Toolbox Murders DVD Review:

Region 1

Chainsaws, jackhammers, crossbows, or toolboxes; it’s all the same isn’t it? Every movie that focuses on specific murder weapons surely fit in the same category, and if it weren’t for a few rare exceptions it would make sense to say that they are the same quality as well. Despite the fact that director Tobe Hooper has brought us one of the exceptions in the past, Toolbox Murders does not fall into this category.

Nell and Stephen Barrows move into a run down apartment building in Los Angeles only to find that they have chosen the worst possible building in the neighborhood. Someone within the Lusman apartment building is killing off all of the tenants, using different tools from a toolbox, hence the name. As the more and more of her neighbors disappear, Nell begins to investigate and she finds that the apartment complex has a history to it which may be responsible for the murders.

The story is simple and straightforward, so it would seem that the murders would be the same. The problem isn’t that there are no murders, or that they aren’t creatively done, but somehow nothing about it seems new or frightening. The characters killed are not always important, or even known, and they are not suspenseful. Despite the fact that the murders are bloody, the element of fear is never introduced, making this more of a splatter film than a horror film. Not a very good splatter film by the standards of films these days either.

In all fairness to the goriness of Toolbox Murders, the film takes a turn for the better once Nell discovers that people are dying, but that doesn’t happen until the last twenty minutes of the film, which is far too late for the effect to work properly. The first hour of the film is so discombobulated and confused trying to be a suspense thriller while still having a murder every ten minutes that nothing could save it. There are flashes of great horror seem lost within the disaster of a script.



Ryan Izay

Region 2

Nell and Steven Barrows are forced to move to a cramped flat in the creepy Lusman Apartments, LA. Plagued by strange noises and the odd disappearances of the struggling actor neighbours Nell is drawn into the bloody history of the building and the murderous force it contains.

From the outset of this movie you'll be forgiven for thinking you were watching the 1978 original. Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper has gone back to his muddy roots and shot this remake with the 70s in mind. The sets are dowdy and bleak, the actors are haggard and weary plus Hooper shoots everything low, you can see why he jumped at the chance to try and reclaim his title of extreme horror maestro.

With Texas Chainsaw Hooper made a name for himself with a relentless scream fest that he tries to recapture by arming Leatherface not just with a chainsaw but a whole array of sharp objects and power tools in which to splatter his victims in increasingly bloody ways. The monster of the piece, I don't think I'm spoiling things here, his face is on the box, relishes the wasting of his victims via the brutal simplicity of the hammer, the Quake favourite nailgun or cleaving someone's head in half with a circular saw. For fans of gruesome fatalities then this will have at least one murder in it for you.

For those seeking more it'll be best to seek it elsewhere. The script ignores the ridiculous (how do these murders keep happening with no-one asking questions) and keeps going into stranger territory when Nell begins to delve into the history of the building itself. Hooper never seeks to capitalise on the potential scares and instead relies on several tired bluffs, hmmm I wonder if it's the dodgy handyman, before giving into the hurried chase where most characters in the film bite the dust.

While Bettis has an adequate set of lungs she never whips up the frenzy that Marylin Burns did and the film never reaches any sort of climate of fear. The supporting cast do their best to throw in a few personalities, the landlord who dismisses things that go bump in the night as rustic charm for example, but mainly hang around waiting to get a screwdriver up the nose not realising half their building is inhabited by a psycho.

Looks like it should be a gritty horror but not even a Black & Decker Workmate could help build it to even the most basic of the genre's blueprints.

Extras: Two commentaries, one featuring Hooper and writers Jace Anderson and Adam Gierasch who basically go through how they built up what little character development there is but come across as fans of the genre with Hooper being particularly animated. The other commentary is where the money men, the producers, get to have their fun at the viewer's expense. What actual impact they had on the movie is still unclear.

Disc 2 carries a behind the scenes featurette that hosts the usual cast/crew love-in but the real gem is the documentary The American Nightmare by Adam Simon that charts a pre- and post-war America and how its fears created cinematic horror. Worth a look for this addition alone but the US DVD came with deleted scenes curiously absent from a special edition.

Richard Badley