Toolbox Murders (March 10/05)
To call Toolbox Murders an improvement over its 1978 predecessor is about as great an understatement as they come, given how completely and utterly inept that movie was. Then again, such comparisons aren't really warranted since the two films have little in common aside from the title; this isn't a remake as much as it's an entirely new film (albeit one that happens to involve a killer who murders his victims using tools).
The film stars Angela Bettis and Brent Roam as Nell and Steven Barrows, a newlywed couple who make the unfortunate decision of moving into a dilapidated old apartment building. Though they're initially irritated by the paper-thin walls and constant construction, it soon becomes clear that they've got much bigger problems. There's a madman on the loose, and when her neighbors begin to drop like flies, Nell begins an investigation into the sordid and mysterious history of the building.
Toolbox Murders has been directed by Tobe Hooper, a filmmaker whose output has been extremely mediocre as of late (ie Crocodile, The Mangler, etc). But here, working with a script that's been pared down to the bare essentials, Hooper creates a film that's almost as effective as his first big success - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. In fact, Toolbox Murders even echoes that film's ambiance by trapping Nell and Steven within the walls of the apartment building (it seems highly unlikely that the resemblance between that locale and the interior of the Sawyer house in Massacre is a coincidence). Hooper, along with cinematographer Steve Yedlin and production designer Yuda Acco, imbues Toolbox Murders with an ominous, disturbing visual style - something that applies both to the film's sets (the apartment building is full of long hallways and creepy nooks and crannies) and look (Hooper seems to be going for some kind of a record as far as low-angle shots are concerned).
That star Bettis makes for a credible slasher movie heroine comes as no surprise, given her short but impressive history with the genre (she's already appeared in films like May and the recent Carrie remake). Though Nell eventually morphs into a fairly conventional horror victim, Bettis generally does a good job of imbuing the character with some decidedly unconventional quirks. And while the film does begin to run out of steam in the third act - which features Nell running her own investigation into the origins of the killer and the building - the style with which the story has been told, along with the Bettis' performance, effectively keeps us engaged throughout.
