Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2 (2011): Shine On You Crazy Killer

At the end of Laid to Rest, one of the best slashers to come out in the last five years (Suck it, Hatchet fans.), the metal faced killer had been de-masked, de-faced, and a baseball bat generously applied to his head. Suffice it to say that he seemed pretty definitively dead, but this is horror slasher dead, not regular dead after all. So after the modest success of Laid to Rest, it should come as no surprise that Lightning Bug (no relation) director Robert Hall would find a way to resurrect Chromeskull and bring him back for an eponymously titled sequel. At the last Horrorhound, I got a chance to sit in on the Chromeskull: Laid 2 Rest 2 panel and meet both director Hall, star Nick Principe, and co-star Angela Armani. At the time, Hall promised the sequel would be “chock full of f**king violence”, reveal more about the chrome masked killer, and smooth over some of Laid to Rest's criticisms. For the most part he succeeded, but in trying to bring more to the table, there's a chance he may have laid more on the table than the rest of us were ready to absorb. (For anyone who's not seen Laid to Rest spoilers for the first film are talked about, read at your own peril.)

Laid to Rest picks up directly as the last film ends. Survivors "Princess"  (now played by Allison Kyler replacing Robert Hall's Ex-wife and ex-star Bobbi sue Luther) and Tommy (Thomas Dekker) have hit the road to an Atlanta hotel where they're hiding out. Preston (Brian Austin Green), Chromeskull's assistant, collects the killer's body and a team begins to work on bringing the slasher back to life. As the cops begin to investigate the case, Preston decides to finish up his boss' work dispatching "Princess" in a scene that would easily answer the Joker's question "You wanna know how I got these scars?"  With a first kill under his belt, Preston thinks he should continue Chromeskull's work, but what he doesn't realize is that with the assistance of his other assistant, Spann (Danielle Harris), the slasher has come back bigger and stronger soon selecting a new target. While both killers stack up the bodies, it leads up to an inevitable confrontation between the two, and like Highlanders, there can be only one. 

Lighting Bug director Robert Hall
meets The Lightning Bug

In preparation for this Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2 review, I re-watched Laid to Rest first to recapture the feeling of the film. While some have criticized Robert Hall's film for its logic problems and general silliness (even myself back in Top Ten Common Complaints of Chromeskull), some for its misogynistic killer, and some because they just don't care for slashers, I have a lot of fun with this film. Not only are the kills gory, graphic, and sudden, something I have a hard time finding in modern horror where torture is king, but the film also featured suspense and well placed humor. There's a scene in Laid to Rest where Chromeskull sighs before dispatching a fellow with his own sawed off shotgun outside of a gas station. That small moment where the killer seems put upon is brilliant and always gives me a well needed laugh to break the tension. I could rattle off a hundred more little things that make Laid to Rest more than a run of the mill standard slasher, but I'm here to talk about the sequel after all. 

Where Laid to Rest made its mark on me by being chock full of tiny details for the obsessive slasher fan, Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2 discards the details in favor of grandeur. The first film featured a killer whose motives we never know, whose methods are never explained, and who was a helluva snappy dresser. Laid to Rest 2 attempts to put  Chromeskull at the head of a shadowy organization (if not the government, then an agency with unlimited funds and power), tease the audience with a number of big reveals that never come, and allow a cast-member of 90210 to fill Chromeskull's mask. Where the original gained a lot for not explaining, the sequel loses something because the explanations don't make any sense. I assume Hall intends to bring everything together in a third film intended to be a prequel to the first two, but as a fan of the simple stalk and kill of the original, the exposition, especially in the form of Brian Austin Green's wanna-be slasher, struggled to keep my attention. 

While the plot was too muddied in the sequel, Hall's film really shines where it counts, the mask... just kidding, the kills of course. Where Laid to Rest mixed up the murders a bit, every death in Chromeskull comes by way of a blade. If you've ever wanted to know how many ways effects guys could come up with cutting a person's face off, in half, or asunder, then this is the film for you. Once again Hall proves why he and his company Almost Human are leaders in gore effects. The kills are brutal, and there was clearly some thought put into the pacing of them because each one outranks the other. The deaths Chromeskull is responsible for are far more interesting than those of Preston, though he does have his moments, but the real beauty of the whole film is how Hall makes the audience root for Chromeskull to off Preston. It's one thing to make a viewer want a sympathetic killer like Showtime's Dexter to kill someone, but to have me rooting for ostensibly the worst guy to kill the bad guy was really impressive. 

