Review #157: Laid to Rest (2009)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Robert Hall (Director): Long time Make-Up Designer

Bobbi Sue Luther (The Girl): Killer Pad

Kevin Gage (Tucker): SpaceCamp (1986), Con Air (1997), G.I.Jane (1997), Point Blank (1998), Strangeland (1998), Blow (2001), May (2002), Paparazzi (2004), Kill Theory (2009)

Lena Headey (Cindy): The Jungle Book (1994), The Cave (2005), 300 (2006), Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Terminator T.V. series

Sean Whalen (Steven): Batman Returns (1992), Revenge of the Nerds 3 (1992), Waterworld (1995), The Cable Guy (1996), Men In Black (1997), Idle Hands (1999), Never Been Kissed (1999), Drive Thru

Thomas Dekker (Tommy): Star Trek: Generations (1994), Village of the Damned (1995), The Land Before Time 5-9, A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), Sarah Connor Chronicles, Heroes & Honey, I Shrunk the Kids T.V. Series

Nick Principe (Chrome Skull)

Jana Kramer (Jamie): Prom Night

Trailer:

Plot:

A young female wakes up in a casket with no memory of what had happened to her. She has suffered a traumatic head injury (big wound on the back of her head). The “Girl” works her way out of the locked casket and finds herself alone in a mysterious funeral home late at night.

She eventually stumbles her way into the “preparing” room and finds a phone. The Girl dials the police and is unable to report her where abouts due to her amnesia. She gets disconnected from the police (which is a comical error in itself) and then finds a door leading to the exit.

The door is locked, but has a window to look through, and she finally gets a glimpse of the movie’s deranged serial killer (Chrome Skull) on the other side. The killer is dressed in black, supporting a chrome skull mask and on his shoulder he wears a camera to film the coverage of his kills. Maybe he'll post them on YouTube later.

After a series of events, The Girl escapes Chrome Skull’s murder attempt and flees the funeral home into the night. The Girl is then picked up by a passerby named Tucker. Tucker’s truck in low on gas and doesn’t have a cell phone. The two of them are in an isolated rural town and there aren’t too many houses or places nearby. Tucker’s solution is to take her home to his wife.

They arrive at Tucker’s house and she meets his wife Cindy. Of course there is no phone there (disconnected for not paying the bill) so the three of them decide to hold up there until morning, when Cindy’s brother is allegedly coming to visit.

Chrome Skull shows up at the Tucker’s place and kills Cindy during the night. Tucker and The Girl escape Chrome Skull and venture out into the night. Trapped in the middle of nowhere with no phone and limited gas, Tucker and The Girl flee into the night trying to survive the stalking, murderous Chrome Skull.

Villain:

Laid to Rest’s big bad guy is Chrome Skull. Chrome Skull is dressed in black from top to bottom while supported a wicked looking skull mask plated in chrome, hence Chrome Skull. He looks like an evil bad *ss version of Skeletor from He-Man. Chrome Skull wields a big Rambo knife to slice and dice his victims.

Chrome Skull also supports a video camera mounted on his right shoulder so he can tape his victim’s murders. Chrome Skull makes copies of his murders and sends them to the police (as we find his lengthy collection later on in the film). His M.O. is abducting young women and toying with them before he finally kills them.

The true identity of Chrome Skull is never fully revealed, but it is hinted at him being some type of rich person, like a doctor. He drives a new black pimp *ss car with his name (Chrome Skull) on the back license plate. He’s got all the cool toys and gadgets (new cell phones, cameras, GPS) in his car also showing off his wealth.

I love how Chrome Skull plays with his prey during the film, but there was one thing that left a bad taste in my mouth, the video camera. The film leads us to believe that there is just one camera. The camera is just a regular camcorder that anyone could pick up at the store. But in my opinion, the one on his shoulder and the one they feature are two different things.

The one on his shoulder looks just like a box with a blinking light, similar in nature to those security cameras behind counters in stores. I realize that the film crew probably didn’t actually use the camcorder and rigged up something else in nature to portray it, but it just looked a little too “fake” in my book. Outside of that little flaw, Chrome Skull was a pretty cool villain.

Here’s a bad joke:

Q: What do people in Missouri consider as chrome?

A: Duct Tape

Cast:

Bobbi Sue Luther plays the lead female in the film, The Girl (or also known as “Miami” on the marked video tapes). Luther’s character spends the whole film with amnesia and has no idea where she is or who to trust. Her acting was a little so-so, but I bought it a little.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of her character but there was some closure at the end of the film as we got a peek into her life. Chrome Skull throws her the video tape marked “Miami” and let’s her watch it. The tape reveals some of her past…and I loved what they did with it.

