Laid to Rest (2009)

Director:

Robert Hall

Writer:

Robert Hall (written by)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

A terrifying story of a young girl who wakes up in a casket with a traumatic head injury and no memory of her identity...

Plot Keywords:

Breaking Through A Door | Buried Alive | Head Ripped Off | Cocaine Snorting | Computer

Cast

Bobbi Sue Luther	...	The Girl
Kevin Gage	...	Tucker
Lena Headey	...	Cindy
Sean Whalen	...	Steven
Richard Lynch	...	Mr. Jones
Johnathon Schaech	...	Johnny
Thomas Dekker	...	Tommy
Nick Principe	...	Chromeskull
Jana Kramer	...	Jamie
Lucas Till	...	Young Store Clerk
Anthony Fitzgerald	...	Anthony
Seri DeYoung	...	Bound Girl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mark Bentley	...	Sheriff Bates (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Hall

Writing credits
Robert Hall		(written by)

Produced by
Kevin Bocarde	....	executive producer
Robert Hall	....	co-executive producer
Bobbi Sue Luther	....	producer
Seth Nagel	....	co-producer
Ed Polgardy	....	co-producer
Chang Tseng	....	producer

Cinematography by
Scott Winig		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Andrew Bentler

Casting by
Monika Mikkelsen

Production Design by
Mark Bentley

Art Direction by
Michael Gaglio
Leslie Heins

Costume Design by
Sarah Trost

Makeup Department
Erika Diehl	....	key hair stylist
Dijais Ervin	....	key makeup artist
Christina Guerra	....	key makeup artist: additional photography
Erik Porn	....	special makeup effects supervisor: Almost Human Inc.
Christian Quarantillo	....	special makeup effects artist
Mark James Ross	....	special makeup effects artist: Atlanta life casting: Almost Human
Toby Sells	....	special makeup effects artist: Atlanta life casting, Almost Human
Scott Simpson	....	special makeup effects artist
Christa Sos	....	assistant makeup artist
Crystal Soveroski	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Di Goodman	....	production manager
Chang Tseng	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Brianna Frisbey	....	second assistant director
Kapil Gandhi	....	second second assistant director
Andrew Shepherd	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Brad Cartwright	....	property master
Brad Cartwright	....	props
Janet Tracy Keijser	....	key set decorator
John D. Sherman	....	assistant property master

Sound Department
Bill Braun	....	dialogue editor
Jason Brennan	....	sound re-recording mixer
William Britt	....	sound mixer
Billy Carson	....	foley editor
Billy Carson	....	sound effects editor
Daniel Douglass	....	sound engineer
Mark Ettel	....	sound re-recording mixer
Eric Gillingham	....	sound designer
Goeun Lee	....	additional sound editor
Ryan McBride	....	sound designer
David Mercer	....	dialogue editor
John Richard Morris IV	....	foley editor
Steve Neal	....	sound designer
Rich Novak	....	dialogue editor
Kunal Rajan	....	sound designer
Victoria Rose Sampson	....	supervising sound editor
Annette Sowell	....	backgrounds editor
Trevor Stott	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Kevin Carter	....	special effects contact lenses

Visual Effects by
Eric Evans	....	digital compositor
Nicholas Onstad	....	digital compositor
Bethany Pederson Onstad	....	compositor: Almost Human Digital (as Bethany Pederson)
Erik Porn	....	visual effects artist
Ikuo Saito	....	title designer: main and end titles
Marc Varisco	....	visual effects supervisor: Asylum VFX

Stunts
Michael Gaglio	....	stunt rigger
Janet Tracy Keijser	....	stunt double

Camera and Electrical Department
Charlie Anderson	....	loader
Laurence Avenet-Bradley	....	camera operator
Brad Baker	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
Phaedra Eason	....	best boy grip
Blaine Eisner	....	still photographer
Nathaniel Elliott	....	epk videographer
Geoff Ernst	....	gaffer
Brianna Frisbey	....	additional still photographer
Dallas Griffin	....	grip
Dallas Griffin	....	key rigging grip
Erik F. Hill	....	key grip
Chris McLeod	....	best boy electric
Michael Joseph Phillips	....	electrician
Timothy E. Roth	....	electrician
Andrew Sadtler	....	grip
Ikuo Saito	....	epk videographer
Natalie Saito	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Johnny Segal	....	best boy grip
Tammy Sutton	....	additional still photographer
Pat Swovelin	....	assistant camera
Pat Swovelin	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Svetlana Tesnes	....	camera utility

