Scarecrow-88
Several strikes against Chromeskull: Laid to Rest II. First, the casting of Brian Austin Green immediately had me groaning intensely inside. No, more like nauseated. I can't stand this 90210 pretty boy trying his hand as a Chromeskull disciple who works for the plot's ludicrous "The Organization", I guess a certain type of covert kill-happy operation that delights in the recording of pretty girls as they are tortured, begging for mercy while the psychopath quietly enjoys his handiwork. Most of the time they are trapped in coffins, crying, pleading, wanting to be freed from this terror, falling on deaf ears. Another strike is the rampant stupidity on display, how the main lead killer seems indestructible. How can such damage to a face and head sustained by the Laid to Rest psycho not lead to his demise? The opening facial reconstruction (including skin graft and eyeball surgery) reminded me of Chucky the Doll's repair in Child's Play 3, to use another embarrassingly ridiculous rebirth of a killer. It is hard to accept any of this without laughing, and if the tone of Laid to Rest II wasn't at times so serious (the lead detective of the most inept police task force I've seen in a thriller in quite some time tries to console the kidnapped final slasher heroine's distraught mother, mentioning he himself has a daughter and will do all he can to get her back safe and alive) you might could take it all in stride and just roll the eyes, have a drink and popcorn, abandoning all preconceptions of this attempting to be anything other than a 90 minute stab-a-thon. This is that in all its glory. I would definitely reward this sick-in-the-head film a "creative kills" award for if there is a way to savagely butcher a person with a blade, Laid to Rest II delivers in spades. One scene has a poor female cop (and not a bad looker, to boot) pressed, mouth-first (ouch!) into a "spinner blade" stuck in a stair step as she was trying to climb away from wannabe Chrome killer, Austin Green. Green has his own Chromeskull mask he wears, so devoted to his "boss", he has the Skull and Knives tattoo inked to his chest. Yeah, he also enjoys provoking the film's screeching heroine into tears, talking about how his master enjoys slaughtering victims. Nice guy, this Austin Green. I just can't even stand to look at that mug of his. Anyway, Chromeskull gets in on the action later as Detective King's (Owain Yeoman) litter of cops enter his abandoned warehouse which looks like it was ripped from a SAW sequel. Between Austin Green and Nick Principe's mangled-faced monstrosity, a whole police force is massacred in one singular location! There is one cop who is hooked to a type of electrical box and submerged, against his will, into a tank of water as his face begins to peel away before being slammed into the side. A number of familiar faces show up (director Robert Hall has a ton of friends, I guess) in supporting roles like organization member Danielle Harris who has a way with ChromeSkull, Thomas Dekker (a nice young actor I liked in the wrongfully cancelled Terminator series, as Tommy, a "loose end" that needs to be eliminated), Gail O'Grady (NYPD Blue) as the heroine's concerned mother, and Johnathon Schaech (The Forsaken; Prom Night remake) as an enigmatic FBI agent. Harris steps away from her usual sweet-victim roles in these kinds of movies to play a cold-blooded heel bucking for Green's position. She even has a scene where she shaves ChromeSkull's head bald and tells him via Internet communication (Skype, whatever you want to call it) to have fun in Hollywood where he seems to fit right in with the crazies who populate the streets. ChromeSkull's Organization is quite hi-tech and intricately designed, quite efficient like the FBI or CIA; it's just so surreal that this movie asks us to believe in this. The ultimate strike against this is the ugly digital photography and steadi-cam epileptic movement. Saving money for the gore gags, I guess as the director seems to enjoy lavishing slasher fans with opens wounds, severed heads, and lots of blood. One great scene I rejoiced was Green's fate as it is quite gruesome. Dekker deserves better than his part provides and Mimi Michaels spends all her screen time in a frenzied state of horror, shirtless (just a bra), and pleading for her life. Michaels' character is losing her sight, so she tries to negotiate by telling Green she couldn't identify if he'd let her go. Of course, you get the follow-up heckling from Green that is expected from a movie of this type. He really thinks he's a badass in this movie, let me tell you. I just threw up in my mouth a little..
mike felmet
As a huge fan of the first film I had high expectations for part 2. Robert Hall did not disappoint me. I loved the way that the film immediately picked up were part one left off. The kicker is that we soon learn that Chromeskull was not alone and in fact was in charge of a group dedicated to killing. Chromeskull severely injured in part one is down for the count and under care while his partner in crime "Preston" decides to finish what he started. "Preston" is played by Brian Austin Green who appeared to embrace the evil very well. There were some unanswered questions in the sequel and I would have liked more details about the group but it was a hell of a fun ride. The kills were brutal and the effects were amazing as usual. The cast was great and I love the twisted mind of Robert Hall. "Laid to Rest" will always have a reserved spot on my DVD shelf of greatness and I enjoyed it a bit more then part 2 but I highly recommend buying them both,popping some popcorn and enjoying the carnage.
KineticSeoul
The first "Laid to Rest" wasn't a great slasher but it was a alright slasher that is passable because of the creative kills with a single weapon. This time the kills are a bit more gruesome for this sequel but it also seemed like they just put in bunch of random character for ChromeSkull to kill. And that basically sums up most of this movie for the most part. If you have a weak stomach though it's just better to stay away from this if you do cause there is almost nothing in the story department. The acting is even more atrocious this time and almost laughable at times than actually makes the premise intimidating. There is more weapons that is used to gruesomely kill people but the only audience I can see really enjoying this movie. Is the audiences that like to watch people die in some of the most gruesome way possible with sharp objects. Although I seen similar movies like this before but even I had to cringe a few times while watching this. Also the mystery behind ChromeSkull is what sort of made the videotaping killer sort of interesting and this movie reveals a bit of ChromeSkull and who he is. I am not sure if this is a good thing but the premise is even more ridiculous this time around. And not only because ChromeSkull manage to survive the first incident, it just makes the killer more supernatural than human. Okay so it is now revealed that ChromeSkull is like some leader in some creepy secret organization. Although it isn't clearly explained what that organization is about. Like I said there is little to no script for this movie and to sum it up, it's a sadistic gruesome killing movie. But there is audiences for this type of movie so if your one of them this movie might be worth a watch with a group of friends that share the same interest. I personally just found this sequel to be gruesome but bland. The movie sort of picks up near the end and than fall short again because it just becomes too ridiculous and stupid.3.8/10
glennha2
i thought the sequel had the same problem the first film had, plenty of action and gore with a terrible plot. some of the character's just seem to have screen time just to be there. brian austin greene and daniel harris just seem to walk around with no back story to each character. i know there trying to expand on the first but at least tell the viewer why this stuff is happening in the movie!!!and the lead actress really serves no purpose, all she does is walk around screaming and crying. the lead in the first film was strong and fought back. and why are the cops so clueless and stupid, let's walk into this building and spilt up so we can die! give me a great villain with an even better person chasing him. but i guess when you blow all the budget on gory effects you have very little time to work on a good script and story.
