Stephen Abell This is one hell of a slasher flick, well the first half is when our ski-masked killer dispatches four women in the space of two nights. His weapon of choice is whatever he pulls from his toolbox.Dennis Donnelly paces the killing spree nicely as the killer taunts his victims before he drills, hammers, screws, and nails them (yes, I got the blatant symbolism). After dispatching three in one night, he has to call it off due to the arrival of the police. It's his fourth kill which is strangely beautiful as it's kinda choreographed to the song on the radio, "Pretty Lady" (this scene is on YouTube - no surprise). I also liked the fact that actress Marianne Walter does the whole scene naked... and not for the reasons you think. Here's the thing. She is attacked while bathing and as far as I know we bathe in the nude (I do). I don't think the killer's going to wait until she wraps a towel around her, let alone apply the "Tit-tape" so it doesn't fall down. The positive side is that Walter is gorgeous, though I would've loved the scene had any woman done it, as it shows the reality of the situation. I think the only actress that would dare do this at the moment is Milla Jovovich.Sadly, the movie then stalls a little as it changes from murder to a mystery as our bad guy kidnaps a girl, then it's about finding her as well as the toolbox man. This falls to her brother, his friend, and the police. Thanks to the actors and the director, you begin to suspect people.Then in the last section, the movie moves up a gear, though it never quite gets to the same speed as the start. Here you find out the identity of the killer and his reasons, though they're a tad unlikely. There are two driving forces to the psycho killer and they should be in conflict with each other, this made his actions seem implausible. Once you think you've got a handle on it, the twist kicks in.I loved the fact that hardly any of the women screamed, they pleaded, they ran, they fought back, and even tried to bargain for their lives, which is more realistic than screaming your lungs out.Most of the actors, at best, were above average. The best scene goes to Cameron Mitchell (he of Bonanza fame) and adds a depth to the story and the character of Vance Kingsley. Also, Wesley Eure for his sometimes creepy portrayal of Kent.This was a walk down memory lane, back to the 80's when boundaries and censorship were being pushed. If you want to know what the fuss was all about then take a look at this film and some of your queries will be answered.

tomgillespie2002 In a small apartment complex that contains an alarming amount of beautiful women living on their own, a masked killer stalks carrying a toolbox full of weapons. Women are butchered with a hammer, a nail-gun, and a power-drill in a short period of time, and Detective Jamison (Tim Donnelly) is assigned to investigate. The killer, Vance (Cameron Mitchell), also kidnaps Laurie Ballard (Pamelyn Ferdin), a 15 year-old girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to his dead teenage daughter. With the inept Jamison refusing to believe it's kidnapping, Laurie's brother Joey (Nicolas Beauvy) starts to investigate the disappearance along with Vance's nephew Kent (Wesley Eure).Traditional gore-hounds tend to turn their noses up at this movie, as after the extremely bloody opening half an hour, the film grinds to a halt and spends time developing it's somewhat tedious plot and characters. But the opening murders are very well done, with Donnelly taking time to develop the set-pieces, and they're usually played out with crooning music in the background that works well as a contradiction to the bloodshed. The killer isn't an unseen madman that seems to have supernatural powers of movement which is usually the norm in slasher flicks, but he is clumsy and awkward, bumbling his way around the room with a lop-sided ski mask, which makes him all the more real.Another plus point is the performance of Cameron Mitchell. Like so many veterans of 1950's and 60's Hollywood, Mitchell ventured into European horror and TV in the 70's and 80's, as his old-fashioned style of acting didn't suit mainstream Hollywood, yet added the required gravitas to many a low-budget horror. His obsession with Laurie forms the most interesting aspect about the film, but it is criminally underdeveloped, and is resigned to just one extended scene. It spends far too much time focusing on the rather crap detective skills of her brother Joey, and his homoerotic relationship with Kent. I'm all for a horror film to slow down and take time to develop its characters, but they're executed with such an alarming blandness that the film becomes simply boring. But the film is well worth a look for a strong opening and Mitchell's performance, if not for just sight of the red-headed victim, who is one of the most stunning victims I've ever seen in horror (long live misogyny!).www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

