MovieChat Forums > Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2 (2011) Discussion > Better Than The Last , But Definitly Ove...

Better Than The Last , But Definitly Overhyped Way Too Much.


Just watched the movie and while I thought it was an improvement over the first it didn't really live up to all the greatness that those blog sites were creaming over. I mean you still don't give a *beep* about any of the characters and this movie has to have some of the dumbest cops I have seen in a horror film in a long time. Seriously they did nothing the entire movie except get picked off with ease. The gore scenes are still pretty awesome though and I thought a certain kill of a major character at the end was somewhat spectacular in a way, but you have to see it to believe it. Overall I would go into this with low expectations and maybe you will end up being suprised a bit.

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[deleted]

[deleted]

Copy/paste from my pending iMDB review.

First of.. I enjoyed the first film. It were massively flawed in numerous ways, but there was entertainment value and potential to be seen. I am a cinephile and I believe I understand horror films including it's language and history. I would also like to mention that I had no expectations towards this project. I only figured that maybe the director and others involved would have grown since the last film, and maybe would have spotted what didn't work about it. Oh boy, was I wrong.

The most importang thing in horror is the human element/factor. There really needs to be a balance in all the grimness or else it will not have any impact. This goes for slashers as well. If not for anything else, characters can contribute with some humour. There is nothing in that vein to speak of concerning this. It seems to be directed by an angry inept 13 year old, having watched all the horror/slasher remakes of the 2000's. No finesse, No style, No intelligence, No craftsmanship, No suspense, No nothing.

I'll ignore the first entry from here on as this should be judged as a stand alone piece. By this I mean I will reference back to the first film, but I will not judge it by my expectations or as a sequel in any way. The first film was well above many other direct-to-DVD slasher flick. This one simply is beneath anything ever made in the genre. Ever. I am calm and quite relaxed when I write that this is the most bored I've ever been while watching a slasher flick. You know the feeling you get when your actually so bored your heart starts to race and your body is aching? Yeah well...

I won't bother with the plot as there really is no indication there even was a script on set. I would give it more slack if it at least did a well known formula, but there really is no plot whatsoever. Not even an unoriginal one, it simply does not exist in this dojo. Even horror fans in it only for the gore will be disappointed by this wreck of a film. At least the first film had character relations and some humour. this has neither.

Horrible camera work. You haven't experienced shaky-cam before you've seen this. I do passionately hate that obnoxious ''style'' but this is by far the worst I've ever seen. It even ruins the only enjoyable thing about it, the kills. There is not a stable shot to be found. No steadicam, No dolly tracks and No crane shots to be found in the entire running time of this one. They didn't even bother with a 20$ tripod it seems. It looks beyond amateurish, and the CONSTANT effect does not only suggest laziness, but a complete lack of visual style and personality. I can't even imagine this as being an artistic choice. It simply was not prioritised. This looks to have been shot ultra fast (these films usually are and it is no excuse) and with a vastly smaller budget than the first film.

Crap editing (The first one was guilty of this as well). Boring and irritating score. In fact, any filmatic quality is down the drain so I won't bother to list any more. It really does remind me a whole lot of ''Hatchet II''. It starts out with a decent first film and then... You'll be told that this is a great throwback (tho it is in fact modern in every way) and that it's fun and doesn't really need a plot as no one watches this films for that anyway. Ignore this claim.

The gore scenes are great though. And also the only thing the filmmakers (I do use the term lightly) chose to focus on while making this. It's simply not enough. The fantastic gore made me consider giving the film 2 stars, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It really does not deserve any.

A big wasted opportunity. The one thing we learn about the killer is not touched upon at all. It's noisy, excruciatingly boring and incompetent. We're talking later ''Saw'' installments. The focus jumps back and forth between the killer and the police and there is absolutely no involvement to speak of. There is shouting, fast edits and NOTHING else. Nothing actually happens in this dribble of a film. Avoid like the plague. It's not even worth checking out for the gore scenes. It simply lacks the fun of the genre and it takes itself way too serious. Even the idiotic cops isn't played for laughs, it's just dumb. I absolutely hated it.

(And indeed is there a scene after the credits. And it's incredibly uninspired).

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[deleted]

I just finished watching it on demand myself and I have to agree.

As my IMDB post history can probably attest, I know my gore (especially the Japanese splatterfilm/exploitation scene). And this movie definitely brought that. I'm willing to give it so much credit for the kill effects that I'd probably rank it a 3 out of 5 just for that.

But beyond that there is... nothing.

(Spoilers from here on out)


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This film seems to want to have its cake and eat it, too. It is made to look as realistic as possible yet the main villain somehow survives an acid facial thanks to some back alley surgeons in a dirty warehouse? Dread Central's review states that we learn more about Chromeskull in this film. We do not. We just learn that he has some lackeys that are there to set things up for him Jigsaw-style and Brian Austin Greene trying way too hard to be him. The killer continues to be an absolute cypher of other slash monsters. He has nothing but a chrome plated mask to really call his own. Even the lackey schtick Danielle Harris and Greene do here is pretty much ripped off from Saw 3 and 4, right down to the overzealous apprentice that wants to take over.

