Rest in Pieces

I actually own a very rare copy of this movie. Its very, very cheesy, bad dialogue, alot of nudity by the main woman, which isnt bad. It does have its creepy moments, but this is like I said on the 1 line summary. Its so bad, its good!

That's my only contribution to the board of this very strange movie.

Helen (Lorin Jean Vail) inherits an old house and the surrounding property from her Carol Channing look-a-like Aunt. When she and her husband arrive there, they find an odd group of folks living in the surrounding houses. Odd in the sense that they like to kill people and, even worse, don't pay rent! Directed by Jose Ramon Larraz (under the pseudonym Joseph Braunstein), this is a pretty weak horror film that might be notable solely for the horrible lead performance by Vail. She is spectacularly bad, which should be expected as she was an interviewee in THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION Part II. There is one creepy moment where the evil group (which features Spanish film vets Patty Shepard and Jack Taylor) slaughter some classical musicians, but not much else. There is also a nice twist in the plot about half way through, but the disinterested direction doesn't help it have the "umph" it should. Which is a shame as Larraz made some atmospheric stuff in the 70s (VAMPYRES, DEVIATION, THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED). Sadly, nothing happens that is nearly as cool as the cover art depicting a rotting zombie bursting through a door.

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. . .

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.