Toolbox Murders

Plot synopsis:
Daisy Rain goes to her apartment in the Lusman Arms, a former luxury hotel undergoing renovations, and is beaten to death with a hammer by a man wearing a balaclava. In another room, new tenants Nell and Steven Barrows, a teacher and a medical intern, are introduced to the amenities and a few of the residents by Byron, the building manager. As Steven works long hours, Nell is left alone most of the time, and befriends Julia Cunningham, a neighbor down the hall, and Chas Rooker, an elderly man who reveals some of the history of the structure, mentioning it was made by Jack Lusman, who disappeared mysteriously, and that builders died while working on it.
As days pass, the Lusman Arms are plagued by mysterious circumstance; strange noises are heard throughout it and coming from the intercoms, Nell finds a trinket containing human teeth in a wall, and Julia and another tenant vanish, having been killed (with a drill and a nail gun, respectively) by the ski masked murderer, who hides their bodies. While looking into Julia's disappearance, Nell speaks with Chas, who offers cryptic warnings about the nature of the building, and sneaks Nell a note reading "Look for her in Room 504". Nell takes the advice, and discovers that there is no Room 504, and that all the other floors lack apartments whose numbering should end with 4.
Nell goes to the Los Angeles Preservation Society, where an employee tells her that Jack Lusman was an occultist who associated with a society that tried to mix science and magic, and that the symbols (which Nell copies down on her arms) decorating the building are part of a spell. The blueprints for the Lusman Arms also reveal that there is a townhouse hidden within the structure, hence all the missing rooms. Nell returns home, and finds a hatch on the roof of the building that allows entrance into the townhouse, where she uncovers a room dedicated to the Golden Age of Hollywood, torture chambers, and dozens of corpses. The killer, who had just butchered another tenant and the handyman, appears, and removes his mask to reveal that he is a monster, which the credits refer to as "Coffin Baby".
A teenage resident discovers that the webcam he had been using to spy on Julia had recorded her death, prompting him to go to Steven, who finds Nell's notes about the building, and goes looking for her along with the boy, Byron, and the doorman. The men send the teen to get the police after they find a passageway into Coffin Baby's lair, which they enter. Coffin Baby kills Byron and the doorman, and gives chase to Nell and Steven, the former of whom theorizes that Coffin Baby needs death and the Lusman Arms to continue existing. The Barrows are found by Chas, who tries to lead them to safety, and murmurs that Coffin Baby came into the world when he clawed his way out of his dead and buried mother's womb.
Coffin Baby leaps out from under a pile of human remains, fatally throws Chas at a wall, and captures Nell, but she is saved by Steven, who bludgeons Coffin Baby, and knocks a shelf onto him. The authorities arrive, and take Steven to a hospital, and as Nell returns to her apartment, the police lift up the debris that fell on Coffin Baby, who has disappeared. Coffin Baby crashes through Nell's window and tries to kill her, but is disoriented by the runes she had earlier drawn on her arms, distracting him long enough for a pair of police officers to barge in, and shoot him out a window, causing him to be hanged by a cord Nell had wrapped around his neck. The officers check on Nell, then go to the window, only to find that Coffin Baby has once again vanished.

Tags: violence, horror, murder

Review:
Let's face it, with the legend of the Black Dahlia (mentioned in the film), the constant-battle for the control of the water-supply (an engineer once controlled L.A. His name was William Mulholland, and designed the Owens Valley Acqueduct), the Manson Family, gangs, poverty, the desert air, all the Hollywood deaths and scandals, cults, Scientology, the Mexican Day of the Dead, Chinatown, drugs, the Ramparts scandals, decades of obscene-corruption--Los Angeles is creepy.Nell notices a lot of hammering and other strange-phenomena, and eventually begins to probe the mystery of the Lusman Arms.
It's been subdued for decades - but when renovations start, a series of murders take place.This film becomes a mystery as our heroine Nell(Angela Bettis - see her in "May") tries to unravel the secret of the Lusman Building and its residents...it keeps us guessing cause almost everyone is a suspect and Hooper doesn't need big special effects to keep us interested, the story is fast paced and the killings are inventive and gruesome.It's not that kind of film that spends millions of dollars in special effects and scares us only with sharp and loud sounds and tricks like that, no!
