Laid to Rest (2009)

A big breasted woman, severely lacking in any form of intelligence, is running from a masked killer who will do anything to see her dead, including all of those who get in his way; sound familiar? Of course it does, but a tired, boring and predictable plot can still churn out a good film. Unfortunately that wasn't the case here.

I was exposed to the film due to flipping through a copy of the severely overpriced Horror mag. Rue Morgue (a magazine that's pretty inaccurate and unreliable when it comes to recommendations and the accolades they hand out, but, whatever, I was looking for something to watch.)

Well, I watched it; sat through the whole thing and when it was over I felt triumphant like a little kid who just had 4 teeth pulled without wincing once; yes, it's that bad and unbearable.



Chrome Skull was a decent idea, but was poorly executed, one of the main points of proof that the film just wants to gore you to death before it tries to either interest or entertain you. It's supposed to be a throwback (but what isn't nowadays?) to the "old school" films like Maniac (which I think is a near masterpiece), but unlike Maniac there's no real investing in any of the characters like you do with Joe Spinell's warped sociopath. There's just a dude in a mask and some broad running and some other dudes trying to help her.

The funniest part about the whole film isn't in the film, it's in the "Making of..." featurette where the director attempts to bring some sort of intellectual justification to his schlock; "oh, the camera on his shoulder represents our dependence on technology." at that point both my girlfriend and I laughed like two wild Hyenas, truly pathetic.

My idea in regards to gore is that it's supposed to effect you; doesn't happen here, it's too obvious, too plastic and fake (now, you can call me out on Maniac which doesn't have the BEST effects, but you have to take it for the time that it was made in.) so, there's another notch on the belt of flaws in this film.

Lately a lot, not all, "horror" films are all about simply satiating gorehound's hungers; well, they've all (Laid to Rest, Inside, Frontier(s), High Tension) failed in my eyes; gore is fine when applied correctly (like Audition or Dead Alive) but this recent wave is just far too full of cro-magnons.

GRADE: F