The main girl is absolutely horrible. The trope of 20 minutes with Idiots could be applied to just about any scene she's in where she's video blogging about how horrible her life is. Her disability and level of blindness seem to shift as the plot demands it. And sadly, thanks to the choice of making everything so poorly lit, you sometimes feel you can see less than she can.

The police in this film are complete and total idiots. Like was said earlier, they exist just to be killed one by one. They really sent a lone officer by herself to the one place they think the killer might be? Then when she doesn't return, two more cops go there and instantly charge inside before back up arrives? The kicker, though, is when 3 cops with guns cocked and ready to fire are overtaken in a split second by a cornered Chromeskull. The kills for this scene were amazing, especially since it appears to be one take, but 3 guys with guns being taken out by one guy with a knife just seems like they barely passed police academy.

The ending of the first movie kind of made up for the complete lack of character development "Princess" had. There is no such twist here. The main girl is just a screaming, crying blonde in a bra the entire time. Her mom is Gail O'Grady here only for a paycheck in between Lifetime movies. The cops are morons.

The stinger after the credits gives me a little more hope for the obvious Laid to Rest 3, but this film definitely didn't rise above what the series has been so far: a special effects demo reel.

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I'd say that Martin's review is dead on. I can't stand police/detective plots in movies just because this kind of filler is what you usually end up with. Although, I guess the main plot was just filler as well. Another thing that really should not be overlooked is the timeline of events in a single night, As we would shift between different groups, some would do something that took hours while others did things that took minutes. Yet everyone was all on the same page when the next scene came around. It was all just so poorly thrown together.

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great review Martin. and I definitely agree about the annoying shaky cam. now I don't mind that style most of the time but here they just went overboard.

that being said the gore was really good and gives it a few extra points.



When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

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I guess im the only one here who absolutely loved this movie.
So to this obviously to serious crowd... what do you think is the crowning achievement in modern American slasher films?

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what do you think is the crowning achievement in modern American slasher films?


Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon?

I'm not saying this film was bad or that it should be avoided. The slasher aspects and the special effects are almost enough to make the complete lack of characterization and story worth it. It just seems a bit hollow...

(Spoilers coming)

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I almost wish they did away with the police sub-plot entirely. They added nothing to the story except a drag on the action. If this was Chromeskull, a somewhat supernatural slasher, coming back from the brink of death and celebrating his recovery with his most epic fishy game ever involving multiple girls and trap set ups, I would have probably forgiven the lack of story more. But having cops stupidly walk into a scene of a murder with known hostages and weapons one by one to get killed themselves just reeked of lazy scriptwriting.

If the point of the movie is to get character A to location B so Chromeskull can kill him in already pre-written and pre-planned way C, that is all this movie needs.

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I cant wait for Before the mask.
I think your a bit hard on this film but to each his own. Ill leave you too it :)

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I can't speak for anyone but myself but I liked the original Laid to Rest and, with Saw "ending" for the foreseeable future, I was kind of hoping Laid to Rest 2 would pick up the slack and fill its place.

Instead, what we got was a weird mish-mash that wanted to be both Hostel/Saw and Friday the 13th at the same time. Any tension or suspense was killed deader than Brian Austin Green the second it was shown that Chromeskull pretty much had Plot Immunity and cannot be killed, no matter what crazy odds are stacked against him.

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[deleted]

This doesn't really have anything to do with this movie, but I just watched Attack The Block and that's actually a movie that lives up to the hype and deserves the praise unlike this movie.

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I just watched ''Attack the Block'' myself!
Now, THAT'S a genre film done right! One of my favorite films of the year. Outstanding!

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[deleted]

Haha. I watched Attack the Block Friday and loved it.

Laid to Rest initially had a good concept...so poorly executed.

There have been many excellent movies with great gore scenes. This gets no points for that.

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Attack of the block was absolute garbage!
SO let down by ATB but not LTR2 at all
I didnt see commercials for the latter but ATB was on tv all the time.

I hope by genre film you dont mean horror genre??

Attack the block was about as horror as Goonies



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It wasnt completely horrible, but like Hatchet II, I was a bit let down :( The first one was much funner.

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3/10 for the gore - but htis movie was not even close to surpasing the original which I though was a very entertaining B-movie this was as flat as a two week open can of cola!

"Its just a ride"

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I enjoyed the first one a lot more than this one. I came in to the first one with no expectations and was happy with the level of gore and a new take on Michael Meyers. This movie was the worst parts of the Saw franchise repackaged under a new name. I loved the gore and all, but introducing a bunch of characters that have no character doesn't work. It didn't matter to me in the first movie. The movie was enjoyable enough even though the characters were one dimensional. They tried to hard to do everything in the sequel. I will watch the next one and expect it to be worse than the previous one.


Scientists are saying the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted.

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Preston was a GREAT KILLER the look on his face when he killed the Girl was awesome


Rob Zombie is one of the greatest directors today

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