This film shows a great director, some good actors and a good sinister story that will really scare you in a way that only really good horror movies can...this is no cheap trick or horror movie for 16 year old boys with cheerleader type actresses that show off their assets...this movie is far more interesting and scary than most of the so called horror movies that go to theaters.Like I read in bloody-disgusting.com, " Toolbox is a strong film likely to boost Tobe Hooper back into the top rung of horror directors along with names like Craven, Carpenter, and Romero."Go see a master of horror doing his thing...you will not be disappointed!.
After a fifteen year long string of awful horror movies and forgettable TV shows, director Tobe Hooper finally roars back to life with this fun, scary and intense horror thriller.When I first heard Hooper was remaking TOOLBOX MURDERS, I thought he had hit a new low.
The result is a movie that is as technically well-made as SCREAM or WRONG TURN, but with the guts of a 70s drive-in shocker.While the killer finds some creative ways to kill people with various hardware items, and the action takes place in a single apartment building, this movie has little to do with the original TOOLBOX MURDERS.
However, despite its remake status and its borrowing plot points from a few previous movies, it has a surprisingly fresh and original feeling to it.I'll go out on a limb and say Tobe Hooper's TOOLBOX MURDERS is one of the better horror movies I've seen in quite some time.
Mix some elements of Polanki's Apartment Trilogy with some from TCM, and throw in a few inventive, violent kills à la the original Toolbox Murders, and you have a rather enjoyable horror movie.
Except that in 2004 he directed Angela Bettis in a remake of the 1978 film "The Toolbox Murders".This new version stars Bettis as Nell as she and her husband move into the Lusman Arms apartment complex in Los Angeles.
Although Nell is a school teacher and her husband Steve and med student.From the first scene of the movie we know that there is a ski masked maniac in the building who is killing off the resident and things seem to point towards Ned the quiet and creepy young maintenance man who kind of looks like Jack White.
Like the original film he kills his victims with various tools in his toolbox, so yeah the title is pretty self explanatory.Nell immediately gets the creeps about the place, but its so affordable since they have to live in a construction zone.
Acting on a tip from the Old Man she find that each floor is missing a room and that something sinister lurks within the walls.This is a fun little movie that is all about Angela Bettis and her character Nell as she fights for not only her life but for her sanity.
This is a remake of a vicious 70's slasher that is overall gory and disgusting (the original was even included in the `video nasties'  list of banned horror movies in the U.K) The plot and motivations of the murdering nut are slightly different in Hooper's version of the Toolbox Murders.
Also, the Toolbox Murders seems to give the impression we're guessing fro the identity of the killer initiallylike a good old-fashioned whodunit' slasher, but the mystery and detective aspects abruptly come to an end as the plot  opens up a little more.
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...
A homicidal maniac uses weapons of any kind from drill to hammer begins killing off some of the residents one by bloody one and secrets from the past are coming back.Co-starring Sherri Moon Zombie, Juliet Landau, Christopher Doyle and Adam Weisman, this is a nifty reimagining of the low budget "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" wannabe known as "The Toolbox Murders" but this one is directed by horror maestro Tobe Hooper.
After Nell's friend disappears and several tenants start getting murdered, Nell decides to investigate the building's sordid past and who's behind these murders.The tone of this movie takes a completely different turn to the original, not that it's a bad thing, in fact it features some pretty decent performances (something the original lacked), especially Angela Bettis who plays the young teacher, turns in a solid and well rounded performance I also enjoyed her in one of her earlier horror movies "May", a radically different role to this one, as she's more straight forward in this one.
But it keeps you hooked from beginning to end with some decent kills and has that old school feel to it.Okay there are some low points, like none of the other cast are fleshed out, they're just cardboard cut outs, apart from Angela Bettis, none of them are remotely memorable, but that often happens in these types of movies.
And some of the plot scenes doesn't really go anywhere, like the mysterious symbols and curses that are found, but this part of the story falls flat and certain things aren't explained very well leaving massive plot holes, like towards the end seems rushed and left a lot of questions unanswered.All in all "Toolbox Murders" definitely improves on the original version, Tobe Hooper shows us that he's still got what it takes, but this doesn't quite reach the heights of some of the classic and won't be as well remembered in years to come, but it's a pretty decent movie, with some effective deaths and a creepy killer..
