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The Toolbox Murders

The Toolbox Murders

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $17.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not the worst, though I wouldn't call it good.
Review: I find it funny how reviewers can give movies that are clearly low budget, have bad acting, and bad plot lines, 5 stars. That said, I admit I like trash. I mean I have an almost sadistic pleasure in torturing myself with bad movie watching. Yet no matter how much I might like a movie that's clearly awful, I won't give it 5 stars for being a suck fest. Movies like Halloween might deserve 5 stars, but movies like this do not. It's deceiving towards people interested in checking this flick out, thinking it might be as good as people are hyping it up to be. Well it isn't. However, it's not the worst movie I've ever seen either. I'm glad I bought this flick, but remember I'm a bad horror movie fan.

The acting by the cops is awful at best. You can easily tell these guys knew little about police work or acting. The killer isn't too bad, though far from scary. By the end of the movie he's not even remotely menacing, but actually comes off as rather pathetic, due to some unusually good acting. It's kind of weird how the movie starts off with all the killing and rampant nudity, then turns itself into a semi normal low budget 70's horror flick. Usually I'm all for excess skin in horror, which is often the only redeeming quality. However this movie would have been better without the sexploitation, and might have even received a bigger cult following if it played on late night t.v. But the director kind of doomed himself with having the murderer killing only naked to mostly naked girls.

It's good for a rent, but trust me, don't buy it first until you know what you're getting. It's not a 5 star horror, but is a solid 2 star cheese flick.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A long lost exploitation gem
Review: I thought for a long while about getting this dvd only hearing brief reviews I finally got it today it was everything I hoped for. Unlike most slasher films this one is based on true events that happened in L.A. in 1967. It would offend any femminist because the main target is women, immoral woman to be particular. The man who thinks he's helping to rid the world of evil by killing all the sinful women in the apartment complex he owns. Disguised as a handyman he uses tools from his toolbox such as a hammer, screwdriver and a nailgun.
Shot on a pretty low budget it features the late Cameron Mitchell as the handyman in my opinion a great film finally avalible after being banned in 1982.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: They don't come much worse than this...
Review: I'm a huge horror fan, and over the last few months I've been mowing through a backlog of exploitation and slasher flicks from the 70s and 80s, sometimes finding a few gems and other times a stinker. If a movie offers some decent gore and suspense (gratuitous nudity doesn't hurt), I'll usually forgive narrative lapses, bad acting, eye-rolling dialogue, etc. So when I rented "Slumber Party Massacre" and the gorehound at the video store recommended "The Toolbox Murders," I was pretty excited, especially after watching the trailer and seeing it was loaded with hot naked chicks. This one could be a classic, I thought!

Boy, was I ever wrong.

"The Toolbox Murders" fails on almost every level. The first 30 minutes or so feature about 4-5 murders in rapid succession with drill bits, a hammer, etc. These scenes are pretty poorly shot and most of the carnage happens off screen and is shown with blood splattering the masked killer. Tom Savini clearly didn't have anything to do with this one. There is some decent nudity, especially a bubble bath [...] death by nailgun scene. At this point, I figure that "The Toolbox Murders" is going to be a fun little sleazefest.

And then the movie just stops dead in its tracks when the killer is revealed and about an hour of the movie focuses on a girl he's kidnapped. This is when things go completely south. The toolbox murders at this point are over, and "The Toolbox Murders" turns into the cheesiest, most boring psycho-drama you've ever seen. The acting is abysmal; seriously some of the worst performances I've ever witnessed. There are two more murders, but neither are anything worth writing home about and one occurs entirely offscreen. There is no more nudity. We just have bad actors sitting in cheeseball 70s locales and delivering exposition that nobody cares about.

I've got a high tolerance for this kind of movie, but "The Toolbox Murders" was so inept and unforgivably boring that I considered turning it off about halfway through, and seriously regret renting it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: i do like thisa movie with a vbnge a poo
Review: if yoo like poop and boobies then this is the movie for you. I like poop. i like boobies. this movie is for you. Sometimes i like to one time i killed a hooker. she was fat. sometimes when you come in her eyes she yells at you but gramma is not that mean always. i lover her. i lover him....... wihati adhi hyou you so amwazing. wers hi taht mh eggaima. wers he hot me gamhaaaaaa. so i say yes and yes and yes and yes.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not As Scary As Mitchell's Facelift
Review: Most of the controversy surrounding "The Toolbox Murders" revolved around charges of misogyny rather than extreme gore. To that end, the infamous "nail gun scene"--which was featured on "60 Minutes" and "Donahue" as an example of violence against women in film--is unsettling for its blend of eroticism and cold brutality, making the movie flirt with a snuff mentality. It's also one of the more groundbreaking scenes in splatter movies and the most effective scene in "The Toolbox Murders." Otherwise, the movie isn't any different from a whole host of other gore movies. It's better than most, with OK performances and a fair amount of technical proficiency for what it is, but there are few moments that are going to make much impact on today's jaded horror fans. Most of the murders occur in the first half of the movie, and while they're bloody, there have been more graphic scenes on "ER." In the movie's second half it pretends to be a mystery, even though you know who the murderer is within the first five minutes.

The DVD includes an 8-minute interview with Marianne Walter, who played the victim in the nail gun scene and who later, under the name Kelly Nichols, became "an adult film actress." (First the nail gun scene and then a porn star--Ms. Walter was just giving the feminists fits!) The commentary, by producer Tony Didio, director of photography Gary Graver and a VERY PERKY Pamelyn Ferdin, has some enlightening moments, but it gets redundant after about 30 minutes.

