“The Toolbox Murders”

Movie Review

A 1978 American slasher film starring Cameron Mitchell, Pamelyn Ferdin, and Wesley Eure, The Toolbox Murders was written by Ann Kindberg, Robert Easter, and Neva Friedenn and directed by Dennis Donnelly. It comes after a string of brutal killings that take place in and around a Los Angeles apartment building, which are then followed by the abduction and disappearance of a local youngster. No source can corroborate that the movie is a depiction of actual events, despite this claim being made in its marketing. During the "video nasty" hysteria at the start of the 1980s, it was briefly outlawed in the United Kingdom.

A guy in all black is seen driving through Los Angeles. The man had a flashback of an automobile accident that happened nearby and claimed the life of a young woman. When he arrives at an apartment building, the man uses an electric drill to kill Mrs. Andrews, a female resident who knew him. A ski mask is then put on by the assailant, who then kills two more ladies, the first with a hammer and the second with a screwdriver. The dead' discoverers are questioned by the police, who also speak with the building's owner, Vance Kingsley. The killer returns the following night, breaking into a woman's apartment as she is masturbating in her bathtub, and using a nail gun to shoot her in the stomach and head. Laurie Ballard, a fifteen-year-old who lives with her family in the flat above, is then kidnapped by the killer.

After being interrogated by Detective Jamison on Laurie's disappearance, her brother Joey decides to conduct his own independent search for his sister. Joey runs across Kent, Vance's nephew, who has been hired to clean the apartments of the deceased tenants, while searching through the residences of the slain ladies. Kent explains that Vance has not been the same since Kathy was murdered in a vehicle accident when Joey is assisting Kent.

It is made clear that Vance is the serial murderer, his daughter's loss having driven him insane and into a religious craze. In order to replace Kathy, he has kidnapped Laurie, who is being held bound and gagged in Kathy's bedroom. He is slaughtering sinners. Following a conversation with Detective Jamison, Joey comes to the conclusion that Vance is the murderer. Kent, who had previously seen Laurie bound and gagged at his uncle's house, follows Joey to the Kingsley residence. When Kent confronts Joey when he discovers bloody equipment in Vance's garage, Joey is set ablaze and killed in order to protect Kent's family.

When Kent overhears Vance talking to Laurie, he informs his uncle that he and Kathy had an incestuous connection, which infuriates his uncle. In the course of their altercation, Kent fatally stabs Vance with a kitchen knife. Using a pair of scissors, Kent frees Laurie from her restraints. Laurie cries in relief, and Kent first comforts her before kissing and raping her. Following that, Kent lies back in bed, acts as though he and Laurie are wed, and makes suggestions that he killed Joey and Vance. The pair of scissors Kent used to liberate her are visible to Laurie on the nightstand. An intertitle explains that the movie is a dramatization of events that happened in 1967, that Laurie was institutionalized for three years, and that she now lives in the San Fernando Valley with her husband and their child. The film's final scene shows Laurie, bloodied and dazed, slowly walking through an empty parking lot at dawn.

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