There is not a single good original sequence in this film!.There are some good ones,but we've sen them at least hundred times!The plot is also generic and easily predictable,without any touch of creativity and originality.The violence is overblown and it dominates the film,but the scenes of slaughter are not scary-not at all.And they don't look realistic!For example,the scene of beheading.You can easily see a man beheading A DOLL,not another man.Where are the effects?And I am not pretending to be Sharlock or Hercule Poirot here,but I realized how the film would end after 20 minutes of watching it.Take five horror films from the third millennium,put them in a grinder and polish the resulting mess until it starts resembling a movie and you'll have the prescription from almost everything on here.
This film is the worst remake of a horror film since The Thomas Crown Affair (Steve McQueen is freaking scary).In the original, there's an apartment building with like six hundred tenants, and we get to see the killer go around killing every one in six hundred new and exciting ways using six hundred different tools, all the time raping all his victims so we get to see boobs flopping around as well as getting cut of.
But the remake has all the good stuff taken out, and it's replaced with a story of a lesbian who moves into the building and falls in love with another girl there, so she pays the other girl's neighbour to film her in the shower, which sounds like a great scene, but it's not really because she's ugly.
A remake of the 1978 film of the same name, "The Toolbox Murders" is a return from director Tobe Hooper to his suspense/slasher roots.
Watch, and find out.Like Hooper's infamous "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (and to a lesser extent, the under-appreciated but wholly worthwhile "The Funhouse"), "The Toolbox Murders" is a slow and steady slasher that builds to its conclusion.
Rarely does the film break away from convention, and although its throwback feel is refreshing, it gets a bit stale by the end and gives one the impression that Hooper directed the film in his sleep (and without the aid of Spielberg this time).In short, "The Toolbox Murders" is an efficient slasher romp that offers little in the way of surprises.
Now for all my days i've always had a strong attraction to horror movies, not for the gore although that is par for the course when you watch a movie with the said genre specifics, but more so for a good little story.Now having read an article in Fangoria about the new version, prior to its debut on video/DVD, i was intrigued by the notion that the scripting duties were being left to the writing duo of Adam Gierasch and Jace Anderson, didn't exactly fill me with comfort, having watched some of their previous efforts like 'Crocodile' and its less than glorious sequel as well as 'Spiders', if you couple this with a director whose film-making career appears to be on the wane, none of these ingredients would make for promising viewing.Especially more so if you watch a movie of this kind in the company of your girlfriend, not a wise movie.
The main star of the show was Angela Bettis, hot off the creepy classic 'May'appearing as a young waif like married woman living in a new 'old style apartment complex with her doctor husband who is periodically at home but mostly tending to the sick and the bewildered, strange to use such a word, when the majority of the inhabitants of the Lussman Arms are just that.Creepy and Kooky, as all should be when they appear in a dark and foreboding horror movie, why if you look close enough you'll notice the presence of co writer Adam Gierasch appearing as the not so handyman 'Ned' he doesn't say much, he just creeps around with his hair in his eyes, lusting after Juliet Landau.Upon viewing it, if memory serves, the release over here in the U.K. was certificate 18, having been released to video/DVD the version i watched was only certificate 15, lessening the impact when you watch the demise of half the cast.
what a horrible,horrible movie.i thought i was watching a snuff film.you have to be emotionally unhinged to enjoy this piece of excrement.low budget and it shows.the camera lingers for a very long time on all the killing scenes,way too long.the acting is poor, the plot is ridiculous and full of inconsistencies and holes you could drive a couple of semi trucks through.but really the movie is just pointless,gratuitous gore and violence.this dog may be worse than hostel.it's definitely a close race.if you're even slightly well adjusted,you will have no use for this bomb.if you do enjoy this film, i hope i never live next door to you.i felt so dirty after watching this thing,i had to take a shower right after to cleanse myself.and i may never get the stench out of my house.truly,truly,sick and demented(and not in any good way) filth 0 out of 10.
The first major shock was that Tope Hooper doesn't seem to have moved out of the 1970's with this film, I honestly felt like I was watching a seriously dated slasher flick, the acting was wooden, the inbred/mutant/murderer was pathetic and the atmosphere just seemed to lack depth and claustrophobia Tobe Hooper managed to achieve so well in Chainsaw Massacre.
The story was adequately paced, although there were actually many deaths throughout the entire movie.It was essentially the cast that saved the movie, in particular Angela Bettis.This isn't Tobe Hooper's best movie, not by a long shot."The Toolbox Murders" isn't particularly outstanding amidst the countless movies in the horror genre, and as such I am rating it a mere five out of ten stars.
