The Toolbox Murders

This film apparently caused quite some controversy when it was released back in 1978, and it's easy to see why - the "bathtub" scene is explicit even by today's standards, and I'll bet that it's cut (or shortened) from the current British re-release of the film. Essentially, however, this is an artlessly made (there's no style to the killings, although the weapons used - like a nail-gun and a screwdriver - are fairly original), rampantly misogynistic horror film with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Cameron Mitchell, as the lollipop-sucking, Bible-quoting owner of the building where the murders take place, is beyond awful, but the screenwriter is also to blame for giving him campy lines like "Come here, you damn fornicator!" (*)

The Toolbox Murders is one of those early pre date slashers that came out even before Halloween and has become well known among slasher fans due to it's entry on the Video Nasty list back in the 1980's, This is a film that I have seen many times, I dunno why I've never reviewed this movie before, no reason just never got round to it. "The Toolbox Murders" starts out with a bang, as we get too see various sexy looking women getting murdered in an apartment building, (dunno why people still live there why don't they just move) not that it's a bad thing, just adds extra cheesiness. Hammers and Nail Guns are the weapons of choice favoured by a convincing menacing serial killer, nothing to complain about there and we even get a likable final girl who is quickly menaced by the killer early on and even kidnapped leaving her brother to try and find her and solve the murders. An interesting subplot even. But then this movie takes a sudden dramatic turn, everything that is shown in the first half of this movie, namely the murders, is almost abandoned in the second half, when the killer is revealed and kidnaps the female lead and has her tied to the bed. It's at this point where the movie quickly becomes rather tame and all the fun of the first half has been sucked out here. Okay like I said before we do get a rather interesting sub plot involving her brother attempting to solve what's going on but that's over way too quickly in a rather unsettling twist. Okay I do like the fact that they have attempted to do something different rather than the usual stalk and slash fest, but in my opinion it does feel rather out of place when it comes to the second half of this movie and even when they do try to flesh out some of these characters it's just not enough development in my opinion. And when it comes to the final moments of this film it does kind of fall flat as it tries to be shocking, which does work in a way. The performances in this movie are quite strong especially from veteran actor Cameron Mitchell who gives a chilling yet convincing performance that's rather menacing and yet quite engaging. Pamela Ferdin who plays Laurie is very sweet and convincing. All in all "Toolbox Murders" is a decent enough entry, with an awesome first half just try not to be put off with the second half.

The Toolbox Murders (1978) ** (out of 4) Notorious horror film has a couple young men trying to solve a grisly series of murders that have happened at the same apartment complex. A group of women were murdered by tools found in a toolbox so the men try to find out the person doing the crimes. THE TOOLBOX MURDERS was a surprise hit when it was released. It got praise from Stephen King who called it one of the scariest movies ever made. It also gained a bit of notoriety because of its violence towards women. This was still a few years before Friday THE 13TH but there's no question this film became a cult item and it remains that after all of these years. To me, this film should have been one of the greatest exploitation films ever made but a strange switch in its direction prevented that but more on that a bit later. What makes the film so memorable is the first thirty-minutes where we get a really bizarre Texas atmosphere mixed in with some graphic death scenes. What I enjoyed most about the film was the look of the killer. The killer is dressed in black just like you'd see in a giallo but then there's the ski mask, which gives him a very creepy look. I really thought the direction early on was terrific and especially how we would slowly see the killer standing among his victims. The death scenes are graphic at times with the most famous one being the bathtub/* sequence with Kelly Nichols, which certainly packs a strange punch. What really kills the film is that it switches to a mystery/detective film and it falls apart. Everything in the final hour is just boring and contains way too many boring dialogue scenes. It's really too bad that the creepiness of the start wasn't continued throughout the rest of the picture. We do get Cameron Mitchell delivering a fairly weird performance but I'm sure this job was mainly just a paycheck. THE TOOLBOX MURDERS isn't a masterpiece and it's not the worthless piece of trash some call it. The film starts off so well that you can't help but be really disappointed towards the end.

Some reviews call this movie sleazy; to some degree it is. Some might say it lacks action in the last two acts; that's partially true as well. But this film is something different entirely. In the genre of serial killer-exploitation, female characters are routinely objectified. But "The Toolbox Murders" is a rare feminist exploitation film. It twists the genre on it's head and gives it an entirely different angle on female roles in horror. The film starts with some suitably gory murders, seemingly setting the stage for a by-the-books slasher movie. But after these first murders (SPOILERS) the killer kidnaps a young girl and keeps her in his home as his surrogate daughter (his own died in a car accident). The killer reveals that he chose his female victims because of supposed moral transgressions. These transgressions are sins of the "modern woman" (sexual freedom, freedom of choice, etc.) and he wants to keep his new "daughter" as a pure, virginal woman. The movie twists and turns, but it's mostly psychological. It plays with genre conventions, such as a woman's savior almost always being a male figure, and changes them. In the end, she is seen by her attackers as a porcelain doll to be manipulated, not a real human being. (SPOILERS) She eventually is capable of saving herself; no man is needed. The direction is fine, the acting is okay for a low-budget '70's horror movie, but the uniqueness of this film is its greatest quality. Many viewers came to this movie expecting a cookie-cutter serial killer movie, and that's not what "The Toolbox Murders" gives you.

