This is such a great horror-film, and it has some original-twists to it too. The story centers-around the "Lusman Arms" (really the Ambassador Hotel, once THE place for the Hollywood elite and the site of the RFK assassination),a decaying-Hotel in a seedy part of Los Angeles. It seems after recent-renovations to the structure of the building there have been some strange-occurrences: a workman hurt in an unexplained-blast, and strange electrical-surges. There is a constant-sound of hammering, even when the workmen are gone. Tenants have gone-missing, and a strange aura of oppressiveness has descended-upon the building. It seems the place has a reputation that the building manager (a concierge) doesn't want known. It's just a great film, with a bunch of oddball-characters, unlike the log-jam of boring, PG-13 pseudo-horror. The characters in this film feel real, and I like them. Because I like them, I fear for them, and that is what horror is about.

Enter Nell (Angela Bettis of "May") and Steven, two new tenants. We get to know them and some of their backstory, and the decaying-Lusman is literally filled with oddities. For those who have lived in a 1920s-era apartment building, a lot of the funny-parts about maintenance (or the lack-of) will be familiar! If you have ever lived in an old-building, you can attest to the impressions of the past within-the-walls. The ghosts of "old Hollywood" haunt this film, just like they do the films of David Lynch or Kenneth Anger. Let's face it, with the legend of the Black Dahlia (mentioned in the film),the constant-battle for the control of the water-supply (an engineer once controlled L.A. His name was William Mulholland, and designed the Owens Valley Acqueduct),the Manson Family, gangs, poverty, the desert air, all the Hollywood deaths and scandals, cults, Scientology, the Mexican Day of the Dead, Chinatown, drugs, the Ramparts scandals, decades of obscene-corruption--Los Angeles is creepy.

Nell notices a lot of hammering and other strange-phenomena, and eventually begins to probe the mystery of the Lusman Arms. This descent-into-hell is what makes this not merely a slasher, but an Occult-horror piece. The Lusman has a strange, esoteric architecture and a storied-past. It also has mysterious symbols covering it's walls in key-locations. The logical-sequence of room numbers are missing some rooms. Some have commented that the symbols are "Masonic", even calling the film "Masonic-horror", which is false and misleading. The symbols are ancient, and have been around for thousands of years, and most should be familiar. I noticed absolutely nothing "Masonic" in the film whatsoever, which is odd. I guess they were reviews by Nazi-skinheads.

The best-part of this story is that it connects the enigmatic-tale of Jack Parsons, an occultist Crowley-devotee who founded the Jet-Propulsion Lab, being an early rocketeer. It is said that Parsons claimed to have created an "homunculus", an artificial human-being, so there is a genuine-connection with L.A.'s strange-relationship with occultism here. Parsons blew-himself-up in an alchemical experiment in the late-1940s--exactly where the "Lusman-mythos" begins. Without Jack Parsons, there would be no Scientology: L. Ron Hubbard ripped-him-off in a business-deal and used the money to fund the publishing of "Dianetics". I think the occult-backstory of the killer was Tobe Hooper's idea, and it really draws-you-in. "Occult" comes from archaic-Greek, and merely denotes "hidden", nothing-more. There are many hidden-secrets at the Lusman.

The murderer in the film is great, and one could consider it Parson's homunculus in-a-way, though the "coffin-birth" masks this element. I actually thought the "coffin-baby" backstory was interesting, and had the ring of occult-lore to it. Frankly, I would have to agree with some reviewers--if you aren't familiar with occultism, you aren't going to get a lot of the premise here. So, get-familiar kids, study the occult, hah-hah. Nonetheless, it's still a film you can watch superficially, enjoying the many mysteries that Hooper and his writers treat us to. Also, the murders-themselves are pretty original and thrilling, some even gruesome in a way that would do Argento proud! Go-figure, reality isn't what you thought it was! Without giving-away too much, this is a tale of the undead, kept-active by sacred-geometry in the structure of a building. It is a story of the darkness and mystery that surrounds-us, and a story of magic and curiosity. There are so-many incredible images of horror in this film, it is just excellent and intriguing. With a budget of less-than $1 million, Tobe Hooper has created a new classic horror that is likely to be imitated. It is surely "better" than the original film, and is simply his and his writers' take on the source (with major-revisions and additions). It is a re-imagining. The score by Joseph Conlan is very good, and atmospheric, hitting all the right marks. It makes the film feel larger. Toolbox Murders has a lot on-offer for such a little film, and is a great return-to-form for Mr. Hooper. Here's to more from him.

