Prolific special effects guru, Robert Hall, once again takes directorial duties for his second feature length shocker.
The story begins with a girl (boobilicious scream queen, Bobbi Sue Luther), waking up inside of a sealed coffin with no memory of who she is or why she has been put there. After managing to escape the casket, she discovers that a chrome mask-wearing psycho is hot on her tail and eager to put his shiny surgical knives to good use. Finding temporary refuge at a nearby farmhouse, the girl unwittingly drags everyone around her into a living nightmare.
Boasting no pretensions whatsoever, Laid To Rest is a blood-drenched exercise in fun, dumb horror, complete with a buxom airhead of a heroine and a supporting cast of idiotic characters who always manage to stumble/crawl/limp straight into the killer’s path. Harking back to the days of the 80s slasher, Hall presents a simple ‘girl and masked killer’ set-up, and cranks up the on screen gore while having little concern for characterisation, plot, or any genuine creativity. Some of the old school effects will no doubt have gorehounds scoffing with glee, but there’s nothing here that we haven’t seen a thousand times before, and as for the film’s chrome mask-wearing villain, well, he’s just kinda naff.
While the film’s more than a little flimsy, the special features attempt to beef things up with a selection of relatively meaty extras, which includes a 30-minute ‘Post-Mortem: The Making Of Laid To Rest’ featurette. Here the cast and crew discuss the film and its influences while piling on the praise for the movie’s ingenuity, though it’s clear that the director and co clearly had ideas above their station with the project.
‘Torture Porn: The SFX Of Laid To Rest’ is a short, seven-minute featurette featuring plenty of input from the film’s SFX guy, Erik Porn (yes, that is his real name), while a selection of deleted scenes (including a weird but funny Blade Runner spoof) and a set of bloopers round off the okay package.
Overall Verdict:
A dumb and occasionally fun throwback to the 80s slasher.
Special Features:
‘Post-Mortem: The Making Of Laid To Rest’ Featurette
‘Torture Porn: The SFX Of Laid To Rest’ Featurette
Deleted Scenes
Bloopers
Reviewer: Lee Griffiths