Laid to Rest is, in a similar vein to Adam Green's Hatchet, an unapologetic love letter to the slasher films of the 1980s. It is a low budget, stripped down kill-fest dominated by an enigmatic and visually distinctive killer of mysterious origins. Unlike Hatchet however, which laced its (brutal) violence with a broadly comic edge, Laid to Rest plays it dead straight.

Opening with the abrupt awakening of a young woman (Bobbi Sue Luther) who has no memory and is less than pleased to find herself sealed within a coffin, the film hits the ground running and it is only mere moments before she has run into and away from our designated killer. The rest of the film plays out much as you would expect as she tries to evade the alarmingly persistent murderer who goes by the name of Chrome Skull.

Although one could cynically accuse Chrome Skull of being a rather obvious attempt at creating an iconic killer who will hopefully be the basis of a new franchise, that does not detract from the fact that he is a memorable and chilling creation who might even deserve that accolade.

Nick Principe, the man behind the skeletal metal mask which is this killer's main trademark invests the character with a sort of mannered physicality which though just as brutal as Victor Crowley and his assorted stablemates is also obviously skilled and the source of no small amount of pride for this particular loon. This charcteristic is also displayed in his choices of clothes, car and even weapons.

A few hints are given as to who this guy is and why he does what he does but writer/director Robert Hall wisely chooses to keep us in the dark for the most part and this makes Chrome Skull all the more sinister.

That said, it is a real shame that he isn't given more challenging folks to stalk. All the characters in this film from 'The Girl' as she is known to the various people she meets along the way (including Kevin Gage and Lena Headey) rank amongst the stupidest characters in the entire horror genre's canon. And that's saying something. These people repeatedly return to locations where they have already been attacked at, they are constantly given chances to escape which they bafflingly choose not to take and they make the most insanely logic-less decisions it is possible to even conceive of. It is like watching a gang of drunk retarded school children trying to negotiate heavy traffic. At one point, Gage's character decides to return to his house where he has literally just escaped from simply so that he can cover the body of a victim. At another juncture, the protagonst actually stops the car they are making their clean and very safe escape in so that she can go back to the funeral home (where she woke up locked in a coffin remember) and hopefully regain her memory. This is of course, the funeral home which is also the killer's main haunt and lair. With a trace more irony it would have been quite succesful satire but alas, no.

Of course, these character deficiencies are not down to the actors who do for the most part turn in good performances but the script. It forces its characters into jeopardy by the overuse of so many contrivances and false logic that it breaks any sense of this happening in a 'real' universe. A huge plot point is the character's search for a phone with which to call the police. The script forces this problem onto them by having them visit houses which have internet connections but no phone lines, characters accidentally pulling cords out, nobody except the killer owns a mobile phone and eventually when they get their hands on this rare and mystical object are not able to call the police due to its security password being enabled (which of course does not affect the emergency services number in reality).

It simply becomes a frustrating viewing experience when the rug is consistently pulled from beneath the audience's feet in this manner.

This being a clear homage to classic slasher movies however, the focus is not on the script but on the kills and this is where Laid To Rest really shines. Robert Hall's extensive background in the arena of special effects on an enormous array of movies and television shows (including Angel and Buffy) serve him spectacularly well here. It is not an exaggeration to say that the kills in Laid To Rest are among the goriest, gooiest and most convincing of any contemporary horror movie. They are shocking, violent and most importantly, painful.

The discrepancy between the generally low production values on the film in general and the incredibly high quailty effects does create a rather strange viewing experience which ultimately the flawed script does unbalance but the film remains a must-see for any serious gore-hound and the soon to follow sequel(s) will hopefully address the problems present here.

Rating: 7/10

For more on ChromeSkull, the movie's killer see his entry on The Total Bastard Database