"The Toolbox Murders" is a late-'70s slasher flick that I watched some years ago and could remember nothing about. That's probably not a good sign. I will say one thing for it: it's sleazier than most. Three girls disrobe in the opening twenty minutes. The last one gets fully naked and stays that way for a decent stretch. We also watch her * in a bathtub. The killer has a pretty lame mask. Hell, Michael Myers' was just a painted William Shatner mask they got at a joke shop, and it became iconic. The one in this movie is just a woollen ski mask. The movie does have a decent gimmick, though, which is alluded to in the title. Yes, the killer uses a toolset to dispatch his victims, first a claw hammer, then a nailgun - which is used much more convincingly than the one in "The Nailgun Massacre", even if they forgot to tell the actress playing the victim to look scared while he uses it. But get this: for the third victim, the killer just smothers her with his hands! Was the toolbox too heavy or something? The protagonist seems to be a guy who looks like a third-rate Luke Skywalker clone whose 15-year-old sister is kidnapped, presumably by the killer. He doesn't appear too worried. He teams up with a guy who looks a bit like John Stamos, but less charismatic. They decide to do some snooping of their own to find the kidnapped girl, and discover a * in the masturbating woman's house, as if to underline what a sex freak she was (?). The movie then makes the regrettable decision of revealing the killer's identity to us. Some slasher movies do this, granted, but here it seemed unnecessary. We get a long, boring scene with the unmasked killer and the kidnapped girl. He seems to talk about the masturbating woman from before. Apparently he's some kind of religious crazy who wants to punish women for doing "unnatural" things, like masturbating. How did he even know she did that? And if the movie is just going to show us the killer's identity, what was the point of the mask, which certainly wouldn't have helped his homicidal efforts? The only people who see him get killed. Anyone else would have been immediately suspicious seeing a man with a mask running around. If not for that, probably nobody would have even noticed him. There's also a "twist" at the end which is so out-of-nowhere that you just feel cheated. A "good" character turns evil. Why? They don't even bother giving you a shot of him making the revelation of what's supposed to be the turning point. And what a turnaround. It just feels stupid and tacked on. Then there's a laughable text-edit ending that tells you the movie was based on a true story and what happened to the characters in real life or some such garbage. Sometimes when a movie is supposed to be "based on a true story" I actually look it up to see if that's really the case. This time, I don't think I'll bother.

"The Toolbox Murders" opens with a string of brutal and bloody killings at a small apartment complex in Los Angeles.An unknown assailant wearing a ski mask kills various sexually active and 'lewd' women.The * murder scene of Marianne Walter with a nail-gun is the most noteworthy and has to be seen to be believed.Unfortunately after four gory and misogynistic murders the film becomes pretty tiresome kidnap/captivity/detective psychodrama.Come on!The first half of "The Toolbox Murders" blew my mind with its sleaze and unflinching violence.The climax is also disappointing and abrupt.The acting is good with excellent central performance of Cameron Mitchell as the Toolbox Slasher.Overall,"The Toolbox Murders" is a solid exploitation sickie.A must-see for fans of "Maniac","Don't Go in the House" or "Born for Hell".8 out of 10.

I saw this movie some years ago and asked myself a few questions: (Considering it was the 70s) Why is it that this guy was able to kill some of these women when he was so far apart from them and could have easily eluded him without injury? Answer: Because they were women and even in the 70s, women were considered brainless. Why didn't some of them just pick up something and throw it at him and then kick the crap out of him? Answer: Because in those days women were still considered weak and damsels in distress and still needed a strong empty-headed man around to "save" them. Why is it that for absolutely no reason at all, their shirts would suddenly fly open for no apparent reason? Answer: Because it was the 70s. Why were the women described as "exhibitionist?" Answer: Because if you didn't know already, all women are that way, right ladies. God knows that's what I like to do in my spare time (sarcastic of course.) I found myself screaming at the TV for the women "throw the lamp at him!" since they just stood their screaming when he was clearly at least 10 feet from them. It is just your typical low budget B horror movie full of butts, *, brainless, bubble headed bimbos from the Planet Playtex. I doubt very seriously if the female actors in it really wanted to do some of the stuff in this movie, but hey, I understand, a paycheck is a paycheck and they may get noticed to do something substantial. But for the most part, this movie was the antithesis of all the dumb low budget B horror movies of the 1970s and even some of the 1980s. Although some of the acting was actually descent, the story line itself was choppy of ridicules and down right stupid and stigmatized women as being weak and stupid. My condolences to the female actors in this film.