Editorial Department
Charlie Anderson	....	assistant editor
William 'Skip' McGee	....	post-production coordinator
John Sellars	....	colorist
Bryan Yokomi	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Mikael Carlsson	....	soundtrack producer
Suicidal Tendencies	....	composer: additional music

Transportation Department
Lisa Clark	....	transportation
Zareiff	....	driver

Other crew
Reagan Brandon	....	script supervisor
Bonnie Cunningham	....	production coordinator
Isabel Ferrer	....	second script supervisor
Christopher Holder	....	acting coach
Shannon Murray	....	production coordinator
Elran Ofir	....	production assistant
Jason Trost	....	photo double: Chromeskull
Robert Michael Zeman Jr.	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Dry County Films

Distributors

• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2009) (USA) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Eagle Films (2009) (non-USA) (all media) (Middle East)
• I-On New Media (2009) (Germany) (DVD)
• Starz Home Entertainment (2009) (UK) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Almost Human Digital (visual effects)
• Almost Human (makeup effects)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong bloody horror violence and gore, language, some sexual content, nudity and brief drug use

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Australia:R | USA:R | UK:18 | Singapore:R21 (cut) | New Zealand:R18 | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Annapolis, Maryland, USA

Company:

Dry County Films

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: You can see Tucker's breath, when he is supposed to be dead (look at his stomach).

Quotes:

The Girl:He wants to make me dead.

Movie Connections:

Featured in ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2 (2011)

Laid to Rest... The best laid plans of serial killers and men.

Laid to Rest: 7 out of 10: Laid to Rest is a real slasher film. A movie truly for hardcore horror and gore fans only and will make viewers, such as myself, who often enjoy a less serious outing really wonder if I want to see a true horror film. (Turns out I do) This film scared me in places and made me look away in joyful disgust in others. It is a film that raises the bar for horror.

On a lighter note let’s pretend you are married to a B movie actress whose claim to fame is a brief appearance as an Orion Slave Woman on an episode of The Star Trek spin off series Enterprise (Season 4 Episode 4 Borderland to be exact). She has large breasts but refuses to do a topless scene and she is seemingly challenged in the acting ability department. Oh and if she doesn’t star in your next project the audience will not be the only people to be denied a nude scene.

Solution? One brain damaged protagonist coming up.... Some people have trouble getting past the um acting of our star (and directors wife) Bobbi Sue Luther but I think poor acting is as much a part of the slasher genre as the false scare or lame back-story reveal and it good to see it represented here. (Strangely I don’t recall a false scare in Laid to Rest and what back-story reveal there actually is turns out to be fairly well done.) As if to make up for the main lead, the rest of the cast is much better than any slasher film deserves. For one thing they act like a real people would if confronted with such horror. (This is a credit to the script as well; but the cast really does sell this.) Kevin Gage in particular gives a performance that carries the film and what Lena Headey (The queen in 300 and Sarah Conner in the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ) is doing in a slasher film like this is a true mystery.

The direction by Robert Hall is also top notch with the ability to create tension and true scares. The real star of this show however is the make-up effects that are simply out of this world and make this worth a look just for that reason. (No cheesy digital blood here) The only real negatives to the film, outside of Bobbi Sue Luther performance (which isn’t really that bad and fits a brain damaged character), is the opening credits and the ending. If you hate quick cuts, shaky cam and techno music all combined together the opening credits will put the fear of God into you. Don’t worry it stops as soon as the film proper starts. The ending is simply disappointing on a few levels. Characters act... well out of character, and the whole thing is anti-climatic and gimmicky.

Overall Laid to Rest is an excellent slasher film for those people who like that sort of thing. But be forewarned this is for fans only; if you don’t like real horror stay far away.