| Toolbox Murders | |
|---|---|
U.S. DVD cover |
|
| Directed by | Tobe Hooper |
| Produced by | Ryan Carroll Frank Strausser Ronnie Truss Mark Wooding |
| Starring | Angela Bettis Brent Roam Marco Rodríguez Rance Howard Juliet Landau |
| Music by | Joseph Conlan |
| Cinematography | Steve Yedlin |
| Editing by | Andrew Cohen |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate Entertainment |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Toolbox Murders is a remake of the 1978 film The Toolbox Murders. In spring of 2003, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist director Tobe Hooper announced he had plans to direct the remake. Hooper announced his cast as Angela Bettis from the cult hit May, and Juliet Landau, from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series. Sheri Moon (Baby, from a House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects) had a cameo.
Contents |
In Hollywood, the young teacher Nell (Bettis) and her husband, Steven (Roam), move to an old building called Lusman Arms. Some sixty years ago, the place was glamorous, but presently is completely dilapidated, and many of its residents have disappeared while living there. While her husband is working in the hospital, the lonely Nell hears weird noises and becomes afraid of their home.
While jogging, she is introduced and becomes close to her neighbor Julia Cunningham (Landau) and they schedule a hike together on the next day. Julia never shows up, and Nell looks for her in the building. She finds that there is an evil being, descended from death itself, living hidden behind a wall with many corpses.
Early reports of screenings were positive and many horror websites said this film would put Hooper back on the map. It currently holds a 47% "rotten" approval rating on the movie review website rotten tomatoes based on 15 reviews, with an average score of 5.9/10. The film was originally rated NC-17, but some gory moments were trimmed for an R rating. The scenes were released as extras on the US release of Toolbox Murders DVD. The majority of the film turned out to be a reimagining than an actual remake of the original.
Toolbox Murders struck many Hooper fans and horror fans as a welcome return for Tobe Hooper who had been on a decline in films since the early '90s. Toolbox Murders received only a limited release in 2003 and 2004. The film was released on DVD in the United States in 2005.
This is Hooper's second of three collaborations with writers Adam Gierasch and Jace Anderson. The first was the creature feature Crocodile released in 2000. The third collaboration was on the 2005 release of Mortuary.
|
|||||||||||||||||