I think I've seen this movie before, but it was back when I was cramming in 10+ horror movies a day in some of my earlier challenges, because I don't remember it at all. I remember the remake with Angela Bettis because she's great and I love her, but all I remember about this one is that awesome movie poster, so I'm going to watch this again and hope my senile ass remembers it this time. It's about a toolbox that kills people, right?
Indeed, I know that this movie is NOT about a killer toolbox, as interesting as that sounds, but instead it's about a masked killer who roams around an apartment building killing the residents with instruments from his toolbox. Right away in the beginning we get to see someone killed with a drill, and it's pretty gory and nasty and cool. I'm not sure this movie has much of a plot beyond this, but I'm also not sure it needs one. Plots can be overrated. The remake had a plot and it was really convoluted and confusing. Bring on the mindless gore!
Did I mention that I live in an apartment building? This movie better not be based on a true story, dammit. *locks deadbolt* I also discovered that, contrary to popular belief, this movie does have a plot. For the first half hour or so, the killer is just going around the apartment building killing every woman he sees (jerk) but then he kidnapps a girl and the rest of the movie focuses on the search for this missing girl. The girl's brother and his friend look for clues, the girl's mom searches for clues, and I suppose the police are looking for clues too, though I really see no evidence of that.
For those first 30 action packed minutes, we see lots of blood and gore and nudity. We also get a glimpse inside the masked killer's psyche, and an idea of why he's killing these women. Not that it really makes sense, but he's a psycho, so I guess that's to be expected. Once he kidnaps the girl, the movie really changes tone. I thought other reviewers were exaggerating when they complained about this, but it really does feel like two different movies glued together. The after-kidnapping portion of the movie is like an episode of the show Criminal Minds, only without the great characters that make that show so intriguing.
Plus the killer's whole motive for kidnapping the young girl doesn't wash with his behavior towards the other victims. He was definitely feeling them up and not treating them like his daughter. Whatever, lying ass killer. Anyway, the kidnapping part of the movie is kinda dull, but the action picks up about 20 minutes from the end, and it's ok I guess. Some of the scenes near the end definitely made my skin crawl. Poor girl. Talk about going out of the frying pan and into the fire. Ugh. I never thought I'd say this, but I think the remake might be better than the original. At least it was consistently a horror movie from beginning to end, not some weird mashup like this one ends up being. My advice? Watch the first 30 minutes, then turn it off. I think I didn't remember this movie because it was so boring it dissolved into the ether without leaving a mark.
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