Toolbox Murders 2: Coffin Baby

Toolbox Murders 2 (2013)

What passes for the film's plot is simple on the page but convoluted and messy on screen where it makes no real sense at all. For the most part the film concentrates on one poor young woman's horrific plight as she is caged in a serial killer's gloomy abode. There are flashbacks and supernatural elements none of which seem to make much sense and just add to confusing what should have been a straight forward exercise in exploitation. Rather than make a pig's ear of trying to explain things I'll hand over to the film's writer and director Dean C Jones who details the plot as below.

Hollywood, California is turned upside down by a series of strange and horrific murders creating chaos and turmoil in tinsel town. One particular victim, Samantha Forester (Chauntal Lewis), is kidnapped, held captive and subjected to witness the torture and murder of numerous other victims. It is by her will, strength, and faith that she must survive the ordeal. Her escape seems hopeless and only worsens when outside supernatural forces become more difficult to contend with than her captor.

This alleges to be a sequel to Tobe Hooper's reasonable 2004 remake of the 1978 cult favourite The Toolbox Murders bringing back that film's killer Coffin Baby for another stab at a franchise. Quite how two-time Academy Award nominee Bruce Dern (as Vance Henrickson) was convinced to star in this muddle will remain a mystery although to be fair, and possibly to Dern's relief, he's barely in it five minutes. The same applies to the film's other recognisable face Brian Krause, starring as Detective Chad Cole, who appears and disappears quickly from proceedings.

Originally shot back in 2011 Toolbox Murders 2 had additional footage added by the director, unbeknownst to the studio, following a poor festival reception and was retitled called Coffin Baby. This was independently released in 2013. Due to legal issues it is only now that the film can be released as Toolbox Murders 2 and here it is. From the Se7en style opening credits (it's like twenty years now since that film opened and people are STILL imitating it, enough already) through to its nonsensical ending Toolbox Murders 2 is more of an ordeal for the viewer than it is for the leading lady. So much about this film irks, rather than entertains, its audience from huge gaps in logic - how come not one cop sees Samantha taken from the police car - to how clean Samantha remains in such a hell-hole given the period of time she is incarcerated.

I was also rather perplexed by how it is not one person has ever spotted where our serial killer lurks and works. It's not like the building he takes his victims to be off the beaten track; in fact it looks rather localised. Perhaps our killer needs to be near the local amenities; after all he does need to pick up a nice bottle of wine and cooking condiments to add to the taste of his victims. It would also explain where he managed to find such a lovely fresh flower to offer to Samantha as the only nice gift he thinks to give her.

Toolbox Murders 2 feels thrown together rather than edited with any sense or meaning. The acting is miserable and the film is ultimately pointless. Gore-hounds will get off on the decently handled make-up effects - a victim sawn in half is a particular highlight - but otherwise this is a resounding dud. You'll get more satisfaction out of watching a clock tick away for an hour and a half than you will from watching this and I rather wish I had.

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Ok, I enjoy a well made horror film but I am not above an all out gore fest now and again. This film is not a great example of a horror film. Most of the acting was sub par the two well known stars had barely more than cameos. The star of this film is American Makeup And FX they provided the SFX which were abundant and well done, mostly. Yes, we have seen this plot bled to death ( pardon the pun ) and the characters were, well, not very likable. It was enjoyable to watch each of them get jacked up. Enjoy this film for what it is, a gore fest.

I just came across this flick because it's second title was The Toolbox Murders 2. Do I need to say more? Linking this flick onto the 1978 classic...Sure, he do uses a toolbox but that's the only link so you can guess what I'l going to to write about this little stinker.

The flick never got my attention for the story itself because it's full of plot holes but why I never pushed the eject button was the gore added. If you do like extreme gore then this is a must see because it's rather explicit and gorehounds will love it.

If someone can explain why the story involved the Black Dahlia murders then I will be happy to listen. The "coffin baby" itself is a bit weird too. Towards the story they are trying to give the victim the Stockholm Syndrome but somehow it didn't work because she do wants to escape naturally. She do gets used by all the horror done in the cellar but still...her face never got dirty...

