Toolbox Murders (2004)
Famed horror director Tobe Hooper is no stranger to slashers and haunted houses. He is also no stranger to using horror as a vehicle for complex political allegories; starting with the counterculture-esque nature of his directorial debut, Eggshells, a film that centres around a commune of young hippies. Most notoriously however, is his second film, the legendary Texas Chainsaw Massacre; a film which many would regard as probably the greatest horror film ever made. Reflecting on the political atmosphere at the time; including Watergate, Vietnam and the general chaos of the cold war, Texas Chainsaw Massacre imbues a sweltering feeling of southern gothic terror. Thirty years later Hooper would replicate the same distressing feelings with Toolbox Murders.
Toolbox Murders is set in almost exclusively one location, the Lusman Arms, a dilapidated hotel based in Hollywood that was once well renowned for being a hotbed location for actors, directors, producers and many more. What makes the film so special is that filming was actually done in the legendary Ambassador Hotel, a hotel that housed many famous performers but due to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and the rising poverty in which surrounded the building, it closed and slowly became of a derelict artefact from a time before - Hollywood as an archaic apparition. The Ambassador Hotel in many ways replicates the film's location creating an alluring harmony that adds a grim feeling of reality.
Hooper makes no effort to beautify the location, using the building’s architecture to his full advantage to create a claustrophobic nightmare with it’s cold and rusted appearance. As with other films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 or The Funhouse, Hooper loves to relish in excess with his film locations. Hooper morphs the location of the film into becoming the central character. Every scene revolves around the mysterious secrets that lie between each of the walls. Strange noises that ring out across the halls become background noise. Disappearing tenants become regular occurrences. Steve Yedlin the cinematographer, a long time collaborator with Rian Johnson, excels at showcasing the slowly collapsing interiors with a grimy tone. Lots of weird angles are used which make the building and the action look incredibly good. All of the kills in this film look great too and are more brutal and miserable than you’d expect.
Our main character is Nell (played by Angela Bettis) who , along with her husband, have just moved into a room in the Lusman Arms which is, at the same time, being renovated to provide housing for budding Hollywood goers. Using the architecture of a dying building combined with the careless nature of landlords; Hooper shows us one of the true horrors of the film, private property. The building is falling apart, but what can the tenants do? Leave and they lose their security deposit, stay and they face a hellscape with a darkness lurking in the walls. Broken showers, cracked walls, faulty electrics; just a few things that push the inhabitants of this film into a predisposed state of misery. After all, what is more terrifying than renting an overpriced flat that is quite literally falling apart.
Nell knows there is something lurking in the shadows of the building. Not just because the state of living is so horrendously poor but that there is a creeping darkness. Tenants shout at one another and keep to their isolated lives. Despite that something is horribly wrong - nobody believes her. Not the police, not the landlord and least of all not her husband. When they do finally believe her it is too late, the killings have accelerated and all hope seems lost. Dread seeps into every scene, the atmosphere is elevated by the disjointed soundtrack and the grisly colour palette; full of greens, yellows and greys. Muted colours accompanied by some incredibly well used lingering shots make everything look harrowing.
Hooper merges both of his fascinations, both of serial killers and haunted houses with this film; serial killer becoming one with the haunted house and the haunted house becoming its own nightmarish killer. Our killer in this film, referenced as being called Coffin Baby, is never explained in great detail but feels like an immutable force that will stop at nothing, much akin to someone like Michael Myers. The killer himself is part of the haunting architecture, completely inseparable from the building. In many ways it feels like a spectre of the old generation of Hollywood haunting the building through it’s renovation. Private housing becomes so hellish that the building is literally coming alive to destroy its tenants, not only mentally but physically.
Angela Bettis is superb in this, her performance as a vulnerable but heroic heroine totally elevates the film. Along with her is a superb supporting cast that offer a range of creepy characters that lurk in the housing complex. After 30 years Hooper still knows what scares people and how to effectively use the environment to create a truly haunting atmosphere. As with the Sawyer house and with the Lusman Arms, the dingy and decaying energy radiates as well as terrifies. Along with a great, and suitably mysterious, villain; Toolbox Murders is a terrific late entry film into Tobe Hooper’s excellent long standing career.
Nell knows there is something lurking in the shadows of the building. Not just because the state of living is so horrendously poor but that there is a creeping darkness. Tenants shout at one another and keep to their isolated lives. Despite that something is horribly wrong - nobody believes her. Not the police, not the landlord and least of all not her husband. When they do finally believe her it is too late, the killings have accelerated and all hope seems lost. Dread seeps into every scene, the atmosphere is elevated by the disjointed soundtrack and the grisly colour palette; full of greens, yellows and greys. Muted colours accompanied by some incredibly well used lingering shots make everything look harrowing.
Hooper merges both of his fascinations, both of serial killers and haunted houses with this film; serial killer becoming one with the haunted house and the haunted house becoming its own nightmarish killer. Our killer in this film, referenced as being called Coffin Baby, is never explained in great detail but feels like an immutable force that will stop at nothing, much akin to someone like Michael Myers. The killer himself is part of the haunting architecture, completely inseparable from the building. In many ways it feels like a spectre of the old generation of Hollywood haunting the building through it’s renovation. Private housing becomes so hellish that the building is literally coming alive to destroy its tenants, not only mentally but physically.
Angela Bettis is superb in this, her performance as a vulnerable but heroic heroine totally elevates the film. Along with her is a superb supporting cast that offer a range of creepy characters that lurk in the housing complex. After 30 years Hooper still knows what scares people and how to effectively use the environment to create a truly haunting atmosphere. As with the Sawyer house and with the Lusman Arms, the dingy and decaying energy radiates as well as terrifies. Along with a great, and suitably mysterious, villain; Toolbox Murders is a terrific late entry film into Tobe Hooper’s excellent long standing career.
