Toolbox Murders (2004)

Director: Tobe Hooper

Writers: Jace Anderson, Adam Gierasch

Composer: Joseph Conlan

Starring: Angela Bettis, Brent Roam, Marco Rodriguez, Rance Howard, Juliet Landau, Adam Gierasch, Greg Travis, Christopher Doyle, Adam Weisman, Christina Venuti

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Another legacy begins.

Plot: A historic Hollywood hotel houses a supernatural evil. It's been subdued for decades - but when renovations start, a series of murders take place. It's up to our heroine to solve the mystery.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

The only thing this has in common with the MUCH better THE TOOLBOX MURDERS (1978) is, uh, the tools. I was expecting a remake but there's no semblance of the original picture.  What's there isn't all that bad. Nell (Bettis) discovers a secret passageway of sorts and some weird symbols after she suspects her neighbor was murdered.  It's by the numbers almost as she investigates the building's history, looking at the blueprints and so on.  Then she finds the entrance and snoops around to find body parts and shit.  Then she's attacked and gets saved at the end.  I normally dig Tobe Hooper's work but this one left me scratching my head wondering what he brought to the table on this one.  For slasher fans, there's no nudity and very little gore.  Really?  Have we learned nothing?  It's an average jump scare horror picture from a man who, 40 years ago, made one of the greatest and scariest horror pictures of all time, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974).  Not that you care but the Lionsgate DVD has a few extras in the way of trailers, deleted scenes and two commentaries, one of which includes Hooper with the two screenwriters.