Laid to Rest – DVD Review

The Film:

There’s a scene around the midway point in Laid to Rest that finds the masked killer, Chrome Skull, limping towards our heroine after she stabs him in the thigh. As he lurches down the hallway in a darkly lit place, his metallic skull shimmers in the dark regardless, as our heroine screams. The way Chrome Skull lurches and that eerie skull mask, it reminded me of the terror I felt as a kid when at the end of Terminator, the endoskeleton T-800 lurched after a screaming Sarah Connor. The image stuck with me as a kid till this day, and that scene reminded me off it. For all of the gory and fun kills Robert Hall injected into Laid to Rest, I think atmosphere and tension is where this film shines.

Laid to Rest still follows the traditional slasher conventions, but with a few key additions and differences, it ends up making a fun thrill ride. The film opens with a woman (Bobbi Sue Luther) waking up in a casket in a funeral home. She can’t remember her name, how she got there, or where she is, and she really doesn’t have the time to ponder it because a man with a chrome skull mask, two surgical knives, and a miniDV camera attached to his right shoulder is stalking her with grim intentions. The film then follows her as she tries to come to grips with the situation, survive, and find out who she is. Don’t worry, people die horrifically (thanks to Almost Human FX) and die some more.

Robert Hall injects some of that atmosphere I was talking about around the grisly and entertaining kills, that in my book sets this film apart from the recent big budgeted slashers in the theaters. It’s almost never about the kills, as the build up. That’s what made films like The Prowler, Friday the 13^th, and Halloween work. The kill is the tension release. You think Chrome Skull will pop out and he doesn’t, a sly maneuver to shake the viewer off his trail by Hall, who also wrote the screenplay. Another neat, subtle thing in the film, is there’s a line of dialogue or a visual cue that might seem like a throw away event, that comes back into play later in the film at certain times. This makes the film standout and refreshingly fun, something I can’t say recent with a few certain slasher flicks failed to do properly.

I would be shortsighted if I didn’t at least acknowledge that the film is perfect. A few bits of dialogue fall flat upon delivery, certain characters are one dimensional, but these are a by product of the nature of the conventions of the slasher genre, and is very forgivable due to the energy, creativity, and the unique villain here in Laid to Rest. I might be wrong, but I believe Chrome Skull is one of the first slashers to use technology to hunt and kill his victims. He’s a soulless killer, without talk or emotion, yet uses the fore-mentioned miniDV camera to record the kills and as eyes in back of his head. He has a GPS system and a cell, all use in logical ways. Chrome Skull is vicious and I bet he’ll linger long into your memories like the terminator did to me as a kid.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: Anchor Bay does a solid job here in making the video really shine and pop out adding the to overall experience. The audio is engaging, robust, but never over-powering. Unfortunately, there’s no Blu Ray, but I suspect this standard DVD on a good set-up could compare rather favorably. This is another good job by the Bay.

Commentary: Robert Hall is joined with star/producer/wife Bobbi Luther. Hall is a likable speaker, and with her here, all the track is, is a non-stop yak fest worth listening too. Informative, fun, never dull, fans of the film will enjoy this.

Postmortem: Making of Laid to Rest: We get this half-an-hour making of that is equally worth your time, especially if the commentary track isn’t your thing. Good deal of fun and information here.

Torture: SFX of Laid to Rest: Almost Human is the effects house that Robert works for when not directing, and you might remember them from Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series and stuff like Pineapple Express. With this calling card of effects work, they show that they might be the next KNB. A good watch.

Deleted Scenes, Trailers, and Bloopers round out these rather surprisingly good set of bonus material.

Conclusion: A dark, atmospheric, little slasher than kicks the big budgeted slashers ass, this film and package by Anchor Bay is worth every penny to own. But its worth catching up with regardless of how you do it. One of the shining horror films so far in 2009.

Rating: