The Toolbox Murders, Handyman vs. Nude Women

If you like your horror coupled with sexploitation, 1978's "The Toolbox Murders" beckons. Much of the sexploitation films of the 1970s are frivolous, harmless, and somewhat fun.  Not this one.  Dark, ominous, misogynistic, and very bloody describe this Dennis Donnelly directed film. No guilty giggles or satisfying conclusions here.  Get ready for a film that will shock you at times and never feel obliged to comfort you.

Our fiend?  Cameron Mitchell!  He plays Vance Kingsley, the maintenance man at a working class L.A. apartment complex.  After his beautiful daughter is killed in an auto wreck, he doesn't adjust well.  His daughter was good and pure, and Vance sees all other young women as sinful whores.  Immediately he goes to work.  All his victims are beautiful and naughty.  His first victim is with a drill.  A hammer, screwdriver, and nail-gun will also be put to deadly use.  In one vicious scene, after prancing around nude, Debbie (Marciee Drake) will be hammered to death by Vance. When her beautiful friend Debbie (Evelyn Guerrero) barges into the apartment, she'll suffer the same fate.

 This carnage continues.  Dee Ann (Kelly Nichols), who loves to prance around in her undies while the shades are open, will meet the most gratuitous fate.  She will be slayed by a nail-gun just after she finishes satisfying herself during a steamy bath.  Vance readies to kill Laurie (Pamelyn Ferdin), but when he notices that she is the spitting of his deceased daughter, he abducts her instead.  Now tied to a bed, the psycho Vance torments Laurie believing she is his daughter.  Joey (Nicolas Beauvy), Laurie's brother, is now looking for his sister.  What he finds will shock you all.

Made in 1979, lots of the taboo carnage is implied.  There is every indication that Vance raped the naughty Dee Ann after she assumed room temperature.  Laurie's fate is also a bit ambiguous, but it appears that her captivity horror contained much more than just being tied to a bed.  Not the feel good film of the 1970s, but true horror fans will want o take a peek at "The Toolbox Murders."