And then there's of course Bruce Dern. It takes over an hour before he comes in doing what he does best, looking scary.

Gorehounds, don't hesitate and go for it but if you like strong stories forget it.

Gore 5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 4/5 Story 1/5 Comedy 0/5

This is about a serial killer connected to some gruesome Hollywood murders in the 1950's and in the present day. The movie begins in black and white in 1958. First we see some burial places and a newspaper on the ground sensationalizing a Hollywood murder. Then a Bogart-like cliché or simulation in trench coat and hat (whose face we never see clearly) lights up a cigarette in the dark to cool jazz. He starts walking down a dark alley, makes a left, there is a white flash and he's now on Hollywood and Vine at night, present day, and the film switches to color. Heading in the opposite direction he passes a young woman (Model?) who the camera is following from behind. The hottie pauses looking somewhat confused, then turns around to find that Trench Coat has disappeared. She continues on her way while Trench Coat, who has reappeared, watches her.

After her sister is brutally murdered a woman is kidnapped (From a police car!) by a man in a trench coat and crude black mask with eye holes and mouth hole. He takes her to an abandoned building and locks her up in a large cage with bars like a jail. At this point the movie starts to chronicle each day that passes. You know, "Day 1", "Day 2", and so on. Each day and number is accompanied by a short burst of old black and white pictures of murders and documentation. What for? -I dunno.

The killer never did anything to the kidnapped woman that CLEARLY explained to me why he kidnapped her. It seems it had something to do with her baby. Perhaps too, he wanted an audience? I say this because from where she was being kept she could see him when he hauled in another victim. As well, she could see his well lit "work area" with all it's frighteningly crude instruments of dismemberment, evisceration, and decapitation. This was conveniently also the kitchen area. I know because at one point (after Day 13 when she was capturing and eating cockroaches) he offered his captive SOMETHING fried up in a skillet. We know what that was. Thigh of girl. Still alive, by the way, as he cuts portions for cooking. Nevertheless, it had to be a step up from the cockroaches, I say. Maybe I'm grossing you out, Reader. But if you had to choose?

In this movie some scenes, performances, and genre seemed incongruous. At one point, for example, the killer cuts off a woman's hand. Then directly after, we see him disposing of a dismembered "foot" in a furnace. I, and you, would have expected to see the hand he just cut off. Because of the bad acting on the part of the key players and bizarre story the movie came across as a "dark comedy". This includes the kidnapped woman, the killer, and the unconvincing police detectives. The guy playing the cop who had to tell the woman about her sister did a first-rate job of acting, though. So much so that I had to wonder what he was doing in this thing. Bruce Dern appears later as a "captive ghost" high on religion whom the kidnapped woman must help liberate along with a little ghost girl. Bottom line: Do I recommend it? Well if you're a film student and you want to learn what not to do, I say "yes". As well, if you're one of those eclectic "movie nerds" you might wish to add this to your collection. The rest of you I gather have lives so I say "no". Love, Boloxxxi.

For the last 10 years or so, there has been an emergence of films that fall under the "Rob Zombie" brand of movie-making, brazenly dedicating themselves not to story, plot, effective special effects or even shock, but instead focus themselves on a simple depraved formula: blood, pain, gore and torture.

There is really precious little that this film offers besides blood, pain, gore and torture. For the first half of the film, it barely even offers that! The acting is hamfisted at best, the filming is barely above amateur. Something vaguely resembling a plot is inserted at various parts of the film, but is so poorly conceived that it is hard if not impossible to follow. And if I could follow it, it's so idiotic that I wouldn't want to believe that any movie maker would be so simpleminded as to think that this would make a good film.

The makers of "Coffin Baby" make the mistake that ALL of the makers of these types of films make: they fall in love with their villain. He's so scary and evil, faceless and effective, completely psychotic with just a hint of intelligence. The Devil's own precious baby boy. He'll scare people! And so that is what the movie is about, the villain.

The only problem is that this particular sort of villain has been used time and time and time and time and time(x700 million) again. It's not original, and has never made a good movie. If the villain is not interesting, then the movie fails to be interesting. And guess what! This villain is a thirty-and-a-half foot drop below interesting.

I was bored throughout.