste for hard-core, blood-soaked slashers, and it has been a while since a really cool villain carved his way into your heart, then have I got a movie for you! While Laid to Rest will certainly not be enjoyed by those of you with weak stomachs or dodgy pace-makers, this in-your-face shocker was well worth this horror fan's time...

Laid to Rest begins as a busty young woman (Bobbi Sue Luther, Night of the Demons 09) wakes in a silk-lined coffin with no memory of who she is or how she got there. To be expected, she panics and flails about; finally managing to knock the coffin over, breaking the lock. As she tumbles out, we find that she is in an empty mortuary chapel.

Within minutes, we discover who has done this to her; a terrifying figure that looks like a frightening combination of the Terminator and Michael Myers is coming for her. With a gleaming chrome mask covering his face and a shoulder-mounted video camera recording everything, this silent psychopath chases this young woman out into the night with a really nasty hunting knife. Still struggling to remember, the woman finds some unlikely heroes for companions along the way and, together, they must stay one step ahead of this ultimate killing machine; a monstrous man who feels no pain and has only the desire for slaughter...

I had never heard of Laid to Rest when I snatched it from the Blockbuster shelf yesterday. Reading the back cover, I was intrigued at the passel of stars that are in it. While Ms. Luther, the lead actress, is beautiful; she does not make for a very sympathetic character in this movie and, by the end, I really didn't care if the villain got her or not. I had much more fun with the quirks and talents of her co-stars; Kevin Gage (Waingro of Heat), Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker of The Sara Conner Chronicles, and Johnathon Shaech (Quarantine). The interesting batch of characters that they play makes this movie so much more interesting and unpredictable.

Nicely written and directed by Robert Hall, this shocker was not even close to the low-budget horror flick that I had expected, to be sure. And the crafty folks at Almost Human really drive the brutal killing scenes home with an original and gory splash of style. Each and every murder appeared so real and detailed; I couldn't help but scream with disgust and delight. ChromeSkull is definitely the best masked-killer since Michael Meyers.

While the movie, Laid to Rest, seems to polarize the horror-fan-community (you either love it or hate it), I found its wild and gruesome style to be fresh and different. Though it may have you swearing-off red-meat for a while, it has a bad-guy you won't soon forget!

Recommended as a rental and/or purchase.

Overall Rating : 4

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Last Updated ( Friday, 01 May 2009 07:15 )