Cameron Mitchell stars as Vance Kingsley, the owner of an apartment building who kills "sinful" women (using assorted tools, of course) who commit "unatural acts." He then kidnaps a teenaged girl (Pamelyn Ferdin, who's wonderful) to replace his own deceased daughter.
What a mess! The character motivations are muddled and the plot is inconsistent in the extreme. Vance claims that he's a "humane and compassionate" killer because he killed the women as quickly as he could to avoid suffering. But during the murder sequences, he clearly takes his time and seems undisturbed by his actions as they scream in agonizing pain (who wrote this?). But this is probably what makes the film so compelling to watch, as well. We've all heard of murders that seem to have had no logical motive and killers who claim that they are doing the work of God by murdering "sinful" people (while they themselves have commited the ultimate sin by killing). All of Vance's inconsistencies are true-to-life; many killers kill because they are simply crazy. And because of this, THE TOOLBOX MURDERS is more than just a bad film, it's a realistic one (but probably by accident).
What a mess! The character motivations are muddled and the plot is inconsistent in the extreme. Vance claims that he's a "humane and compassionate" killer because he killed the women as quickly as he could to avoid suffering. But during the murder sequences, he clearly takes his time and seems undisturbed by his actions as they scream in agonizing pain (who wrote this?). But this is probably what makes the film so compelling to watch, as well. We've all heard of murders that seem to have had no logical motive and killers who claim that they are doing the work of God by murdering "sinful" people (while they themselves have commited the ultimate sin by killing). All of Vance's inconsistencies are true-to-life; many killers kill because they are simply crazy. And because of this, THE TOOLBOX MURDERS is more than just a bad film, it's a realistic one (but probably by accident).