I saw this film at a midnight showing on the Stockholm International Film Festival of 2004. It's become a tradition for me to at least see one or two midnight horror movies at the festival every year. What has unfortunately also become almost a tradition are the constant disappointments with these horror movies.
Toolbox Murders is a pretty standard-fare slasher flick. A couple has recently moved into a strange old building where renovations are being made. Strange things happen and someone is running around murdering people with different kinds of tools (hammers, drills etc.). The woman in this couple starts investigating the strange happenings and discovers that the building is special.
After seeing only fifteen minutes of this film i already thought "My god, is stuff like this still being made?!". I felt like i was transported back to the 1970's when slasher flicks like this were top fare and every movie looked like this with campy acting and cheap effects. Basically all of the actors are over-acting, and most of the characters are about as deep as cardboard-cutouts. This is not necessarily a problem in a slasher flick, but there are so few forgiving elements here that it does indeed become a problem. Also, constantly the characters act completely without logic, like turning away from the killer to speak to his last victim, while he is still in fact charging at them to kill them too!
The gore effects are somewhat disgusting, and made in a way that more makes you laugh than anything else. The story feels wasted and it feels like the director didn't really know what kind of movie he wanted to make. It starts out like a b-movie from the 70's, then almost turns into a Ghostbusters-ripoff before it turns into a complete mess in the end... Clichés can often work to your advantage, especially in the horror genre, but someone should tell directors of today that you don't have to use EVERY cliché there is.
I'm afraid that not even Tobe Hoopers alleged "cult" status can save this train-wreck. This is not funny, not scary and simply not entertaining. I rate it 3/10.
Toolbox Murders is a pretty standard-fare slasher flick. A couple has recently moved into a strange old building where renovations are being made. Strange things happen and someone is running around murdering people with different kinds of tools (hammers, drills etc.). The woman in this couple starts investigating the strange happenings and discovers that the building is special.
After seeing only fifteen minutes of this film i already thought "My god, is stuff like this still being made?!". I felt like i was transported back to the 1970's when slasher flicks like this were top fare and every movie looked like this with campy acting and cheap effects. Basically all of the actors are over-acting, and most of the characters are about as deep as cardboard-cutouts. This is not necessarily a problem in a slasher flick, but there are so few forgiving elements here that it does indeed become a problem. Also, constantly the characters act completely without logic, like turning away from the killer to speak to his last victim, while he is still in fact charging at them to kill them too!
The gore effects are somewhat disgusting, and made in a way that more makes you laugh than anything else. The story feels wasted and it feels like the director didn't really know what kind of movie he wanted to make. It starts out like a b-movie from the 70's, then almost turns into a Ghostbusters-ripoff before it turns into a complete mess in the end... Clichés can often work to your advantage, especially in the horror genre, but someone should tell directors of today that you don't have to use EVERY cliché there is.
I'm afraid that not even Tobe Hoopers alleged "cult" status can save this train-wreck. This is not funny, not scary and simply not entertaining. I rate it 3/10.