"The Toolbox Murdes" is a hard movie to dislike simply from the title alone and when you actually begin viewing the pleasurable experience of the film's opening material, it becomes a sure thing that you will LOVE this entire thing. Unfortunately, I was relatively let down by the bulk of this film while somehow still enjoying it... Maybe it's just due to an over-habitual standard to prematurely classify a film of this general description into the genre of "slasher" films. Since "The Toolbox Murders" was released several years before the slasher craze caught on in the early 80s, it actually looks like a American "giallo" flick at the start before unexpectedly shifting gears and developing into a pretty recognizable exploitation-style crime-drama. Now, the first 30 minutes or so are something of a gore/sleaze hound's wet dream. We see a non-stop killing spree, blood bath perpetrated by a masked man invading the apartment's of attractive single women and viciously brutalizing them with various implements from his trusty tool set, in an incredibly fast-paced and mean spirited fashion. A woman is bludgeoned with a hammer, her friend shows up in the midst of it all and is quickly slain on the scene... A woman is then attacked in her bathtub - just after flicking her bean - and is relentlessly murdered in the buff! When a fifteen year-old girl is snatched from her home by the ski mask wearing, psychotic, unofficial evil twin of Bob Vila, her older brother becomes desperate to find her... From there, things digress and become a tad melodramatic and slow... Granted, the psychopathic madman IS about as crazy and delusional as they come and there's some unexpected moments including reference to incest, some off screen rape, and a weird ending where we receive a statement explaining how this was based off a true story. I'm sure fans of gore and exploitation films will get a kick out of this movie like I did, but don't expect unforgettable stuff here. There's plenty of blood and full frontal nudity on hand and the characters are well portrayed which you'll appreciate more if you understand that this is a little different from a typical slasher romp...
"The Toolbox Murdes" is a hard movie to dislike simply from the title alone and when you actually begin viewing the pleasurable experience of the film's opening material, it becomes a sure thing that you will LOVE this entire thing. Unfortunately, I was relatively let down by the bulk of this film while somehow still enjoying it... Maybe it's just due to an over-habitual standard to prematurely classify a film of this general description into the genre of "slasher" films. Since "The Toolbox Murders" was released several years before the slasher craze caught on in the early 80s, it actually looks like a American "giallo" flick at the start before unexpectedly shifting gears and developing into a pretty recognizable exploitation-style crime-drama. Now, the first 30 minutes or so are something of a gore/sleaze hound's wet dream. We see a non-stop killing spree, blood bath perpetrated by a masked man invading the apartment's of attractive single women and viciously brutalizing them with various implements from his trusty tool set, in an incredibly fast-paced and mean spirited fashion. A woman is bludgeoned with a hammer, her friend shows up in the midst of it all and is quickly slain on the scene... A woman is then attacked in her bathtub - just after flicking her bean - and is relentlessly murdered in the buff! When a fifteen year-old girl is snatched from her home by the ski mask wearing, psychotic, unofficial evil twin of Bob Vila, her older brother becomes desperate to find her... From there, things digress and become a tad melodramatic and slow... Granted, the psychopathic madman IS about as crazy and delusional as they come and there's some unexpected moments including reference to incest, some off screen rape, and a weird ending where we receive a statement explaining how this was based off a true story. I'm sure fans of gore and exploitation films will get a kick out of this movie like I did, but don't expect unforgettable stuff here. There's plenty of blood and full frontal nudity on hand and the characters are well portrayed which you'll appreciate more if you understand that this is a little different from a typical slasher romp...
