With LAID TO REST, writer-director Robert Hall has created a kick-ass slasher movie with surprisingly sagacious characters who actually act like real people. Too bad he chose to saturate this shock-fest with excessive gore effects.

That he did should come as no surprise. Hall has a list of credits a mile long, most of which stem from the special effects department, specifically make-up effects. Two recent films in which Hall served as special make-up effects supervisor include RED SANDS (2009) and QUARANTINE (2008).

LAID TO REST wastes no time getting started. A young woman (Bobbi Sue Luther) wakes up to find herself inside a coffin. She escapes from the coffin and barely has time to catch her breath when she witnesses a brutal murder by a mysterious figure wearing dark clothes and a shiny chrome skull mask. The killer also carries a miniature video camera. The killer attacks her. She fights him off and manages to escape. For now.

She flags down a car and is picked up by Tucker (Kevin Gage) who listens to her story and then brings her back home where he and his wife promise to help her. Tucker and his wife question the woman, but she can't even remember her name. The only thing she remembers is waking up inside a "death box" (honey, it's called a "coffin"), and of course the man in the chrome skull mask.

Tucker promises her that she's safe there, and this assurance lasts for about ten seconds, as the man in the skull mask shows up and brutally murders Tucker's wife. This is a very violent scene, the first of too many that push the envelope too far and get in the way of the movie's success.

Tucker and the girl fight off Chrome Skull and then flee to the home of Steven (Sean Whalen), a computer geek who listens to their story and then promptly sends an email to the police. They decide against waiting inside the house, because they fear they are being followed by the killer.

The chase continues, as Chrome Skull pursues the three characters, carving up a trail of dead bodies along the way. Eventually, they all find themselves inside a country store along with a young employee and two customers, and there all of them together make their last stand against Chrome Skull.

In regards to story and plot, there's really nothing to dislike about LAID TO REST. The pacing is fast, as the action starts with the very first scene and doesn't really let up. It helps, in terms of pacing, that the movie doesn't take place in one setting. Things keep changing, as the characters are always on the move, and this keeps things fresh.

The characters are all very well written, and it's refreshing that they act the way people should act. While Bobbi Sue Luther is OK in the lead as "the girl," the best character in the movie is Tucker, the hero, and Kevin Gage turns in a great performance in the role. Tucker makes for a somewhat unconventional hero, in that he's not cliche, nor is he interested in the leading lady. He loved his wife, and she's murdered early on in the film. He's not even out for the traditional cliche revenge. He's simply horrified that his wife is dead, and he's just trying to survive, and help this strange woman survive and find her identity in the process.

Sean Whalen as computer geek Steven is another refreshing character. Anything but macho, he nonetheless provides a strong presence throughout, and his reactions are also real. Through most of the proceedings, he's genuinely frightened, as are all three characters.

The result is when these characters are in harm's way, we really care about them. In so many movies like this, hardly any care is given the characters, and as a result we could care less if they're murdered because they don't appear real. In this movie, they are very real, and we are much more emotionally invested in their plights than in most flicks like this.

The best part of LAID TO REST, by far, though, is the killer, Chrome Skull. With his stylish black clothes, small video device, and that shiny chrome skull mask, along with his shiny bald head, his look is classic, and if this was a slightly better movie, he would be on his way to becoming a memorable horror character. The fact that this movie won't do this for him isn't really his fault.

His look is menacing and cool. Think Vincent Price as DR. PHIBES updated for the 21st century. He's definitely scary looking. He also moves swiftly, and doesn't lumber around slowly like Michael Myers in some of the HALLOWEEN sequels. Nobody's going to outrun this guy.

I also liked the fact that we don't know a whole lot about him. He is left largely a mystery. We don't really know what he's doing with that video camera. We don't really know what he's doing to the girls he eventually murders.

Director Hall creates plenty of effective scare scenes in this movie. One in particular takes place inside the police station. While Tucker, Steven, and "the girl" are there in the dark, wondering where the police are, Skull Face comes tearing out of a dark corner. It's a great sequence.

So what's wrong with this movie? The excessive gore kills it, pure and simple. It's like baking a chocolate cake but then ruining it by pouring a pound of sugar on top. Too much. The gore effects here just get in the way.

Sadly, there are some who feel this is how horror movies should be made. They're wrong. We'd see a higher number of quality horror films made today if the artists out there would abandon this immature way of making horror movies. Leave excessive gore for the amateurs. The professionals should be doing more with their skills. Robert Hall obviously has tons of talent. He shouldn't be wasting it trying to gross out his audience.

Plus, the gore is never really as realistic as real life, so these excessive gore scenes always leave a taste of "fakeness" behind, and when you're going for scary, you don't want "fake." You want real.

LAID TO REST has a lot going for it. It's better written than most slasher movies, and it's got an energetic pace that will definitely satisfy the hungriest of horror fans. It also has realistic characters and a very memorable menace, Chrome Skull, a killer who has the potential for becoming iconic.

But it's done in by an overabundance of gore effects, and scenes of brutal murders that serve only to disgust rather than to scare. These effects, though well done, sadly drag the movie down to a level where only fans of hardcore horror violence will want to watch.

Pickin' the carcass with this one, you'll find a succulent eye-watering morsel that you pop into your mouth, and it tastes delicious, and you're enjoying it until you bite into a piece of bone, and then another, and another, and ---oh hell, you have to spit the whole thing out.

Fans of quality horror deserve better.


---END---