Friday, March 02, 2007

Review 119: The Toolbox Murders




One more nail in the horror-remake coffin.

ou know what's depressing? The sheer amount of horror remakes that have flooded the market in recent years. From the J-Horror Americanised versions to the glut of 70's and 80's retellings, it's like the movie business has run out of ideas altogether. Especially when they start scraping the barrel and churning out bilge like this.

To be honest, I haven't seen the original 70's movie, but I can only assume it's better than this. Hell, pulling your toenails out with pliers is probably better than this. For a start - it makes NO sense. There are so many unanswered questions and plot black holes, you're not so much hiding behind your fingers as counting the indiscrepancies on them. There's a whole host of things, like magic symbols and rapping on walls that adds to absolutely NOTHING, it makes you wonder just how many people were writing this movie. They almost certainly weren't working on the same one.

Then there's the killer himself, "Coffin Baby", a feeble attempt at a franchise villain if ever there was. The thing is, the movie attempts to make the film a who-dunnit, with loads of supposedly sinister and creepy red herrings floating around the hotel in an effort to make us think - "ah - he did it", except we don't, not once, not only because the DVD box has the killer on the front, but the movie has him running around the hotel at the start. Kinda kills the suspense, that.

Add the fact it nails every single horror movie cliché, and some fairly diabolical acting, and you're looking at one of the worst horror movies of the decade. Some nice gore, I suppose, but is that really enough anymore?

There are good horror movies out there. Don't let this trash steal any of your attention.