Toolbox Murders (2004)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Great Film overall

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Im gonna say this, if you are hoping for a nice supernatural horror movie with suspense, good writing, so-so acting and a decent plot? Turn away now, this is not decent in any way, shape or form.I've watched a lot of Horror. Supernatural, monster, sci-fi, psychological and have had my share of bad eggs so to say. This, takes the cake, eats it, shits it out and then tries to feed it to you, the one watching. All the while being real proud over itself for its run-down building atmosphere. Sure, it had one moment where it even made me slightly interested in how this storm of plot-holes and bad writing would need. Problem is, just as they really try to do something good with this piece of garbage, the writer makes it commit suicide, making you angry you even got your hopes up.Im gonna say this one more time, STAY ... AWAY. Not worth it.

Remakes are always a tricky business, and this worthless outing investigates what happens when a formerly influential director sets out to re-imagine a film that wasn't all that great to begin with. Perhaps predictably, the result is a dreadful and mirthless mess that almost dares you to make it to the finish line.Only the title ties this film to the semi-infamous original, and since most of the murders here are committed with implements that wouldn't fit in a toolbox, we have to wonder why director Tobe Hooper even bothered with the reference. Perhaps "The Workbench Murders" would have been more accurate? While the source film at least tried to throw a whodunnit into the mix, all we get here is a cast of completely unlikeable and thoroughly annoying characters being offed one by one by a black-clad fiend armed with an bevy of home improvement aids. Even with this simplistic concept in place, we could have had enough material for a passable slasher film, but Hooper instead tries to explain away his bloodbath with a convoluted plot that presents the apartment building that houses the murders as a nexus of evil forces where a sadistic psychopath runs rampant because of an ancient spell that is built into the structure. You see, our killer was a "coffin birth", and he dwells in a secret townhouse hidden within the apartment complex, and the spell keeps him trapped, but renovations to the building broke the spell, and now he's free to kill the idiotic archetypes who live in the building, and he's a marksman with a nail gun. Oh, and our leading lady is the "chosen one" who was supposed to discover all of this and face the killer to stop the evil for all time.You still with me? I didn't think so.If this were just a standard a B-horror film (like the original), The Toolbox Murders might get away with such nonsense. But, since this film was delivered from the hands of the same man who made the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, we can't help but expect something more here. While the film itself offers no suspense or scares to speak of, Hooper's inability to forge a coherent narrative is a bit unsettling.He certainly doesn't get any help from his actors, who play their roles as if they were given two-word synopses of their characters: "creepy handyman", "clueless manager", "wacky neighbor", etc. None of the supporting cast has any depth beyond "future victim", so it's pretty easy to predict early on who's going to be around for the final reel.Once the killer is revealed, the film spirals into a flurry of improbabilities, the absurd low point of which finds our fiendish murderer trying to chop our heroine in half by strapping her to a table saw and positioning the blade in front of her crotch. This is also one of those films where characters you swore were dead just seconds before magically reappear to save the day, and where killers you swore were dead just seconds before leap "unexpectedly" through a window for one "last scare".The most insulting aspect of the entire film is the finale, which finds our heroine repelling the killer by defending herself with magic marker drawings on her arms (don't ask), and unabashedly demands a sequel to this stupid affair once we find out that our villain really isn't defeated (although to be fair, if magic marker drawings and being hung by an easily-unpluggable extension chord didn't stop him, I'm out of ideas myself).While the original Toolbox Murders was far from classic, at least it carried the charm of ineptness. But those who created this piece of crap really should have known better. As it stands, aside from the nostalgia generated by setting the action in a now-destroyed Los Angeles landmark, this Toolbox is empty.

On one sight,we have masterpieces like Poltergeist,Salem's lot and The Texas chainsaw massacre(1974).On the other sight we have craps like Lifeforce,Funhouse and the remake of Invaders from Mars.With this thing,I wanna say that when there's an opportunity to see a Tobe Hooper's film,it's very possible that we can see a masterpiece or a crap.Toolbox murders(2004)is not a masterpiece and it's not a bad film...it's a good horror film which kept me very fun.A very little quantity of people will remember the original film,The Toolbox murders,made in 1978,which,by my point of view,is a very mediocre and clichéd film.This remake is a lot better than the original movie(surprise!)because it's funner and more ingenious.In Toolbox murders(2004),the tired formula of the masked killer has a thanked twist which explains the motives of the killer and the nature of its surroundings.Angela Bettis showed she's a brilliant actress on a masterpiece called May.She does a good work in Toolbox murders(2004),but her talent is beyond her role on this movie.This film has some fails(the edition is a little weak and the script feels forced on some occasions)but it kept me very fun and it never bored me.

This was a dull little film to me. The atmosphere was good and the claustrophobia of the Lusman Arms building was really good but the acting was so weak and the characters neither charismatic nor intimidating. None of them is likable with the exception of the excellent Angela Bettis who took this thing and carried it across the finish line. I certainly could not have stood watching this to the end without her sensitive, intelligent and interesting acting. She gives the very real and convincing performance of a truly gifted actor and I look forward to enjoying more of her work. Her turn in this movie is close to being on a par with her brilliant "MAY". Sadly, no nudity, no underwear...........not even a glimpse!