Laid to Rest (2009)

Director: Robert Hall
Starring: Bobbi Sue Luther, Kevin Gage, Sean Whalen, Nick Principe
Unrated  Running time: 90 minutes


Special effects whiz turned director Robert Hall (LIGHTNING BUG) returns with a relentless, gory slasher that's a throwback to the days when cinematic massacres were more fun. A nameless and busty brunette (Bobbi Sue Luther) awakes in a  coffin in a funeral home run by genre vet Richard Lynch (Bad Dreams). She has no idea who she is or how she got there. Before she can begin to put the pieces together, the film's star arrives: Chrome Skull, a hulking, unstoppable killer who wears a shiny skeletal mask, a video camera mounted to his shoulder, uses shiny, expensive looking weapons and drives a very slick car. He's sort of the James Bond of the serial killer world, if James Bond casually murdered everyone in sight.

So she runs. And runs. And runs. In fact, the rest of the movie involves the girl (and two guys who end up getting dragged into it) trying to figure out just how she got in this predicament while avoiding getting butchered by Chrome Skull. In the meantime, Chrome Skull eviscerates nearly every character who appears in the film with creative gusto. Faces are chopped off, guts are spilled, heads are crushed, you name it. All of which is masterfully done. I'd even go as far as to say that the splatter effects (by Hall's Almost Human FX) are some of the best I've ever seen. One scene in particular, a brutal head stabbing that occurs early in the picture, is almost guaranteed to make you squirm.

Gore isn't the only thing going for the film, however. The film's protagonists - the girl, the trucker with a bum leg (Kevin Gage), and the uber-nerdy computer whiz (Sean Whalen) - are actually likable, a quality which is absent from 99.9% of the slashers on the market. Everyone else, well, they make good targets for Chrome Skull.

Highly recommended for fans of old-fashioned special effects and cinematic mayhem. LAID TO REST is a fun and gory little slasher.

3.5 out of 5.