The Toolbox Murders (2004)
By: Andrew Gillies on June 24, 2005.
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| 21st Century (Australia). Region 4, PAL. 1.85:1 (16:9 enhanced). English DD 2.0. 91 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director:Tobe Hooper
Starring: Angela Bettis,
Brent Roam, Juliet Landau, Greg Travis, Marco
Rodriguez, Sheri Moon
Screenplay: Jace Anderson,
Adam Gierasch
Country: USA |
Remakes seem to be the latest craze in Hollywood,
and the horror genre has been affected the most.
Tobe Hooper of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame has remade a 1978 slasher, and reworked it
with modern scares and effects, to deliver one entertaining
horror movie, Toolbox Murders.
Nell and her husband move into an old apartment
building undergoing renovations in Hollywood,
looking for a cheap place to stay while he attends
the hospital where he works as a doctor. Left
alone during the days, Nell becomes curiously
aware that the building isn't quite as it
seems. A cloaked maniac is killing off the residents
with the contents of his toolbox for starters,
and neighbours aren't as friendly as she'd
like. As Nell gets closer to finding out the building's
hidden secrets, tenants start dropping like flies.
I'm a fan of remakes, purely because a
remake (when done well) takes the original story
elements from a movie, and then reworks it to
create new characters, situations and plot twists.
A tale can be retold in a different, yet still
effective manner. Although I have not seen the
original Toolbox Murders, Hooper's
re-imaging of this slasher has crafted an enjoyable
and scary epic that features some good characters,
engaging plot and some great gore.
This isn't a mindless slasher; it has an
interesting story that develops throughout the
movie. Nell, left alone during the days, discovers
secrets about the building complex bit by bit,
and slowly unravels the killing spree and hidden
rooms. The story works well because it keeps you
on your toes, and when there isn't any action
happening, you're enjoying the natural feel
that is on offer.
Then again, when the action does happen, it's
a treat. There aren't many modern horror
movies that can scare me, but this one really
did. I was tense during the suspense moments,
and jumped in the right places. Hooper has crafted
some great scenes and some well placed misdirections
that will shake the nerves of the audience. And
when there's a kill, the movie doesn't
hold back on what it will show. Unfortunately
this is only the US rated version, and it shows.
Death scenes are noticeably edited down to hide
and/or remove gore. The original print had to
be cut to obtain an R rating in America, subsequently
losing all 'unrated' footage. But
what has been left still makes for one nasty picture,
from people getting their throats ripped open
to heads being sliced off.
Tobe Hooper's recent output hasn't
been memorable (Crocodile anyone?),
but this movie has steered him back in the right
direction. An entertaining and scary ride of mystery
that leaves the audience satisfied. Toolbox
Murders is a better than average slasher
flick with some good characters and an intriguing
plot. |
| Video |
| Toolbox Murders is presented
in anamorphic widescreen with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
Colours are mostly strong and clear, however the
overall tone seems slightly muted, possibly to contrast
the bleak nature of the building. The picture is
mostly free of blemishes, but early on the print
suffers from some white spots that pop up. The contrast
changes dramatically during a few moments in the
movie, when a camera angle changes, so does the
contrast. This only happened two or three times
that I noticed. Overall, this is a pretty clean
and crisp print, with just the occasional problem. |
| Audio |
| Unless my speakers are broken – which they
aren't – Toolbox Murders is not presented in a Dolby 5.1 surround as stated,
but rather a 2.0 Stereo mix instead. That being
said, the audio quality is not that bad. At first,
excessive and uneven music drowned out the dialogue
and sound effects, which took away some of the impact
of the first kill, but after that, things ran smoothly.
The score came out nicely, and didn't tamper
with the onscreen sound effects or dialogue. |
| Extra Features |
A pointless under 5 minute "behind the
scenes" look at the movie, which although
showing some interesting stuff, is a badly made
and poorly executed feature. The woman hosting
has no idea how to ask questions, and manages
to answer most of them herself through her wording.
Five trailers for other movies not including
Toolbox are included, some of them looking bad,
some looking rather good. |
| The Verdict |
| Remakes work best when the original idea is taken,
and then reworked. What you want to see is a different
movie that creates a new story, and respects the
original. Although I haven't seen the original,
from what I can gather, Tobe Hooper's Toolbox
Murders is a very different movie. The
story is better than many slashers, suspense is
present as are jump scares effective, and the gore
that is there, even though an edited print, is graphic
and pleasing to any gorehound. The DVD itself is
not too bad, with a good video presentation and
decent audio. The extras are rubbish, compared to
the US release which has commentaries and deleted
scenes (including that gore that we won't
see integrated back into the movie anytime soon),
and because of this it loses some cool points. But
for a DVD presentation on the movie itself, this
is not too bad. I recommended this title for a rental,
but if you do want to buy, import it. |
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