Buy posters from this movie

While I consider myself a huge fan of the Dawn and Texas remakes, neither modernization comes even close to eclipsing their respective forefathers. This new Toolbox Murders, on the other hand, surpasses its source material rather effortlessly. Granted, the original Toolbox was a pretty uninspired affair, but it all boils down to one thing: remake shmeemake, if a horror movie is good, it's good. Period. And this one's, surprisingly, pretty damn good.

Screenwriters Jace Anderson and Adam Gierasch started out writing goofily entertaining monster movies (Spiders, Crocodile and Crocodile 2: Death Swamp) for the Nu Image schlockhouse. The first Crocodile flick was directed by legendary horror helmer Tobe (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist) Hooper; The Toolbox Murders marks the second project between the three filmmakers...and it's clearly an impressive step up from flicks about giant mutant reptiles.

Aptly described as an unapologetic throwback to the slasher flicks of two decades past, The Toolbox Murders might not appeal to anyone outside the staunchest of horror hounds, but rest assured that it is a nasty little treat for those who remember titles like Happy Birthday to Me, Graduation Day or Prom Night with any fondness at all.

Hooper and company started off on the right foot by casting the fantasic Angela (May, Carrie) Bettis in the lead role. This phenomenal young actress seems to sign on for the horror fare because she digs horror movies; an attitude I greatly admire. She's due for either a big breakout sometime soon, or she'll be the next reigning Scream Queen. Either way, I love the gal.

Bettis plays Nell Barrows, young wife of an aspiring doctor and newest tenant of the dingy old Lusman Arms apartments. There is, of course, a maniacal lunatic hiding within the building, the sort of nutjob who kills people via power drill, claw-hammer and nail gun.

And those are the milder dispatches.

Nell quickly begins to realize that something funky is afoot, yet every time she calls the police... yep, bodies go missing, the cops get annoyed, and Nell finds herself knee-deep in Girl Who Cried Wolf territory. As more tenants go missing, Nell begins to dig a bit deeper into the history of her new home...and discovers a whole lot of icky news.

I had a ball with The Toolbox Murders. It's a gloriously gruesome and welcome return to the nasty low-budget slasher fare that lunatics like myself grew up on. (If you grew up in the 80s as a horror nut, you had no shortage of B-movie gorefests to choose from.) And if we are indeed in the midst of a Horror Movie Renaissance (as I'd contend we are, thank you very much), who better to deliver an old-school hack-'em-up than Tobe Hooper himself?

The Toolbox Murders knows precisely what it is and what its job is, and the flick does a bang-up job of delivering precisely what a good Slasher should. The kills are plentiful and horrific (my favorite occurs when one man's spine meets the working end of a big, rusty bolt cutter...yowch!); the atmosphere is bleak and creepy; the performances, for the most part, are better than one would expect in this type of flick; there's a healthy balance between the bloodletting and the storytelling; and the entire third act feels like something respectfully inspired by Hooper's own Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And that's a pretty lofty compliment.

The original 'Toolbox Murders' is a garish and relatively forgettable old chestnut, but one that any self-respecting Gorehound needs to see eventually. But Hooper's remake is light years better than the 1978 version, it's anchored by a great little performance by a great little actress, and it's absolutely something the horror freaks will want to see for themselves. This one might just be a small blip on the current Horror Remake horizon, but it's a knowingly nasty and entirely enjoyable throwback to a day when horror flicks really tried to gross you out in between the jolts and the 'plot' stuff.

link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=8999&reviewer=128
originally posted: 04/03/04 21:15:51
 printer-friendly format