Os Assassinatos da Caixa de Ferramentas

"The Toolbox Murders" follows a series of killings in a Los Angeles apartment complex, which culminate in the kidnapping of a 15-year-old girl, Laurie (Pamelyn Ferdin) who resides there with her family. From thereon, police attempt to unravel the crimes with the assistance of the building owner (Cameron Mitchell) and his employee nephew (Wesley Eure).

While it has been often written off as cheap exploitation fodder, "The Toolbox Murders" is something of a minor unsung achievement, especially when you examine the context. It was made and released pre-John Carpenter's "Halloween", and while it definitely riffs on "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," it does deserve some credit for being an early adopter of the slasher mould. The main criticism of the film (not unwarranted) is that it makes the shift from slasher flick to police procedural at the midway point, which is a bit jarring on a tonal level. The last half of the film mainly focuses on young Laurie being tied to a bed and subject to the religious ramblings of the villain.

This issue aside, where "Toolbox" excels is in its elaborate, effective death sequences, and moody cinematography. The film is shot remarkably well by Gary Graver, and the murders--most of which occur in a slam-bang succession in the first 30 minutes--are effective and disturbing. The locations make for '70s overload, full of furnishings and styles that evoke "The Brady Bunch," but there is a seedy L.A. aesthetic to the film that gives it a gritty and sometimes unpleasant edge. Some moments, particularly the surreal, foggy flashbacks that help explain the killer's motive, predate similar sequences in Paul Lynch's "Prom Night," released two years later.

The performances here are better than the material warrants, especially from Pamelyn Ferdin (best known for her voice roles in the "Peanuts" cartoon and as Fern in "Charlotte's Web," but also in the fantastic 1971 film "The Beguiled"), who proves herself a legitimately talented young actress. Cameron Mitchell hams it up here big time, but his performance is enjoyable and over-the-top.

All in all, I truly believe that, despite its shortcomings, "The Toolbox Murders" is an underrated entry in the slasher film canon. While it does make a downshift in pace and tone in the latter half, it remains a nasty, hard-edged odyssey through the shiftier characters of '70s Los Angeles. Slasher fans will no doubt love the first half, though the second will leave them divided. My suggestion is to take the film on its own terms, and remind oneself that it was made before the slasher prototype was fully edified with "Halloween," which came in the latter part of the year. 7/10.

"Banned since 1982" screams the video box. After sitting through an hour and a half of this crud you'll be lining up to have it banned for another twenty years. Not because it's controversial, too violent, or objectionable in any way (except perhaps aesthetically), but simply to save your fellow movie watchers from having to experience this incoherent, pointless mess. And it is a MESS. Badly written, directed and acted, with no redeeming features. And I LIKE horror folks.

The first 20 minutes or so features a series of murders of young women by various items from a toolbox - drill, hammer, nail gun,etc. (why a toolbox you ask? Good question...). The victims are all attractive and seem to share a taste for MOR country music. The killer wears a ski mask and sometimes hums to himself. (Maybe he's a country purist and is offended by their lack of Hank Williams?)

Anyway, after that the movie rapidly gets duller and duller, a girl gets kidnapped, some inept cops investigate the murders and are baffled, even though you'll pick the killer as soon as you see him. B-grade legend Cameron Mitchell hams it up sucking a lollipop and singing spirituals, and the faceless supporting cast are as bad as the stinker of a script. If you haven't seen 'The Toolbox Murders' well, you haven't missed anything much. Not even bad enough to be funny.

Which tool will he use next and how?

Not in the toolbox, a vibrator used in a highly erotic scene

Fun.

The Toolbox Murders is a movie that shockingly is based on real life events. Naturally the real life events are turned into a series of grizzly, shocking crimes, designed to shock in this video nasty. You can understand why it was banned for so long, although it may seem somewhat tame by today's standards. I say the film is awful, that's perhaps a little unfair, but, the acting is certainly atrocious, the direction is shocking, and the pacing is poor. You get twenty minutes of brutal killings, it's a gore fest, then a bore fest. Once you survive the first twenty minutes, you get a dialogue heavy middle and conclusion. Why oh why did the victims have to behave in that odd way, the typical seventies victims. Plenty of nudity, at times it felt more like a soft porno then a horror, it does nothing to enhance the film, I'm sure it was done purely to get audiences.

So I've slated it, but I couldn't switch it off for some strange reason, I had to stick with it, the conclusion is pretty shocking, but satisfying in a way.

Not one I'll repeat watch, but I'm glad I've finally seen it. 5/10

The Toolbox Murders is one of those early pre date slashers that came out even before Halloween and has become well known among slasher fans due to it's entry on the Video Nasty list back in the 1980's, This is a film that I have seen many times, I dunno why I've never reviewed this movie before, no reason just never got round to it.

"The Toolbox Murders" starts out with a bang, as we get too see various sexy looking women getting murdered in an apartment building, (dunno why people still live there why don't they just move) not that it's a bad thing, just adds extra cheesiness. Hammers and Nail Guns are the weapons of choice favoured by a convincing menacing serial killer, nothing to complain about there and we even get a likable final girl who is quickly menaced by the killer early on and even kidnapped leaving her brother to try and find her and solve the murders. An interesting subplot even.

But then this movie takes a sudden dramatic turn, everything that is shown in the first half of this movie, namely the murders, is almost abandoned in the second half, when the killer is revealed and kidnaps the female lead and has her tied to the bed. It's at this point where the movie quickly becomes rather tame and all the fun of the first half has been sucked out here. Okay like I said before we do get a rather interesting sub plot involving her brother attempting to solve what's going on but that's over way too quickly in a rather unsettling twist. Okay I do like the fact that they have attempted to do something different rather than the usual stalk and slash fest, but in my opinion it does feel rather out of place when it comes to the second half of this movie and even when they do try to flesh out some of these characters it's just not enough development in my opinion. And when it comes to the final moments of this film it does kind of fall flat as it tries to be shocking, which does work in a way.

The performances in this movie are quite strong especially from veteran actor Cameron Mitchell who gives a chilling yet convincing performance that's rather menacing and yet quite engaging. Pamela Ferdin who plays Laurie is very sweet and convincing.

All in all "Toolbox Murders" is a decent enough entry, with an awesome first half just try not to be put off with the second half.