On one sight,we have masterpieces like Poltergeist,Salem's lot and The Texas chainsaw massacre(1974).On the other sight we have craps like Lifeforce,Funhouse and the remake of Invaders from Mars.With this thing,I wanna say that when there's an opportunity to see a Tobe Hooper's film,it's very possible that we can see a masterpiece or a crap.Toolbox murders(2004)is not a masterpiece and it's not a bad film...it's a good horror film which kept me very fun.A very little quantity of people will remember the original film,The Toolbox murders,made in 1978,which,by my point of view,is a very mediocre and clichéd film.This remake is a lot better than the original movie(surprise!)because it's funner and more ingenious.In Toolbox murders(2004),the tired formula of the masked killer has a thanked twist which explains the motives of the killer and the nature of its surroundings.Angela Bettis showed she's a brilliant actress on a masterpiece called May.She does a good work in Toolbox murders(2004),but her talent is beyond her role on this movie.This film has some fails(the edition is a little weak and the script feels forced on some occasions)but it kept me very fun and it never bored me..
Fans of any of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films will definitely enjoy the original more.Had this movie been titled something else, I wouldn't have judged it a rip off of the Toolbox Murders.
Being a Tobe Hooper film, and given the somewhat obscure status of the 1978 movie, I don't think it helped much by calling this the Toolbox Murders.
finally a gory slasher movie that is comparable to the early eighties slashers.this remake kicks the crap out of the boring original that's for sure.hard to believe this was made buy the same guy that made that horrible comedy chainsaw massacre 2.tobe hooper has not made that many good movies besides this one there is the original chainsaw massacre and lifeforce.this movie has got some incredible and inventive gore scenes in it.the killer has a gory deformed face that kind of reminds me of the way darkman looks.no cgi in this movie at all and the location in the hotel is great dark and dreary.the return of the slasher film is here and it is called the tool box murders.
The killer look's like a bad rip off of a 1940's mummy, why this got an R, i don't know?Most of the killing's r very poor, only two good one's comes to mind, it made me jump once (not much 4 a horror eh?) Very disappointing for such a new film, this director needs to go back and watch some early classic's and try again!If ure looking for a night which will scare the pants off of you, this is not it, you're more than likely fall asleep with boredom..
i didn't like the original Texas chain saw massacre, or poltergeist, but tobe hooper really out did himself in toolbox murders.
I have never seen the original Toolbox Murders, and for the most part I'am against remakes but I generally saw this film because of the film's director Tobe Hooper (who gave as such horror classics as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist) and the film's star Angela Bettis (who I thought gave the best performance of the year in 2003 with the film May).
"Toolbox Murders" starts off like your average slasher film with both Lusman Arms tenants Daisy and Saffnon, Sheri Moon & Sara Downing, ending up with their head bashed in with a claw hammer and pinned to the ceiling with a nail-gun by the hooded killer.
Nell and Steven Burrows move to Los Angeles to start a new life together.When they move into the Lusman Building,a historic Hollywood apartment complex,Nell and Steven find themselves caught into a web of terrifying evil.A ruthless killer lurks inside,somehow moving sight unseen from apartment to apartment and using drills,claw hammers and saws to murder his victims.When Nell stumbles into the killer's hidden lair,she comes face to face with supernatural horror."Toolbox Murders" is a highly entertaining remake of the original.The first "Toolbox Murders"(1979)was a fun but obvious rip-off of Hooper's masterpiece "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".This film stars Angela Bettis,the beautiful scream queen who is the best known from brilliant "May".Hooper takes great joy in creating several red herrings throughout the film and it would be a shame to spoil the killer's identity.The film is loaded with plenty of gore and the killings are extremely violent,so fans of the original should be pleased.Bettis is surprisingly good-a strong,independent woman who still,for some reason,stays home all day and tries to solve the mystery all by herself.Her journey through the story is actually quite terrifying.Give it a look.9 out of 10..
Tobe Hooper returns to his Texas Chainsaw roots with a remake of a film that ripped off his classic Massacre movie.
The gore story presents original deaths and is well tied in, and Tobe Hooper seems to have recovered his "old shape" of great and talented director of horror movies.
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.
When Nell (Angela Bettis) and Steven (Brent Roam) Barrows move into the historic Lusman building, things start going terribly wrong in Tobe Hoopers remake of "Toolbox Murders".