Nitzan Havoc As a horror-freak spectator, I must say I did not enjoy this film as much as I'd hoped I would.Angela Bettis was the best part for me. I loved her in all her previous parts in Girl Interrupted, May and Carrie, and find her an excellent actress, way underrated. In this film, we got to see her playing a different role, rather than the disturbed neurotic she usually plays. She did so beautifully, and I hope directors learn to appreciate her as she deserves!The characters were also great. Realistic, original, varied and convincing. I found myself curious and compelled by each of their stories, and wanting to know more about them.Unfortunately - that was it. The main story wasn't all that interesting, too many questions left unasked rather than unanswered. Not enough explanations about the supernatural aspect, and not at all enough information about the killer. Speaking of the killer - he wasn't all that scary, not at all. As for surprising twists? If there were any, I missed them. The ending was unclear, and anticlimactic. For me - the second I have to use that term (anticlimactic) to describe the ending of a horror film, it means it wasn't that good.I didn't actually see the original film, and at first didn't even know this was a remake. However, I've seen my share of slasher-horror films, and this one certainly isn't one of the best. I've seen some very positive reviews for this film, and I admit to failing to understand why. A matter of taste I guess.Can't really recommend this film with a clean conscience, unless you're a fan of the original one, or of Angela Bettis.

gavin6942 A young woman (Angela Bettis) and her husband move into an apartment complex in Hollywood, but from day one things are not going well. People disappear, screams come from every corner and there is pounding in the night. What is the secret of the Lusman Building? This could be Tobe Hooper's return to form. Starting off strong with "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "The Funhouse", he took a nose dive for a while. He has always had a sense of blandness mixed in with his subversive side... and this film breaks that mold. No blandness here.Adam Gierasch, the film's writer, appears as the apartment manager Byron, with great voice modification. And I think Gierasch may have been this film's savior, writing Hooper a script that is well thought out, original, esoteric, and breathes new life into the dead slasher genre.Angela Bettis is one of today's best horror actresses... is she weirdly hot or just weird? The Julia character... not sure why, but she's the sexual object for Ned, the strange handyman and murder suspect. Even Sheri Moon shows up for some reason.

happyendingrocks 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.

Paul Andrews Toolbox Murders is set in a Los Angeles apartment complex called the Lusman Arms where a young doctor named Steven Barrows (Brent Roam) & his wife Nell (Angela Bettis) move in, it's not exactly five star accommodation but what can you do when your on a budget? It's currently undergoing lots of renovation & so there are lots of tools lying around, some of the Barrows neighbours are a little strange too, however Nell befriends Julia (Juliet Landau) whom seems pretty normal by comparison. When Julia mysteriously disappears Nell becomes worried & feels something is not right, Nell investigates the origins of the hotel & discovers a sinister past. Nell also discovers a vicious killer & she becomes his next target...Directed by Tobe Hooper I thought Toolbox Murders was an average horror film & nowhere near as good as the original The Toolbox Murders (1978) which this remake has virtually nothing in common with besides the attention grabbing title. The script by Jace Anderson & Adam Gierasch has an identity crisis, it can't decide whether it wants to be a straight forward gory Friday the 13th (1980) slasher or a more mystery orientated who dun-nit like Scream (1996) & frankly it disappoints on both fronts. For those looking for blood, gore & death you would be best advised to watch the original & those seeking a good mystery should watch something like I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), there is definitely better out there. The film is a mish-mash of ideas that don't quite gel together including some supernatural elements that strangely go nowhere, the killer himself also disappoints. Again this remake differs in this respect with a completely different killer & their motives & identity are nothing like the original, in this film he is just some deformed freak who just 'is', nothing more nothing less & that's what it boils down too. This is nothing more than a basic slasher with some out-of-place mystery elements that are almost irrelevant. Having said that it's an OK watch with a few decent moments here & there but overall it's nothing to get that excited about.Director Hooper does OK, I felt the film was a bit flat looking & could have used a bit more visual flair & a bit more style especially considering that such an experienced filmmaker like Hooper was behind the camera. The climax is quite well done though with plenty of rotten corpses strewn around & these scenes have a The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) feel about them. The gore is tame & the body count low, someone has their head bashed in with a hammer, someone has a drill shoved through their head, someone gets pumped full of nails when the killer uses a nail-gun on her, someone has their face burned off with acid & someone has the top of their head cut off, it sounds gory & exploitative but it's pretty bloodless & stretched out at nearly 100 minutes isn't enough.Technically Toolbox Murders is alright, it's generally well made with decent production values but there's nothing particularly special on show here. The acting is OK but again nothing special.Toolbox Murders is an average slasher with a hint of mystery which comes to nothing, I can't say I particularly liked it but at the same time I can't say I particularly hated it. Average at best & nowhere near as good or as exploitative as the sleazy original.