happyendingrocks This sick little number has all the poise and artistic elegance of a porno flick, but some truly shocking and memorable sequences and the haunting image that ends this film leave the viewer feeling genuinely disturbed and unnerved, making The Toolbox Murders a movie that ultimately presents its uncompromising vision adeptly.The film is flawed on many fronts, and at times tedious, so this certainly isn't a candidate for the "classic" category. The titular killings all take place within the first half-hour, and after that the pace slows to a crawling bore that The Toolbox Murders almost doesn't recover from.Far too much time is spent on an ultimately pointless police investigation subplot, which does nothing to augment the horror of the admittedly ghastly crimes. Only those familiar with the Hershell Gordon Lewis cult classic Blood Feast will recall ever seeing police officers as inept and clueless as the ones tracking the madman here, who aren't shy about letting potential witnesses walk all over their crime scene, and insist on questioning them while they stand over the brutally maimed corpses of the victims. When the main detective treats one of the film's attempted heroes like a jackass for suggesting that the fact there isn't any forced entry into the murder sites could suggest that the victims knew their killer, we quickly suspect that this is one case that won't be solved by tireless police work.The film resolves its whodunnit two-thirds into the running time, so any suspense in this caper is dissipated far too early. While there is a meager attempt at a twist afterwards, only the well-crafted denouement saves the movie from falling flat at the finish. I'm fairly certain that the film's "based on true events" allegation is a bogus ploy, but the where-are-they-now update at the end is a nifty way to conclude the tale, especially since it runs with the film's eerie final image in the background. The centerpiece of the film is of course the toolbox murders themselves, which are indeed gruesome and gory bits of mayhem. The splatter on display here is unflinching and definitely graphic enough to appease gore-hounds, but the film spends itself too quickly, packing in all of the killings into such a rapid succession that they blur together a bit and desensitize the viewer to the point that the bloodshed ceases being shocking. Had the film-makers drawn the mystery of the murders out more, and spaced them out throughout the film, these scenes could have had much more impact, and when we finally learn the diabolical motives of the killer, the killings themselves become essentially pointless. Although, it should be pointed out that the madman's (madmens'?) true intentions are suitably creepy and horrifying even without the killing spree that precedes them.Some of the film's successes are happy accidents, such as the drab colors and unattractive surroundings the events occur in. Of course, this is more a reflection of the interior decorating trends of the late '70s than a conscious effort by the film-makers to set these ugly deeds in ugly places, but the tone of the film is certainly enhanced by the bleak atmosphere.The music is uniformly great, as well, with both the score and the augmentation of one murder scene with a song called "Pretty Lady" setting a chilling tone for the more heinous segments of the film.While the film is assuredly far too grim and humorless to make this a standard dose of escapist slasher fare, one scene perhaps goes too far and momentarily veers the film into unsavory territory. I've always been unsettled by certain modes of juxtaposing sex with violence that turn up in horror films from time to time. The most blatant example I can think of is of course I Spit On Your Grave, which unabashedly tries to arouse the viewer with horrendously violent carnal images, and we've also seen a great deal of this irresponsible overlapping during the torture porn boom that characterized far too many of the genre offerings of the early 21st century. An extended bathtub masturbation scene in The Toolbox Murders, which shows an attractive actress pleasuring herself with the same thoroughness that the bloodshed in the film is rendered with, is clearly meant to sexually excite the viewer. But when the money shot of this soft-core fantasy is the woman's prolonged and nearly torturous dispatch via nail-gun, there is an uncomfortable ambiguity of intent on the part of the film-makers. Thankfully, the bulk of the film isn't nearly as misogynistic, and the affair as a whole is certainly more manageable as a result.Despite its iffy pace and unpleasant elements, the better aspects of The Toolbox Murders offer it some merited points of interest for discerning horror fans. You probably won't want to visit this blood-soaked apartment complex often, but the film is certainly worth a look.