Cameron "I'll act in any piece of junk for the money" Mitchell's already patchy schlock picture career hits its wonderfully lurid and repugnant all-time skankiest gutter-crawling nadir here with his joltingly frantic, bug-eyed portrayal of a crazed, puritanical superintendent who gruesomely dispatches several "sinful" promiscuous harlot young women residing in a grimy Los Angeles apartment complex. This shockingly gross and disgusting scuzzball 70's grindhouse slasher gem reaches its sensationally sleazy apex in a protracted sequence showing gorgeous * starlet Kelly Nichols joyfully masturbating in her bathtub prior to Cameron brutally butchering her with a nail gun! Tireless ace exploitation photographer Gary Graver did the sharp, polished photography. The incredible down and out cast greatly intensifies the film's singularly discomfiting slimy edge: onetime child actress Pamelyn Ferdin (most famous for doing the voice of Lucy in a few Charlie Brown cartoon TV specials), "Land of the Lost" 's Wesley Eure as Cam's equally demented nephew (!), and the original "The Blob" heroine Aneta Corseaut. To top it all off, we even got a pertinent and provocative subtext about the fragility of innocence (as represented by Ferdin's sweet, "pure" character), the impossibility of preserving said innocence on a permanent basis (Cam abducts Pam so she can serve as a surrogate for the daughter he lost in a car crash), and how innocence is inevitably corrupted and/or destroyed by the evil outside world (as personified by the "impure" women Mitchell on his self-appointed murderous moral crusade deems worthy of punishment through savage and untimely death). This vile, gritty, resolutely ugly and sordid classic wholly deserves its killer trash legend reputation.

This film once made the notorious list of Britain's forbidden movies and since I'm personally intrigued by that kind of garbage, I had to watch it sooner or later. It's easy to see why this sickie got so infamous…after only 15 minutes of playtime you're already treated to 3 repulsive massacres and gratuitous nudity (including a long and pointless female * scene in a bathtub). No depth, no building up an atmosphere, not even a word of possible motives…just bloody butchering! Lovely! In case it's not clear yet: this is a slasher movie from the era where everything was possible. The makers didn't have to worry about ethical situations or whether their product was politically correct or not. All that matters is a grizzly portrayal of bad taste and explicitly showing the largest possible body count. And I'll shamelessly admit that it works, too. This is one fun flick and, if you watch the fully uncut version, one of the bloodiest gems ever unleashed upon horror loving audiences. The Toolbox Murders is half creative and half imbecile. The idea of a killer using tools (nail gun, hammers and drills) is fairly imaginative but after a while the no-substance plot really begins to irritate you and some of the absurd plot-twists are too ridiculous for words. And I should mention the totally inappropriate use of music! Golden oldies, like country songs by Dolly Parton, are very over-the-top and completely misfit. The identity of the killer doesn't really come as a surprise since you didn't care enough to find out. And yes, you forgive him his ridicule motives for killing just because he does it so swell. Even though this is far from being a horror masterpiece, director Tobe Hooper found the premise interesting enough to produce a remake in 2003. The setting of that film is entirely different but the killer's nasty modus operandi is repeated. Never change a winning team, I guess….especially not if it is a gory as this one!

"The Toolbox Murders" follows a series of killings in a Los Angeles apartment complex, which culminate in the kidnapping of a 15-year-old girl, Laurie (Pamelyn Ferdin) who resides there with her family. From thereon, police attempt to unravel the crimes with the assistance of the building owner (Cameron Mitchell) and his employee nephew (Wesley Eure). While it has been often written off as cheap exploitation fodder, "The Toolbox Murders" is something of a minor unsung achievement, especially when you examine the context. It was made and released pre-John Carpenter's "Halloween", and while it definitely riffs on "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," it does deserve some credit for being an early adopter of the slasher mould. The main criticism of the film (not unwarranted) is that it makes the shift from slasher flick to police procedural at the midway point, which is a bit jarring on a tonal level. The last half of the film mainly focuses on young Laurie being tied to a bed and subject to the religious ramblings of the villain. This issue aside, where "Toolbox" excels is in its elaborate, effective death sequences, and moody cinematography. The film is shot remarkably well by Gary Graver, and the murders--most of which occur in a slam-bang succession in the first 30 minutes--are effective and disturbing. The locations make for '70s overload, full of furnishings and styles that evoke "The Brady Bunch," but there is a seedy L.A. aesthetic to the film that gives it a gritty and sometimes unpleasant edge. Some moments, particularly the surreal, foggy flashbacks that help explain the killer's motive, predate similar sequences in Paul Lynch's "Prom Night," released two years later. The performances here are better than the material warrants, especially from Pamelyn Ferdin (best known for her voice roles in the "Peanuts" cartoon and as Fern in "Charlotte's Web," but also in the fantastic 1971 film "The Beguiled"), who proves herself a legitimately talented young actress. Cameron Mitchell hams it up here big time, but his performance is enjoyable and over-the-top. All in all, I truly believe that, despite its shortcomings, "The Toolbox Murders" is an underrated entry in the slasher film canon. While it does make a downshift in pace and tone in the latter half, it remains a nasty, hard-edged odyssey through the shiftier characters of '70s Los Angeles. Slasher fans will no doubt love the first half, though the second will leave them divided. My suggestion is to take the film on its own terms, and remind oneself that it was made before the slasher prototype was fully edified with "Halloween," which came in the latter part of the year. 7/10.