While Nick Principe doesn't have a single line as the chrome masked killer, Brian Austin Green proved him to be indispensable. Principe has fashioned a character out of body language, small gestures, and good old fashioned Jason Voorhees aggression that realized itself in the first film solidly. It's too bad that he got so little of the screen-time in the second because I find his performance very interesting. As far as the rest of the cast goes, I know Thomas Dekker's star is on the rise, but he just strikes me as Jared Leto without the band, eyeliner, or charisma. Mimi Michaels left little impression on me as the new final girl, and Danielle Harris was woefully underused. Christopher Allen Nelson (Kill Bill's The Groom) made for a great lead cop, and I would love to see him in larger roles. On the other hand, ex-porn star Angela Armani tried to play the ugly duckling as Officer Holland, but I don't think Charlize Theron has anything to worry about. The biggest screen hog was co-producer Brian Austin Green. I can't say that I've ever seen him in much, and I can't say that I'm going to go out of my way to find more BAG films in the future. For my money, I would have liked to see Preston played by a creepy, weaselly little bastard. Green was too full of bravado and too pleased with himself to sell me on his character. 

While I think this is a slight misstep for Robert Hall, whose previous two films Laid to Rest and Lightning Bug, I enjoy very much. Compared to either of the other two productions, Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2 was the largest in both focus and scope. It also felt the least personal. Lightning Bug was his homage to growing up a marginalized horror kid, and Laid to Rest felt like it could be the movie that kid made. In some ways, it literally was. Laid to Rest 2 feels like the toy-box got opened a little too wide. It could be the money that went into the project. It could be that Hall worked with inexperienced co-writer, Kevin Borcarde, instead of penning the project on his own as usual. Or it could have just been that Hall wanted to make something bigger to prove he could move beyond a personal story or a basic slasher. In no way has Laid to Rest 2 dampened my belief that Robert Hall is one of the strongest voices in modern horror cinema. I will still encourage people to check out all three of his films, and I will await his next project eagerly. Chromeskull may have tarnished Hall a bit, but I still think he's got plenty of reason to shine. 

Bugg Rating (Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2)

Bugg Rating (Laid to Rest)

Chromeskull: Laid to Rest II: The Horrorhound Weekend Report

Hello all! Day One of Horrorhound Weekend is already behind me, and I already have things to report. Apart from getting to meet up with some folks (including Emily from The Deadly Doll’s House, The NOTLP crew, the Bloody Good Horror folks, Grey from The Dark Hours Podcast, Mike from Cadaver Lab, and many more), I also got a chance to take in one of the day’s panels for Laid to Rest II. With director Robert Hall, Chromeskull Nick Principe, and Laid to Rest II star Angela Armani in attendance, the assembled crowd was given a first look at the teaser trailer as well as a couple of scenes.

Laid to Rest II, shot in 19 days down from the original’s 24, picks up right where the action of Laid to Rest left off. If anyone remembers what state the sequel’s titular character was in at the end of the last movie, you might imagine that Chromeskull is feeling pretty put out about it. Getting back to his killing weight and to continue his reign of terror, Laid to Rest II promises to clear up some of Chromeskull’s origins (it appears he’s working for some kind of secret organization), but leave the viewer with more questions and more thoroughly satisfying and gory kills.

Robert Hall and Nick Principe

Principe How many gory kills? Nick Principe stated there were three times more deaths than the first film, and Hall echoed that sentiment stating that Chromeskull: Laid to Rest II is “chock full of f**king violence”.  From the kill I got to see featuring a girl getting half her face sliced off with Chromeskull‘s, they’re just as gory as last time. That kill by the way was what Nick Principe referred to as his third favorite, and if that came in third then I can’t wait to see what one and two look like.

After showing off the footage, the trio of guests took questions from the audience that yielded a ton of great information. Hall stated that Laid to Rest was never meant to be sequelized , but after the strong reaction to the first film, they decided to go into production. When asked if he planned of making Laid to Rest a franchise, Hall mused as to how many films qualified as a franchise and added,  “when I send the fucker to space, is it a franchise?” To approach the second film, the writers looked into the case of a man who had his whole face ripped off by a bear and reconstructed, and consulted several plastic surgeons in order to bring some degree of realism to the film. Also, some of the logic problems that plagued Laid to Rest, namely lack of cops and cell phones, are portrayed more realistically. That means there are plenty of cops, and according to Nick Principe and Robert Hall, there is plenty of cop killing. I don’t know what it says about a Horrorhound crowd, but this got the second biggest cheer, second only to the cheer after the death scene.

