The Toolbox Murders
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.39 You Save: $10.59 (53%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.48 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Toolbox Murders
Movie Review: Good Slasher Film, But There Are Better Ones To Check Out
Summary: 4 Stars
Im a big fan of horror movies and a big fan of slasher films. This is a good movie. But there are better ones out there.
Made in 77' Its the story of a man that goes crazy and starts killing people in a apartment complex. All of his victums seem to be women. He just helps himself into there house and takes his toolbox with him and cuts them up using the tools in his toolbox. Thats pretty much the whole movie
Like I said good movie but I would recommend "Slumber Party Massacre." I think that is a better slasher movie. It is alot like Toolbox Murders. This movie is a Blue Underground film. They have alot of good movies. If you are a fan of gore movies I would check this movie out. Pick it up at amazon.
Movie Review: Toolbox Murders.... A Slasher Great
Summary: 4 Stars
The Toolbox Murders is an preety low budget slasher, which in my opinion, is very entertaining and delivers the goods. I really enjoyed it. It may be contraversial, sadistic, and the direct opposite of Oscar worthy material, but If you enjoy violence, beautiful women and cinematic savegrey... this is the film for you. I do not own the DVD, but since it was released by Blue Underground, im sure its immaculate. Find a copy, and enjoy.Movie Review: A snoozer
Summary: 3 Stars
What? Only one review for the ultra sleazy 1978 film "The Toolbox Murders"? There must be some mistake because a lack of fulsome praise for this piece of junk is most surprising. Blue Underground, a DVD company formed by the director of such morally uplifting pieces of cinema like "Uncle Sam" and "Maniac," William Lustig, knew a hit when they saw it and gave "The Toolbox Murders" star treatment. Of course, Blue Underground gives every schlock movie they release the works because they recognize there are enough viewers out there who appreciate this crud as much as they do. But "The Toolbox Murders" is junk, plain and simple. Scary? Nope. Gory? Not really. Engaging? No. The only value such films as this one have occurs when it inspires film censorship boards to have conniption fits, resulting in a whole lot of bad press that actually serves to make people remember it as a classic. I think this one eventually ended up on some sort of British "video nasties" restricted list until recently. That sounds impressive until you learn the same board banned Sam Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs." Anyway, "The Toolbox Murders" probably never looked better than it does on DVD.This film has a premise that sounds like a winner: a loony and his toolbox wreak an amazing amount of damage on the residents of a small apartment building somewhere in California. Even more amazing are the number of beautiful, vulnerable young women who live alone in these apartments. Using a nail gun, drill, screwdrivers, and almost anything else you can think of that might dwell in the confines of a toolbox, the killer moves from one abode to another with seeming abandon. That the killer eludes the prying eyes of the police and the local populace isn't that surprising. After all, a guy lugging around a box full of tools doesn't set off alarm bells. Whoever is inflicting fatalities in the area is causing no end of worry to those residents who have yet to receive a visit. The landlord, played by one time Hollywood up and comer Cameron Mitchell, also pops in from time to time in order to wring his hands over the carnage and promise to ratchet up security in the area. Still, the atrocities continue and fear hangs over the area like dark clouds of doom, a doom made even worse when the killer kidnaps a young girl in one of the apartments and carries her off to what could only be a fate worse than death.
Fortunately for every one involved, her brother is one of those pesky types who won't sit idly by when family members face danger. He teams up with a painter friend, who just happens to be the son of the landlord, and the two begin making tentative inquiries in an effort to solve the crimes and locate the missing sister. Who says kids are lazy and unmotivated? It is sad to say, but "The Toolbox Murders" doesn't provide any long-term motivation for America's youth to follow through on a murder investigation. As the kid finally discovers the killer's identity, one of those twists of fate only found in horror movies rears its ugly head and permanently discourages our young investigator with a splash of turpentine and a flaming match. It turns out that the killer's precious daughter died due to a lapse in morality with the result that father kind of lost it upstairs. The crimes are actually divinely inspired missions dedicated to rubbing out immorality wherever it pops up. The kidnapped girl isn't one of the murderer's targets, but rather a young lady who reminds him of his own dear, departed daughter. He doesn't want to hurt her but wants to keep her close by for intimate confessions about what he is doing to honor his daughter's memory.
"The Toolbox Murders" is quite ridiculous. The producers even throw in a statement at the end about how this story really happened and how the kidnapped girl spent some time recovering in a mental asylum, etc. I cannot vouch for the veracity of these claims, but something tells me what we just saw in the preceding ninety or so minutes was something quite different from any real incident. It isn't that I have difficulty in believing some maniac somewhere attacked a young woman with a nail gun, or someone kidnapped a young girl because they made a weird association between a deceased daughter and a living person. I just refuse to believe this specific story. Announcing that "real events inspired this horrific tale" is a cheap marketing ploy used by Hollywood in an attempt to draw in a record number of ticket buying dupes. If you want real tragedy, turn on the evening news or sign up for a ride along with your local police department. If I thought this was a truthful reenactment for a second, I wouldn't watch it. Reality births enough horrors without seeing someone try and profit from actual human sorrow.
