Laid to Rest

Starz Entertainment

R4 DVD

Laid to Rest opens with a girl locked in a coffin, she cannot remember her name and does not know where she is. As she breaks her way out of the coffin she finds herself in a funeral home. An elderly man comes to her rescue but as he struggles with his keys he is gutted and left for dead. His killer is a tall dark man with a chrome skull mask and a very, very large knife. It seems “the girl” has escaped him and so the hunt begins. It seems the killer is known as “Chrome Face” and we have a rather brutal slasher on our hands.

The unnamed girl is picked up by a kind country stranger named Tucker and he takes her home for shelter. Sadly, Chromeskull carries a digital camera on his shoulder and has seen the car they left in. Soon all hell breaks loose and Tucker’s wife is sliced and diced and Tucker and the girl are on the run.

Chrome Face is a superb killer who has an air of mystery about him. His chrome skull mask is unnerving and the associated medical paraphernalia makes him all the darker. He glues the masks directly on his face (which proves to be his undoing later on) and seems to be immune to pain or at least able use his medical knowledge to overcome it. We learn early on that he is a white middle class professional, probably a doctor and has been killing girls from all over the country. We never know his name or identity. He drives a skull modded car and is meticulous in his work. He works adeptly with knives, cutting, slashing and decapitating. He documents all his achievements on a handheld video system.

The character development is impressive, especially for a slasher film, the unnamed girl played by Bobbi Sue Luthor is excellent and is Kevin Cage as Tucker. While the plot is relatively simple, the relationships developed between the three major characters are believable and there are moments of real emotional intensity. There is also some interesting textures to the plot including the role of the funeral director.

Written and directed by make-up artist Robert Hall, the violence is extreme and the killings are brutal. Many are right in your face and extremely confronting, so be ready to wince and jump at regular intervals. This is a slasher with a very high body count and yet with a plot and character development as well, an achievement in a genre not known for its depth.

The ending is a bit awkward, while I can appreciate the director wanted to do things a little differently from the traditional “killer versus surviving woman” standoff, it ends up as an anti-climax. Gory, yes; an interesting concept; absolutely, but not totally successful. The revelations about “the girl” give it some texture but the death of the killer is a letdown.

Laid to Rest is an impressive throwback to the great slashers of the Eighties. Brimming with gore, violence and horror it works exceptionally well. It features an intriguing killer who is notable for his brains rather than brawn and this is quite different from your traditional hulk sized serial killers. The use of technology such as mobile phones, GPS, digital cameras and so on all bring the genre up to date and makes him all the more believable and hence unnerving.

While there is a lot of slashing and bashing, it is not just a chase 'n' chop hack-fest, Laid to Rest offers enough plot and character to make it a rather good horror showing.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.4 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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