Seeing how we're still fairly new to this we thought it would be a good idea to keep things fresh, ya know sorta throw a little something different in here now and then, cause if you've read our epilogue you'll already know that we have a long way to go and it's way too early to start letting this get stale. Now for this week's review we're going into exploitation territory with the 1978 Cameron Mitchell vehicle "The Toolbox Murders".
Our film opens with a moody urban-decay type night shot of the inside of a car driven by an unseen occupant down the streets of what could very well be NewDenvAngelesYorkLasChicago or whatever. But our drive is suddenly interupted as we freeze frame while the scream of a crashing vehicle assaults our senses and we begin to see intercuts of a car accident and it's interveening stages(paramedics load a body,police inspect the car's damage, girl in accident dies at hospital) ,all of this shown in a luscious Didn't-add-eneough-KoolAid powder-to-the-water orange tinge.(oh yeah, that's car crash orange mama).
Although the car crash scenes reek of the 1970's, this scene is actually handled really kinda well, taking a neat ,quiet nontraditional way of establishing the perverbial tragedy that runs through this film and drives the actions of the film's antagonist.Without beating us over the head with a loud or obnoxious execution of an already hackneyed scenario, the film in a way suggests it, just puts it there quiet and compact but with a good amount of effect and sense and then moves along.
Now if you haven't gotten it from the bloodred title card or the little "antagonist" slip from the preceeding paragraph, this IS a sleazy slasher exploitation flick and (oh, no shit) the phantom driver is our killer, driving to his kill.His killing grounds are a seedy, swinging shag-carpeted and particleboard adorned apartment complex filled with the best throw-away assortment of drinky,smokey ,man crazy and bathtub-masturbatin' 70's ladies you could ask for,and perfect targets for our skimasked killer and his giant toolbox of fun and games.In the first ten minuets we are privvey to four of the coolest,most mean spirited day-glo bloodiest killings, along with some very not bad nudity and a little goofeyness, not yet equaled in the first ten minuets of most movies.
The killer does his thing and moves along, making way for the harried police and their off the mark theories about why the women were killed all this while they confer with the apartment super(played with great underwhelmed relish by Cameron Mitchell).As the police chase their tails and exhaust ideas, the killer strikes again, this time sparing his victim and kidnapping her instead,sending the girl's brother to the aid of the police in an attempt to zero in on the killer and the girl alive. The brother decides to find his sister himself gathering information from his friend (who just happens to be the landlords nephew) He runs around in circles until he gets end up getting himself killed. Leaving the sister to fend for herself.
The basis of this story were actual evens in the late 60's and its really a impressive dramatization of the events.
the Girl was eventually found and spent time healing in psychiatric institute. Finally moving on to live her life.
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