The acting, sets, special effects, and script definitely fall into the category of sub par, but a few things work to keep the plot moving along. Seeing Cameron Mitchell sell his soul for a paycheck is amusing and convinces me that even the worst role in a bad movie is light years better than actually working for a living. That scene where the redhead encounters the murderer during a moment of bliss is worth watching. Otherwise, I thought this movie was strictly average fare. If you do like the movie, Blue Underground includes a commentary track (!), an interview with the aforementioned redhead, trailers, and poster galleries. They even put the film in a widescreen format! Give it a shot if you like horror movies. Everyone else should pass.
Movie Review: Very Cheap and Quite Nasty
Summary: 3 Stars
"The ToolBox Murders" is one of those films that has gained most of its notoriety because of it's title. The question for anyone new to watching it is, does it live up to the promise? Well the answer is yes, but only for the first 20 minutes. Pretty much as soon as the film starts, the viewer is treated to several murders featuring hammers, drills and screwdrivers, all in quick succession, and all of women. After a brief pause for breath, the film plays its trump card, the scene in which a woman is interrupted while taking a bath to be chased naked around her apartment by the killer, who this time is wielding a nail gun. This scene is by far the nastiest in the movie, even though the special effects are achieved very cheaply. Actually, goremongers may be upset to learn that most of the gore in the movie is delivered in a very cheap and poorly filmed way. The editing of the first batch of murders is terrible...it seems that only the nail gun murder had any kind of story boarding or professional editing done on it!Sadly, there is worse to come, for after this eye-popping first half hour, the film grinds to a virtual standstill, as it is at this point that the murderer is revealed and the killings all but stop as the action turns to the detectives trying to solve the case, along with depicting the prolonged plight of a young girl who the murderer has kidnapped and is keeping bound and gagged at his home. This remainding section of the film just drags on and on, despite some laughs on offer from Cameron Mitchel as he pours his heart out to the terrified girl.
On that note, the rest of the acting talent on offer throughout the movie is also rock bottom bad, especially in some of the minor roles where performances reach almost H.G. Lewis standards! About the only exception to this is Pamelyn Ferdin as the unlucky final victim, who does manage to wring some believeability out of her plight, despite having to share screen time with Cameron Mitchell singing "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child."...oh dear.
The DVD edition of the movie presents a great picture considering the quality of the film is pretty ropey at best. And there are some nice extras, including an interview with Kelly Nicholls, who suffered the nail gun murder. Its surprising that a film this poor has enough of an audience to deserve such a good DVD makeover, as it's strong points are few and far between. Strangely, all the murders are set to twee country music that seems to be playing out of every record player in the apartment block, something I have not often seen before. In fact, during the nail gun murder, this lends an almost surreal touch to the unfolding horror, leaving me to wonder if the effect was intentional or just decided on at random. That, and the seriously downbeat ending (quite effective in my opinion, at least for anyone who hasn't switched off before that time), are probably the only original touches to the movie which sadly fails in all other respects to come close to the style and quality of the countless better films it so obviously is trying to copy.
Movie Review: Not As Scary As Mitchell's Facelift
Summary: 3 Stars
Most of the controversy surrounding "The Toolbox Murders" revolved around charges of misogyny rather than extreme gore. To that end, the infamous "nail gun scene"--which was featured on "60 Minutes" and "Donahue" as an example of violence against women in film--is unsettling for its blend of eroticism and cold brutality, making the movie flirt with a snuff mentality. It's also one of the more groundbreaking scenes in splatter movies and the most effective scene in "The Toolbox Murders." Otherwise, the movie isn't any different from a whole host of other gore movies. It's better than most, with OK performances and a fair amount of technical proficiency for what it is, but there are few moments that are going to make much impact on today's jaded horror fans. Most of the murders occur in the first half of the movie, and while they're bloody, there have been more graphic scenes on "ER." In the movie's second half it pretends to be a mystery, even though you know who the murderer is within the first five minutes. The DVD includes an 8-minute interview with Marianne Walter, who played the victim in the nail gun scene and who later, under the name Kelly Nichols, became "an adult film actress." (First the nail gun scene and then a porn star--Ms. Walter was just giving the feminists fits!) The commentary, by producer Tony Didio, director of photography Gary Graver and a VERY PERKY Pamelyn Ferdin, has some enlightening moments, but it gets redundant after about 30 minutes.
Ultimately, though, about the scariest thing in "The Toolbox Murders" is star Cameron Mitchell's facelift.