Saying The Toolbox Murders (a loose remake of the 1978 grindhouser) is the finest Tobe Hooper film since The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – or at least since The Funhouse – isn’t saying much. And given its nonsensical plot, its inexplicable fiend, and its spotty cast, there’s not a lot to praise about the director’s latest slasher flick besides Steve Yedlin’s grimy cinematography and an atmosphere of uneasy dread. At an infamous Hollywood apartment building, tenants begin dying at the hands of a masked murderer with a fetish for handyman tools, and it’s up to new resident Nell (Angela Bettis) to uncover her home’s unholy history in order to halt the killing spree. Hooper offers a few nicely orchestrated scares involving the killer’s surprise appearances inside the haunted high-rise’s units, and his off-key pacing (coupled with a healthy bucketful of gore) lends the action a sense of disquieting unreality. Alas, the director has a not-very-interesting story to tell – in a nutshell, it’s about evil being unleashed via routine building construction – and the script’s attempts to address sexual voyeurism (mainly by ripping off Suspiria) are about as successful as the film’s actors, whose performances range from the dull (Sherri Moon) to the campy (Greg Travis’ landlord) to the awful (everyone else).
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