Everything is bigger this time around for Chromeskull and Laid to Rest. The cast, which now boast the talents of both Brian Austin Green and adult actress Angela Armani, has grown quite a bit from the first outing. Green appears to play someone connected to the organization which thinks it controls Chromedome, and Armani plays a detective on the killers trail. However, I do have sad news as Armani stated that the clothes “stay on”.  As far as the sequel’s titular killer, while he will be more explored as a character, don’t expect any answers. As Principe stated, “evil is just f**king evil”, and that notion neatly sums up Chromeskull.

As for Robert Hall, when asked about Lightning Bug, he said he would be quite interested in returning to a drama, but he imagined it would still retain a darker tone. Principe talked a bit abut seeing Lightning Bug before he met Hall and how the film captured the feeling that he had as a young man moving from the East Coast to Hollywood to gamble on a career in the movies. Hall also briefly mentioned filming Lightning Bug in his actual hometown (the thought of which made him shutter) and encouraged independent filmmakers to set their own first films in their respective backyards. Hall plans on making a third Laid to Rest film, but he also mentioned one of his other scripts, Old Scratch, which concerns a musician who plays his own records backwards only to find hidden messages to himself. From the way Hall described it, it sounded like Memento meets Metal, and I can’t see how anyone could pass that up.

Well that about wraps it up for day one and my coverage of the Laid to Rest panel. I have to admit after poking fun of Laid to Rest and liking Lightning Bug, I’m more than a little interested in what Chromeskull: Laid to Rest II has in store for us. The film should make its debut in September after bouncing around the horror convention circuit a little later this year. It sure looks to me like Robert Hall has an interesting eye, and there just might be something to his tricked out slasher after all. I’ll see you folks tomorrow (or Monday lets be honest) with more Horrorhound goodies, and remember, because it bears repeating, “evil is just f**king evil”,

Lightning Bug (2004): Robert Hall's First Film Turns Out Not To Be a Bio-Pic About Me

I while back I gave director Robert Hall and his film Laid to Rest a thorough poking with my list Top 10 Common Complaints of Laid to Rest’s Chromeskull. Honestly, while Hall’s movie has its ludicrous moments, the kills are quite good and the suspense does seem to build effectively. So I was interested to see what other credits Mr. Hall might have to his name. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised to find out he was the director of 2004’s Lightning Bug, a film I’ve heard about many times due to our similarly eponymous monikers. (I want to dispel right now anyone’s thoughts that The Lair might be named after Hall’s film and point you to the real secret origin story HERE.) I never could quite bring myself to actually watch Lightning Bug until I found out he was to be a guest at Horrorhound Weekend. I figured this could go two ways. It could make-up a bit for cutting Chromeskull to ribbons or it could signal that I should make sure to give Mr. Hall a wide berth around his table.

Unlike Laid to Rest, Lightning Bug is not a horror film. If anything it is a Southern fried drama with thriller elements thrown in for good measure. Green Graves (Bret Harrison) is a self taught horror movie make-up prodigy, but he, his mother Jenny (Ashley Laurence), and brother live in a small Alabama town. Green has plans to make it to Hollywood someday, but first he has to make a bit of cash. Landing a job with Mr. Tightweiler (Bob Penny), the kindly old coot who runs the rather tame “spook house” for Halloween, Green finally finds an outlet for his artistic endeavors. He also finds someone to relate to when he meets Angevin Duvet (Laura Prepon), a gothic girl who works in the Video Store, but has dreams of being an actress. The two support each other, but with an abusive stepfather who beats his mom, a church out to shut down his “Satanic” haunted house, and Angevin’s mother trying desperately to keep them apart, Green worries he will never escape the town and get to really pursue his dreams.

With the tagline, “There are Monsters in His Way”, cover and poster art that emphasizes the spookier, moodier moments in the film, and with Ashley Laurence (Hellraiser) and Kevin Gage (May) listed so high up in the credits, I truly expected some kind of supernatural horror flick. Lightning Bug is actually much more of a “coming-of-age” story with a horror backdrop. For any of us who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s as horror fans, metal heads, or Goths, Green Graves is an instantly relatable character. I recall plenty of times people would ask me if I worshiped Satan because I liked Guns N’ Roses or watched C.H.U.D. What can I say? It was the Nineties and the last vestiges of Metal and Horror equal the stuff of the Devil was just beginning to finally wear out of the mainstream. I should say that, like Robert Hall’s protagonist, I also grew up in the South so our shared experience could be geographical, but I really think that Hall was looking at something much bigger here. He was looking at how life and the hand we are dealt, no matter where or how bad it is, sometime must be overcome to achieve our dreams. For my money, it’s a pretty good message. While Hall flirts dangerously with After School Special themes, he reigns in his film and delivers something really heartfelt.