Ultimately, though, about the scariest thing in "The Toolbox Murders" is star Cameron Mitchell's facelift.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not As Scary As Mitchell's Facelift
Review: Most of the controversy surrounding "The Toolbox Murders" revolved around charges of misogyny rather than extreme gore. To that end, the infamous "nail gun scene"--which was featured on "60 Minutes" and "Donahue" as an example of violence against women in film--is unsettling for its blend of eroticism and cold brutality, making the movie flirt with a snuff mentality. It's also one of the more groundbreaking scenes in splatter movies and the most effective scene in "The Toolbox Murders." Otherwise, the movie isn't any different from a whole host of other gore movies. It's better than most, with OK performances and a fair amount of technical proficiency for what it is, but there are few moments that are going to make much impact on today's jaded horror fans. Most of the murders occur in the first half of the movie, and while they're bloody, there have been more graphic scenes on "ER." In the movie's second half it pretends to be a mystery, even though you know who the murderer is within the first five minutes.

The DVD includes an 8-minute interview with Marianne Walter, who played the victim in the nail gun scene and who later, under the name Kelly Nichols, became "an adult film actress." (First the nail gun scene and then a porn star--Ms. Walter was just giving the feminists fits!) The commentary, by producer Tony Didio, director of photography Gary Graver and a VERY PERKY Pamelyn Ferdin, has some enlightening moments, but it gets redundant after about 30 minutes.

Ultimately, though, about the scariest thing in "The Toolbox Murders" is star Cameron Mitchell's facelift.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: RENT b4 you buy
Review: One piece of advice rent b4 you buy. I personally did not like the film and consider it a waste of money. all the murders happen in the begining of the film, they are not gory and , I dont know I just didnt like it. Like I say rent b4 you buy, you might like it i know i didnt AT ALL.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I feel like a motherless child...
Review: Ooooh, dear sweet God this movie is bad. Bad, bad, bad. The killer is a dork with a ski mask and a toolbox, and he hums when he's walking from one murder to the next. He does most of the killing in one steady swipe, because this supposed slasher movie boasts all of about five victims. The killer is the owner of an apartment building, and he just kind of lets himself in (with his key, which cops don't think to investigate) and goes to work. His vague motivation is the death of his daughter in a car wreck, although for the life of Klaus Kinski I can't figure out what her death has to do with the murders.

A few points of interest:

Normally, I would never ever complain about a chick finding an excuse to take take off her pants, but this was the worst excuse I've ever seen. This blonde, kinda pretty, victim #2, goes in to take a shower, turns it on without looking, then realizes that her dress is hanging in there for no reason. So, fully clothed, she steps inside with the water running, then gets back out, and THEN turns the shower off. Then she looks peeved about her clothes being wet. Ooops!

Victim #4 is a svelte redhead dacing in her hiphuggers in front of her window before she decides to take a bubble bath. She's pretty hot-looking, built well for the scene at hand, but is accompanied by the worst song ever, even worse than the song from the Hot Tub Chase in Madman. "Pretty lady, I'm in love with yoo-oo-oo; and maybe we can make our dreams come tru-uu-uue." I better stop it, I'm getting all warm inside. So anyway, the killer comes after her with an archaic, siege-style nail gun that sounds like a .38 with a silencer when it's fired. She runs naked all through apartment (this is actually the cool part of the scene) with Toolbox Killer shooting nails at her and missing by foot-wide gaps.

Anyway, I guess I just clued you in to the best scenes of the movie. Beyond that, it's got less action than a flat tire. Alot of meandering pointlessness, half-development of characters you care nothing about, overacting, underacting, bell bottoms and bad music. The "I'm a dirt-crazy killer" act was overplayed to the point of being nauseating. But, this is a good movie if you just want to settle back and watch the rock bottom of bad movies. It'll make you laugh, at least for a while.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Toolbox Murders.... A Slasher Great
Review: The Toolbox Murders is an preety low budget slasher, which in my opinion, is very entertaining and delivers the goods. I really enjoyed it. It may be contraversial, sadistic, and the direct opposite of Oscar worthy material, but If you enjoy violence, beautiful women and cinematic savegrey... this is the film for you. I do not own the DVD, but since it was released by Blue Underground, im sure its immaculate. Find a copy, and enjoy.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Faulty pressing mars otherwise excellent presentation
Review: This film really is quite awful. As a fan of low grade 70s exploitation and hardcore horror movies I was very disappointed but not at all surprised by how truly terrible the acting and script was for this film. Everybody seems to focus on the one scene involving the nail-gun. My verdict: very sleazy and quite unbelievably corny and badly thought out.

My main gripe however is with the Blue Underground DVD. The presentation is excellent with sharp pictures and good colour and you even get a commentary track!

BUT, this pressing WILL NOT PLAY on certain budget DVD players, the Wharfedale DVD 750S to name one. I've played over 700 different discs from all over the globe on my machine without any problems, but I've now tried 4 different copies of this and not one of them plays all the way through or enables full navigation of the menu.

Now I'm sorry Blue Underground, but this must be a pressing fault with your DVD giving rise to this problem. How else can you explain this problem?

Leave well alone if you reside outside the US and own a budget DVD player. The movie isn't worth upgrading your machine for and the UK alternative from Vipco whilst not faulty exhibits an awful picture and is badly cut by censors.


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