While the name of Tobe Hooper does not carry the cachet it once did, he still deserves his place amongst the modern masters of horror with the likes of Romero, Argento, Craven, and Cronenberg. Hooper, having never been able to equal the raw energy and success of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre...and never being able to do so in the future...definitely has regained his form with this version of The Toolbox Murders. On the surface I thought I was going to sit through some lame rehashing of an older horror film, but I found myself pleasantly surprised with this high energy, suspenseful, stylish, well-acted film. Evil lurks in the old and dilapidated Lusman Arms, an aging apartment building in severe disrepair with renovation abounding all over. The film opens with a rainy evening and a blonde woman getting the point of the film hammered into her skull. Next, we meet a young couple moving into the apartment building. Beautiful and talented Angela Bettis plays the protagonist of the film as a woman who realizes people are disappearing around her and that the Lusman Arms has some major secrets as well as a demented killer hidden in its walls. Much of the film involves her unraveling of the Arms's secrets, though no full explanation as to how the black arts is incorporated is ever explained. The film is tightly woven from beginning to end by the consummate work of Hooper who knows how to use the camera and gets the most from a largely unknown cast. The actors are peppered with some movie veterans such as Rance Howard giving one heck of a good performance as a man that has lived there virtually his whole life, Juliet Landau as a running girl "headed" for trouble, and the wonderful Greg Travis as the guy in charge of the apartments. Travis had me in stitches with his dialog about the charm of old places like this, etc... Hooper works with some interesting, inventive, and implausible storyline, but he makes the most of it. Here and there Hooper plays homage to others, like the scene where Bettis and husband find old teeth in the wall. An obvious salute to Roman Polanski's The Tenant. While not a great film, The Toolbox Murders delivers. It shows just enough blood without going overboard and has just enough humour in it to balance the unpleasantness of the plot. I was pleasantly surprised on all counts.

The original "Toolbox Murders" was a pretty shameful combination of "Halloween" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," lacking the atmosphere, suspense, and gritty charm of those films. At the time of its release (1978),the concept of gory death by hardware (regardless of how peripheral it was to the 'plot') allowed for at least one lasting shock (a nail-gun murder preceded by a very memorable bathtub scene),but otherwise, the film is dated and dull by modern standards.

As is clear from the first frame onward, Tobe Hooper's stylish update of "Toolbox" is determined to take the material in a supernatural direction, and for the most part, is successful. Whereas many horror films of late have been drowned in unconvincing CGI gore and calculated orchestral booms designed to elicit cheap scares from the audience, Hooper's film retains the subtle implication of TCM (the villain remains masked/obscured throughout the film) crossed with a jigsaw-puzzle plot that becomes more engrossing as the movie progresses. As far as ambition is concerned, it definitely surpasses the original film's shopworn, "Psycho"-familiar story, and Hooper's assured direction helps greatly.

Angela Bettis leads a cast of lesser-knowns who give fine performances (the more grating, clichéd characters are dispatched promptly) and make the premise believable. Similarly, the photography creates fine atmosphere when needed, with the picture often looking like a cross between the colorful sets of "May" combined with the slight grittiness of Zack Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead" remake.

"Toolbox Murders" is a quirky, suspenseful, and sufficiently gory horror film. In the third act, Hooper re-affirms the genius of his seminal masterpiece by building the tension to an almost unbearable degree, whilst capping the film with a deliciously ambiguous ending.

Definitely recommended.