Scarecrow-88 Sick puppy from director Dennis Donnelly concerning how the car wreck demise of a young woman named Kathy causes her father and cousin to commit unspeakable acts towards innocent human beings. The father, Vance(Cameron Mitchell)is a simply deranged owner of the apartment complex for which he murders a set of beautiful tenants who represent "sinners" needed ridding of so that the world could be a better place. Laurie(Pamelyn Ferdin)shares an apartment with her mother, Jo Ann(Aneta Corsaut) and brother, Joey(Nicolas Beauvy)and Vance kidnaps her, holding the poor girl captive in his suburban home, commissioning his nephew Kent(Wesley Eure, of "Land of the Lost" fame!)to clean up his bloody messes! The police are baffled at the murders wondering just how the killer could operate so freely in dispatching them, moving within their rooms with only one forced entry. Joey, motivated by his sister's disappearance, opts to work as an amateur sleuth as he sees that Detective Jamison(Tim Donnelly)and the police have little to go on. Thanks to Kent, who seems to know more than he lets on(..while also displaying strange behavior when Joey speaks about the acts of violence and his calm demeanor around the crime scenes of the victims' rooms he's about to clean up), Joey suspects Vance once entering the sicko uncle's garage, finding the infamous toolbox, containing the devices used on those women during the nightly murder spree. But, Joey will not suspect someone else..Kent's not exactly operating with a full deck, either! We watch as frightened, and subdued, Laurie, tied to a bed frame, attempts futilely to coerce Vance into letting her go as he drifts into his own fantasies even believing she is his daughter incarnate. Kent, also, finds himself lost to the memories of Kathy, a kissing cousin with a history he is all too willing to share with good ole Uncle Vance, with shocking results.The film doesn't really create an air of mystery as to who committed the grisly, bloody murders at the beginning of the movie, and the reasons for doing so. The director opens inside the front seat showing gloved hands driving a car past the location of where a woman died as a result of a car crash. We then are *treated* to a series of murders(..perhaps not as notorious because of how the director pulls away the camera before the weapons really do their damage, but still repulsive acts of violence) with an assortment of weapons raging from a spinning drill driven into the back of an alcoholic who knows him and is surprised at his antics, a hammer slammed into the back of a victim's head after knocking her unconscious, a screwdriver stabbed into the stomach of a victim who stumbles upon the killer before he could leave, and a nail gun to the head of a model after her lengthly bath tub masturbation sequence. Unlike a lot of giallo thrillers and slashers(..which would follow a similar model as this film), the investigation of the murders is the weakest aspect of the film. The director instead, after bludgeoning the viewer with that wallop of a crime spree, decides to take us into the insanity of Vance, with actor Mitchell, a veteran from the old school Hollywood working in films like this for the money because of problems in his life, sucking a lollipop the first time we see him bringing din-din to Laurie. Mitchell just lets it hang out as the wacko holding so tight to the memory of his little girl and going on and on about the wicked sinners of the world with how he must cut them out like the Bible says. Eure, with those pretty boy looks and squeaky-clean image actually surprised me because he was such an innocent teenage idol on the LotL show. I could see how Joey would be startled at the true maniac that lies behind what appears to be just an ordinary young man looking for some extra dough handed out by Uncle Vance. Beauvy as Joey didn't really impress me, he's merely a plot device who makes a grave discovery whose fate is particularly memorable. Ferdin is a virginal sweetheart mostly tied to the bed hurting from the tightened bondage and worried for her life, a fawn trapped in the madness of a crazed predator(s). What I found most effective was the use of country music playing as Vance murders his victims, and the way the killer carries out his acts so cold-bloodedly, with calculated precision. This will certainly be unpleasant for the weak-hearted and easily offended.