After her wealthy Aunt Catherine (Dorothy Malone) commits suicide, Helen (Lorin Jean Vail) and her husband Bob (Scott Thompson Baker) move into the old woman's mansion, where they find that the estate is also home to several staff and tenants, all of whom act very strangely. Soon after, Helen narrowly survives two potentially fatal incidents, during which she sees a ghostly apparition of her aunt; naturally she wants to leave, but her money hungry hubby convinces her to stay while he searches for the fortune supposedly hidden on the estate. As he hunts for the loot, Bob discovers the shocking truth about the weird tenants: they are undead, and are waiting for the return of Aunt Catherine, who also wants her niece to join their ranks.
Directed by José Ramón Larraz, who gave us sexy '70s vampire classic Daughters of Darkness (AKA Vampires), Rest in Pieces is a tacky slice of '80s horror trash that, unsurprisingly, delivers plenty in the way of T&A courtesy of its star Lorin Jean Vail, who definitely wasn't cast for her thespian skills. The sexy blonde takes a bath, has sex with her husband, gets out of bed naked three times, and is pushed into a swimming pool wearing only her panties-all within her acting range-but when called upon to emote, she fails to convince. Not that the rest of the cast are much better: those playing the weird tenants are also fairly awful, with wild-eyes and leering grins showing us that they're quite crazy.
The film starts well enough, with Helen saying goodbye to her dead aunt at the funeral home, when the body suddenly sits bolt upright: it's an effective scare, but it's the only one in the film, the rest of the action being cheesy nonsense lacking in genuine atmosphere, frights and chills. In addition to the nudity, Larraz also provides a smattering of gore - the murder of a musical quartet and the dismemberment of their bodies, a severed hand that spurts blood, and a man having his head pulled off during a fight with Bob - but it's not all that convincing. The director wraps up proceedings with a suitably schlocky ending in which Helen, believing that she has escaped the horror, finds herself trapped by the maniacs on an airplane.
5/10. Moderately entertaining nonsense.
Directed by José Ramón Larraz, who gave us sexy '70s vampire classic Daughters of Darkness (AKA Vampires), Rest in Pieces is a tacky slice of '80s horror trash that, unsurprisingly, delivers plenty in the way of T&A courtesy of its star Lorin Jean Vail, who definitely wasn't cast for her thespian skills. The sexy blonde takes a bath, has sex with her husband, gets out of bed naked three times, and is pushed into a swimming pool wearing only her panties-all within her acting range-but when called upon to emote, she fails to convince. Not that the rest of the cast are much better: those playing the weird tenants are also fairly awful, with wild-eyes and leering grins showing us that they're quite crazy.
The film starts well enough, with Helen saying goodbye to her dead aunt at the funeral home, when the body suddenly sits bolt upright: it's an effective scare, but it's the only one in the film, the rest of the action being cheesy nonsense lacking in genuine atmosphere, frights and chills. In addition to the nudity, Larraz also provides a smattering of gore - the murder of a musical quartet and the dismemberment of their bodies, a severed hand that spurts blood, and a man having his head pulled off during a fight with Bob - but it's not all that convincing. The director wraps up proceedings with a suitably schlocky ending in which Helen, believing that she has escaped the horror, finds herself trapped by the maniacs on an airplane.
5/10. Moderately entertaining nonsense.