The Toolbox Murders (1978)
Genre: Horror / Thriller
Duration: 93 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Dennis Donnelly
Stars: Cameron Mitchell, Pamelyn Ferdin and Wesley Eure
IMDb score:
5,2 (5.593)
Releasedate: 15 March 1978
The Toolbox Murders plot
"Bit by bit...By bit he carved a nightmare!"
A man in a ski mask manages to enter an apartment complex undetected and brutally murders four young and attractive women. He uses a well-stocked toolbox in a cool way. A fifth young woman - still a teenage girl - has gone missing and is believed to have been kidnapped by the man. The police are puzzled, but the kidnapped girl's brother and a friend of his get their suspicions...
Actors and actresses
Vance Kingsley
Laurie Ballard
Kent Kingsley
Joanne Ballard
Joey Ballard
Detective Jamison
Mrs. Andrews
Debbie
Maria
Girlfriend
Reviews & comments
Filmkriebel
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- 10012 messages
- 4678 votes
The tastiest sandwiches are those where the chocolate is spread over the entire sandwich. Here the painful mistake is made of putting all the murder and tension in the first thirty minutes. So you've finished the slasher after half an hour and the remaining hour doesn't amount to much. Rather goes for the drama with a whining psychopath and a police investigation that goes nowhere. It also soon becomes clear who is behind the murders. The murders are quite brutal because the killer uses a hammer, drill and nail gun to kill his victims. But this is especially a nasty video because of its (for that time) misogynistic content, such as the masturbating woman in the bath and the implied rape at the end. Very mediocre.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Collins
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- 7346 messages
- 4344 votes
A film that has already run out of steam within half an hour. The kills that are not very spectacular all take place in that half hour. After that, the viewer is at the mercy of uninteresting characters played by bad and mediocre actors. One of those characters is the killer. A man who kills wearing a face covering mask. Why does that man do that, you wonder, when it is already clear from his first appearance without a mask that he is the perpetrator. No idea.
The story is not interesting at all. In itself that is not a big deal in a film where there is a lot of murder. A thin story surrounding countless bloody kills does not mean that the film is bad. In the case of this film, that doesn't apply. When the kills run out after half an hour, there is still a lot of film left that needs to be filled in. Then you can expect an attractive story with well-developed characters. That's allowed, but that doesn't happen.
The movie is extremely annoying. Scenes are amateurishly set up and the actions are laughable. The interpretation of the characters is ridiculous. Apart from a screeching laugh at so much horror, the film does not produce a single positive reflex or thought.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Bobbejaantje
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- 2301 messages
- 2092 votes
The idea for the film arose after the success of the re-release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1977. Horror could make money, so let's move on. The first 20 minutes are pure slasher with a masked man killing defenseless women. His humming indicates that something is very wrong in his upstairs room for those who still had doubts. But it is presented without much build-up of tension. With the toolbox in hand, the man hops from 'job to job'. The highlight is the murder, the lead-up to which is shown on the sleazy poster. There is also some softcore masturbation involved that wouldn't be out of place in an Emmanuelle.
In the second half of the films, a kind of drama unfolds in which the killer provides insight into his behavior. That is also not really interesting, neither in terms of content nor photography, etc
When I watched the end credits roll across the screen with gratitude, it turned out to be a real story. Which made me wonder if I should reevaluate the film. But after some research it turns out to be a gimmick inspired by TCM's documentary 'real events' approach, which is also made up.
Feels like an uneven exploitation film and fun to watch once. However, it is not yet coming on the heels of TCM that inspired it. Ironically, Tobe Hooper (the director of the original TCM) would make a remake of this Toolbox Murders 25 years later.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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