This version of "Toolbox Murder" is more akin to a re-imagining as opposed to a straight remake. This features "May"'s Angela Bettis as Nell Barrows along with her hubby, Steven, as the two newest residence of the the worn down Lusman Arms apartment complex. Weird stuff begins to happen which frightens her immensely, she can't confide in her hubby, as he's out working at a hospital all the time So she's glad when she befriends Julia Cunningham (Juliet Landau), her new neighbor, but when Julia disappears suspiciously, Nell takes it upon herself to figure out what happened to her. Alas the apartment has a great many deadly secrets, and Nell might not be too thrilled to find them out.
Let's face it the original film, while good, was hardly a classic, so I was hoping this version could easily surpass it. But nope, stock character's that you never really care about, some really crappy acting (was that really May I was watching? How could that actress be so good in that one, and come of as an over-the-top, overacting shrill in this one?), and a hack eyed pointless supernatural plot twist in the middle of the film that NEVER pays off, all combine into a rancid concoction that I just couldn't swallow. In the way the gore scenes were lit didn't help matters one bit. This was supposed to be a return to true form for poor Tobe Hopper after Steven Spielburg defanged most of what he wanted to do with "Poltergeist", but as it turns out this film is only marginally better then "The Mangler"
My Grade: D+
DVD Extra: Commentary with director Tobe Hooper, and screenwriters Kace Anderson and Adam Gierasch; Second commentary with producers Jascqueline Quella and Terence Potter, and Journalist Calum Waddell; 5 deleted scenes; footage from a Q&A with Tobe Hooper; Theatrical trailer; and trailers for "Riding the Bullet", "May", "Crocodile", & "Haute Tension"
Let's face it the original film, while good, was hardly a classic, so I was hoping this version could easily surpass it. But nope, stock character's that you never really care about, some really crappy acting (was that really May I was watching? How could that actress be so good in that one, and come of as an over-the-top, overacting shrill in this one?), and a hack eyed pointless supernatural plot twist in the middle of the film that NEVER pays off, all combine into a rancid concoction that I just couldn't swallow. In the way the gore scenes were lit didn't help matters one bit. This was supposed to be a return to true form for poor Tobe Hopper after Steven Spielburg defanged most of what he wanted to do with "Poltergeist", but as it turns out this film is only marginally better then "The Mangler"
My Grade: D+
DVD Extra: Commentary with director Tobe Hooper, and screenwriters Kace Anderson and Adam Gierasch; Second commentary with producers Jascqueline Quella and Terence Potter, and Journalist Calum Waddell; 5 deleted scenes; footage from a Q&A with Tobe Hooper; Theatrical trailer; and trailers for "Riding the Bullet", "May", "Crocodile", & "Haute Tension"