The Toolbox Murders (1978)

Director:

Dennis Donnelly

Writers:

Neva Friedenn (writer) and
Robert Easter (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

March 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Bit by bit..By bit he carved a nightmare!

Plot:

Ski-masked maniac kills apartment complex tenants with the contents of a toolbox.

Plot Keywords:

Apartment Complex | Maniac | Flight Attendant | Fashion Model | Cut

Cast

Cameron Mitchell	...	Vance Kingsley
Pamelyn Ferdin	...	Laurie Ballard
Wesley Eure	...	Kent Kingsley
Nicolas Beauvy	...	Joey Ballard
Tim Donnelly	...	Detective Jamison
Aneta Corsaut	...	Jo Ann Ballard
Faith McSwain	...	Mrs. Andrews
Marciee Drake	...	Debbie
Evelyn Guerrero	...	Maria
Victoria Perry	...	Woman in Apartment
Robert Bartlett	...	Man in Apartment
Betty Cole	...	Middle Aged Woman
John Hawker	...	Middle Aged Man
Don Diamond	...	Sgt. Cameron
Alisa Powell	...	Girlfriend
Kelly Nichols	...	Dee Ann (as Marianne Walter)
Robert Forward	...	Screamer Man
Kathleen O'Malley	...	Screamer Woman
Gil Galvano	...	Man
James Nolan	...	Bartender
George Deaton	...	Preacher
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dennis Donnelly	...	Extra in bar (uncredited)
Robert Leh	...	Policeman (uncredited)

Directed by
Dennis Donnelly

Writing credits
Neva Friedenn		(writer) and
Robert Easter		(writer) and
Ann Kindberg		(writer)

Produced by
Tony DiDio	....	producer
Jack Kindberg	....	associate producer
Kenneth Yates	....	associate producer

Original Music by
George Deaton

Cinematography by
Gary Graver

Film Editing by
Nunzio Drapino
Skip Lusk

Production Design by
D.J. Bruno

Set Decoration by
Leamon Adams

Makeup Department
Edward Ternes	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Ann Kindberg	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ann Kindberg	....	assistant director (as Ann N. Kindberg)
Gary LaPoten	....	second assistant director

Sound Department
Bob Dietz	....	sound (as Robert Dietz)
Ron Moler	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Jean L. Clark	....	electrician (as Jean Clark)
Catherine E. Coulson	....	assistant camera
Hedy Dietz	....	still photographer
Michael Ferris	....	assistant camera
Gary Strange	....	grip
R. Michael Stringer	....	camera operator
R. Michael Stringer	....	gaffer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Michele Logan	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Mario S. Anthony	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Walt Cunningham	....	music arranger: keyboards
Zeke Dawson	....	music arranger: strings
Frank Evans	....	music engineer

Transportation Department
Charles Franchimone	....	driver
Thomas A. Gordon	....	driver

Other crew
Tony Didio Jr.	....	production assistant
Maria C. Dillon	....	production secretary
Nancy Hansen	....	script supervisor
Patty Koehnen	....	production assistant
Jim Maggles	....	bookkeeper
Ann McDonald	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Tony DiDio Productions

Distributors

• Cal-Am Releasing (1978) (USA) (theatrical)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• Blue Underground (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Creswin Distribution (Canada)
• Hollydan Works (2004) (Serbia and Montenegro) (DVD)
• United Video
• Video Instant Picture Company (VIPCO) (2000) (UK) (DVD)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:Refused Classification | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Norway:(Banned) (1978-2003) | Norway:18 (2004) | Sweden:18 (video rating) | UK:18 (video rating) (2000) (cut) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Tony DiDio Productions

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: In the scene where we first see Laurie Ballard tied up in the bed and Vance enters the room, the shadow of a boom mic is clearly visible on the wall behind them.

Quotes:

Joey Ballard: I'll be home for dinner. What are you fixin'?
Laurie Ballard: Ah! La specialty of the house; chicken à la TV dinners.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005) (V)

Not entirely what I expected, but still pretty good stuff.

A ski-mask wearing, barbaric psychopath butchers the lovely young ladies in an L.A. apartment building utilizing the various implements to be found in his trusty toolbox.

Now, this unquestionably trashy, nasty, and flashy slasher flick doesn't exactly end there. If you think that's all the plot that the movie has, think again. After a couple of murders are out of the way, the killer kidnaps an adorable teenager (Pamelyn Ferdin), intending for her to replace the daughter that he lost in a car crash. The incredibly extended sequence where he is revealed (most people will probably be able to figure out who he is before they even watch this) and soothes the bound and gagged girl turns out to be rather heartfelt, completely taking the movie out of slasher flick territory. It's a jarring but, I have to say, interesting turn of events. It ultimately resolves itself in a fascinatingly ugly, melodramatic and disturbing finish.

Veteran actor Cameron Mitchell, who after a very prestigious start to his career, would start to turn up in more and more low-budget junk as his career went on, is a marvelously scuzzy lead. Ferdin projects the appropriate amount of childhood innocence and naiveté, while other youthful actors from the period, Wesley Eure ('Land of the Lost') and Nicholas Beauvy ("The Cowboys") play good friends, one with a deadly secret; veteran Aneta Corsaut ('The Andy Griffith Show', "The Blob" '58) and Tim Donnelly as one hell of an incompetent detective round out the cast.

The film has a wonderfully disgusting opening act, as the blood is piled on and the scantily clad victims scream their hearts out. Most unusual is that, despite the beautiful eeriness of George Deatons' music score, what actually accompanies these great murder set pieces are a couple of slow and soft country songs! (The killer, obviously a music lover himself, is often heard humming along!) The best moment occurs when Marianne Walter, a.k.a. 80's porn actress Kelly Nichols, is seen pleasuring herself in a bubble bath before the toolbox murderer comes calling.

Overall, it's a fetid piece of celluloid junk that hits just the right spot, a raw and depraved vintage example of prime 1970's exploitation horror fare.

8/10