*** Spoiler: Highlight to Read ***

Chrome Skull lets her watch how they got “acquainted” with one another, and it turns out that The Girl is a prostitute. It wasn’t really a big shocker to me, but I loved how it played out.

The revelation to The Girl that she was all but a wholesome American girl was the cool part about it. The look on The Girl’s face was awesome. All during the film she had hope that she probably was being sought after by her family and friends and her life was good. Maybe she was a college student, maybe she had a husband. Nope. In the end, probably the only one who was missing her most likely was her pimp. The rug just got pulled out from underneath her. *** End.

Laid to Rest’s next major character was Tucker, played by Kevin Gage (Pictured left). Tucker’s character was a good ole’ country boy with good intentions and a brave heart. Tucker also had to use a walking stick to help him get around because he had some type of limp or medical condition, which kept him from just trying to take on Chrome Skull by himself.

Tucker was the most likable character of the bunch in my opinion. He just had that “thing” about him that made him respectable. Tucker was a cool, down to Earth guy who was just trying to help a girl in need.

Tucker’s wife, Cindy, was played by the Terminator’s Sarah Connor, Lena Headey. I liked her in general, but she didn’t have much of a role as she was quickly dispensed in the film (sorry for the spoiler, but it doesn’t take long to see that happen).

Staying along the lines of the Terminator T.V. show, Sarah’s on screen son, John Connor (Thomas Dekker...pictured left) pops up in the film. Dekker plays a relatively minor role as a punk kid named Tommy. Personally I liked that T.V. show, but unfortunately FOX pulled the plug on it this past spring. Bummer.

There’s another key member of the movie that I haven’t mentioned yet and that is Steven. Sean Whalen plays the role of Steven, a neighboring citizen who gets a knock on the door late at night by Tucker and The Girl. He does the neighborly thing and helps them out, which also leads to him getting sucked into the killing spree.

Steven’s character is frightening to a degree. At times I thought that he might be part of Chrome’s master plan. He fits the mold for being a serial killer. Steven has lived at home with his mom all his life until her recent death…Steven’s like thirty something. No…that doesn’t scream “psycho”.

After all a lot of historical serial killers (real life or movie portrayed) are middle aged dudes that were mommy’s boys. Ed Gein, the Wisconsin cannibal and the inspiration of Psycho, TCM, Silence of the Lambs, was a big time mommy’s boy.

SFX/Gore:

The special effects were good for a low budget film, but it’s no surprise that they were good coming from a special effects artist turned director. Laid to Rest had some nice gory deaths in the film and the body count was in the double digits…which is always good. The audience didn’t get ripped off when it came to the death scenes. The majority of them came on screen in their glorious demise.

Chrome Skull was also an equal opportunity killer. He just didn’t rely on his Rambo knife. He could of…and I would have been fine with that, but he didn’t. Favorite death: *** Highlight to Read *** Knife to the skull: Poor Cindy. She didn’t stand a chance. Chrome Skull gets to her early on in the film. He abducts her while she was sleeping.

Once Tucker and The Girl realize that Chrome was around, they discover him holding her hostage and trapped halfway out the bedroom window. Chrome had her head secured on the outside while the remainder of her body still remained in the bedroom.

Tucker and The Girl find them outside the bedroom window and Chrome barters with Cindy’s life for The Girl’s. Cindy’s bid came up short. Chrome strikes her in the head with his Rambo knife and twists it round and round and nails her head to the outside wall. Poor Cindy. *** End.

TNA:

There were a couple of “pleasant on the eye” actresses to look at in the film. Laid to Rest’s main piece of eye candy is the lovely Bobbi Sue Luther (Pictured Below). Unfortunately she kept her shirt on during the film, but it’s always nice to dream a little bit.

Other beautiful additions to the screen are Headey, and Prom Night’s Jana Kramer. Neither of them gives the male audience anything to lose some sleep over, but oh well, it’s just nice to see them.

T.Gun’s Take:

Director Robert Hall has been a long time special effects artist in Hollywood and took a good shot at making a horror film. The story wasn’t the best or easiest to follow at first, but Laid to Rest is a pretty good solid effort in general.

Laid to Rest was a nice brutal and gory flick with a pretty honored cast for being low budget. It’s probably no surprise that Hall lured in two co-stars of the television show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a show in which he was the special effects dude. Wouldn’t shock me if that was something they did during the writer’s strike.

Overall, I liked Laid to Rest. It was a refreshing horror movie. The film makers didn’t spend too much time trying to make you think or “wow” you with crazy storylines or concepts. It’s a straight forward slasher film that gets it done.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on April 21, 2009 and went straight to DVD
-Filmed in Maryland