…And now for a moment of praise. The Toolbox Murders is sleazy, deprived, not the most visually stunning film, and Blue Underground has restored this film on a Criterion level on 4K UHD which takes it to a new level. If you need more of a review to push you over the edge than this… keep reading.
The Toolbox Murders was one of the first half-dozen Blue Underground DVD’s I purchased when I was still buying DVD’s off the shelf at a Best Buy in the early 2000’s. I saw it even earlier than that on a cruddy VHS rental alongside such other sleazoid monstrosities such as New York Ripper (also on 4k from Blue Underground) and Nail Gun Massacre (look to Code Red for that one). The Toolbox Murders is an interesting film, it is directed by TV director Dennis Donnelly who until that point had primarily directed episodes of Adam-12 and Emergency!, and is directed as such.
The film feels like a blend of styles, it feels early on like it wants to be a proto-slasher in the vein of Halloween, and Black Christmas, just more over the top like Bill Lustig’s Maniac (which obviously had yet to be made). However, after that highly over the top first half an hour, it kind of falls into a more theatrical (as in stage play) sort of feel, while digging into the psychology of the killer, and then it gets even more bonkers from there. This is a film like Argento’s Tenebrae that has so many layers to the madness of its murders that your first viewing if you are fully in, you will be in for a real ride.
Obviously the performances especially from the “victim class”, aren’t much to write home about, but we do have Cameron Mitchell here who does give it his all. The direction from Donnelly like I mentioned earlier isn’t much on a stylistic front, but at the same time, it gives the film a sort of a sleazy vibe that is something that should not be disregarded.
Blue Underground presents The Toolbox Murders in a 4k transfer equipped with Dolby Vision giving the film a depth and richness that I would have never expected. Detail is fantastic, colors are stable, textures are off the chairs. Audio is presented with an Atmos track (seriously Toolbox Murders has an ATMOS AUDIO TRACK) and a DTS-HD MA track that sounds crisp and clear. Extras are piled on here with multiple commentary tracks, trailers, interviews with the cast crew, director himself, interviews with historians that know the film inside and out. This is not a set to be missed, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.