There should be really good reason for it being so lifelike. Just like Green Graves, Robert Hall also moved from up North to a small Alabama town in his youth. I’m sure he had a couple of dumbass friends like Tony Bennett and Billy Martin. I would venture to guess that he had a stepfather he didn’t think too much of as well. However, I do hope, at least, the story takes a turn from the autobiographical in the last segment of the film. I won’t say how Green Graves' story turns out, but as for Robert Hall, he got his first break driving 300 miles to Selma, Alabama, impressing special effects artist Thomas Burman, and was hired as an assistant makeup effects artist on Abel Ferrera’s Body Snatchers. At the time, he was de-boning chicken in a Tyson plant for a job. So here’s a guy who took the risk, and it paid off. Say what you want about Chromeskull, but Robert Hall has created quite a career for himself as a makeup artist for everything from Buffy and Angel (ironically also for Whedon’s synonymous sounding Firefly) to Wristcutters and The Burrowers.

That being said, Lightning Bug, for all its good intentions, is something of a mess. There are an incredible number of continuity errors. I won’t even try and list them as it doesn’t take a keen eye to spot them. There seems to also be a massive number of plot holes where things are just not explained or don’t have solid logic behind them. As a concept, the movie is great. The execution left a little something to be desired, but this is a first film. With that being said, it should be noted that Laid to Rest shares many of the same problems. There is also a terribly uneven scale of acting on display in Lightning Bug. Ashley Laurence completely disappears into the role of Green’s alcoholic mother to the point where she is unrecognizable as the actress who survived Pinhead’s wrath in four Hellraiser films, but Bret Harrison missed the mark as the emotional center the story. He would prove himself more talented in comedic roles as the lead in Reaper a few years later. George Faughnan steals every scene he appears in as Green’s friend Billy Martin, and with his loose tank top and mulleted hair, he reminded so much of a childhood friend of mine. Then on the other hand, Jonathan Spenser completely annoyed me as Green’s other friend Tony.

Lightning Bug also gets quite a boost from the films two heavies. Kevin Gage (May, Strangeland, Laid to Rest) gets across the alcoholic, rage filled menace of his step dad character in a way I only thought Michael Rooker could.  Every scene he appeared in felt like there was a coiled snake making an appearance and readying itself to strike. The other villainous character in Lightning Bug is Mrs. Duvet, the mother of Green’s main squeeze and the driving force behind the church’s protests of the haunted house. Shannon Eubanks, a character actress with only a handful of roles to her credit, is the embodiment of the shrill W.A.S.P, and in addition, the added character quirk of a pillow she constantly carries around in memory of her deceased husband, gave the conservative activist a softer side. So even though I disagreed with her, her methods, and what she was after, I felt compassion for her. I suppose I should also take a moment for Laura Prepon who produced Lightning Bug as well as co-starred. The That 70’s Show star looks gorgeous as the goth styles totally suit the redhead, but her character never really gets off the ground.

Robert Hall, who wrote the script for Lightning Bug some four years before it was made, obviously felt this was a passion project. It was his story, though fictionalized, and he found a way to tell it that both rings of truth and stays entertaining. His next films, Laid to Rest and its sequel, take a different tact. Lightning Bug is about a boy trying to make his dreams come true. Laid to Rest is the product of Robert Hall following his dreams to their ultimate conclusion. After all, who among us wouldn’t want to create a slasher and have it grace the cover of Fangoria, the same magazine that inspired your dreams. Now don’t get me wrong, I still think Chromeskull is one of the more ludicrous slashers to ever grace the screen, but I do admire both of Mr. Hall’s films now for very different reasons. Lightning Bug is a great “coming of age” movie for horror fans that reminded this viewer to never give up on dreams. Laid to Rest on the other hand is what happens when those horror nerd dreams come true.

Bugg Rating

Here's the trailer, and then below you can find the whole movie via Youtube. (or on Netflix Instant)