Rest in Pieces

A woman inherits an estate from her dead aunt who orchestrates her suicide via video tape and, immediately after moving in, she and her husband experience strange haunting-esque activity and odd stalkers.

What Rest in Pieces has going for it is a fairly unpredictable script that just so happens to be told in a pedestrian and unexciting way. It also doesn't help that the leading lady doesn't provide much in the way of excitement or rational human responses throughout. Her line readings sound like they were dubbed by a robot, but the script's oddly paced twists and turns still take the viewer by surprise occasionally and the random bursts of violence and gore do shock after the mostly restrained and by the numbers first half hour.

Back in the 70's José Ramón Larraz was the director of some highly acclaimed exploitation masterpieces like "Vampyres", "Symptons" and "The Coming of Sin", but the respect and acknowledgment he obtained over the years abruptly came to an end during the 80's, when his name got linked to reputedly cheesy and insignificant film such as "Edge of the Axe" and this "Rest in Pieces". It's quite a shame Larraz' career died such a quiet death, especially because those two last movies are actually much underrated. "Edge of the Axe" was a grim slasher with a nasty shock ending and particularly this "Rest in Pieces" is an astonishingly pleasant surprise. Admittedly the title sounds silly (albeit enticing) and the still images on the back of the old VHS cover look extremely cheesy (and very 80's), but it's a truly imaginatively scripted movie with a constant macabre atmosphere, unexpected twists, creepy characters and countless of genuinely uncanny jump moments. Add to all that some awesomely gory massacres, gratuitous nudity and a wondrous sense of black humor, and you've got yourself an authentic horror gem of which I can't possibly comprehend why it's so scandalously unappreciated. Being the sole inheritors of a wealthy aunt who committed suicide live on video, a greedy young couple moves into her estate called "Eight Manors" and promptly begin to search for the hidden family fortune. There are, however, six more and highly suspicious behaving tenants on the estate are working against them. It doesn't take too long until Helen begins to spot the eerie images of her nastily grinning aunt everywhere around the estate and she slowly goes insane. The script of "Rest in Pieces" obviously doesn't make too much sense and totally lacks coherence, but who cares when there's zombies, ghosts and mad-raving lunatics!?! I realize I'm probably being too generous here, but this is a seriously amusing film and it's about time someone writes something positive about it.

And oh, what a waste of time. Weak plot, unscary 'scary' moments, and very little in the way of gore. The collection of characters was the main thing "Rest in Pieces" had going for it: the blind man, the preacher, the doctor, the slutty maid, and so on. But what exactly was going on here? Are these people the thinking, talking, otherwise normal version of the living dead, similar to the much better (and earlier) film "Dead & Buried"? Why do they slaughter the string quartet? Is the doctor a mad scientist who has brought these people back from the dead, just like the old coroner from "Dead & Buried"? Were we supposed to be frightened or laugh at the repeated appearances of the aunt's ghost? Do the resurrected need hypnotism to 'get adjusted' to their new form of existence, just like they do in "Dead & Buried"? I think I'm starting to see a pattern here. ..

There are more stupid parts – the preacher with his switchblade and the cars in the garage come to mind. In general this movie was just bad. Now that I think about it, the only reason I wanted to see it was the description on the box made it sound a lot like "Dead Alive" (neighbors...undead...kill, kill, kill). I'm sorry I suckered myself into renting this based on that. Don't bother with this one. Watch instead that other horror movie made a few years before this one that was also about people being brought back from the dead to lead almost-normal lives - oh, what was that one called. . .

I don't know about you, but I would like to see Rest in Pieces come out on DVD. I agree that this movie is seriously underrated and that maybe this is the reason.

This movie is definitely a must-have for any avid horror buff. I have Rest in Pieces on VHS. What I really enjoy the most about this fine, suspenseful masterpiece is the music that is played throughout the story. I also enjoy the fact that this movie was made on a highly restricted budget. This does not subtract from a great horror film, but actually adds to its enjoyment potential. You can see the imagination and th ingenuity that was made behind it. You can get a break from special effects and from the Hollywood saturation that is so prominent in so many films, especially the ones of today.

The music and sounds allow for the better movement from the story from one scene to the next. It is very similar to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 production of The Shining. The music allows you to use your own imagination and is so spooky that it actually does a far better job of keeping you on the edge of your seat and be completely entertained. This is why I believe Rest in Pieces should be released on DVD.

I also enjoyed the scenes where Helen is being haunted by visions of her laughing aunt who appears to torment her at various snatches of scenes. Some were peppered with sound effects of when her aunt is speaking to her. I cannot help but laugh, as I can almost see the humor behind it.

I would like to know the piece that was played by the string quartet in the concert scene. It is such a lovely classical piece. If anyone knows the title and the name of the composer, please let me know.

Years ago I wanted to rent this movie at a video store when I tried the store said they no longer carry the movie so I waited like 20 years 20 plus years to finally see this movie anyway I finally saw it and it's about a husband and wife go to some undisclosed country as the wife inherited her aunts house. Then strange things start happening and they are surrounded by weird people Allstate try to expect these previous tenants from the land to previous tenant start making plans against them the movie doesn't make a lot of sense tells us that the previous owners are ghosts but then they going to make a deal with the husband to try and get rid of the wife so are they really closed or they alive and there's a haunted house across the street never gets explored in a way I like this movie but not enough to give us five stars or more is brought to you by the same film company that brought us Edge of the axe which was a very good film and a better movie than this one whereas rest in peace it was kind of a sponge ghost story still there too many loose ends that are never tied up.