Toolbox Murders is a 2004 horror film of the slasher sub-genre. It was directed by horror veteran Tobe Hooper and was a remake of the 1978 Dennis Donnelly film The Toolbox Murders. The movie premiered at the Philadelphia International Film Festival on April 10th, 2004 and had a limited theatrical release. Toolbox Murders stars genre favorite Angela Bettis as Nell Barrows, a teacher who relocates to the Lusman Arms apartment complex in Los Angeles with her husband Steven. When residents of the crumbling building begin to disappear, Nell begins investigating and finds a series of macabre symbols decorating the Lusman Arms that leads to a horrifying secret. The intensity grows as a masked killer lurks the hidden corridors of the complex, murdering people with a variety of power tools.
Principal filming for the movie began on July 8th, 2003.
Screenwriter Adam Gierasch played the role of the eerie maintenance man Ned Lundy.
The film opens with the following narrative:
Every year, thousands of people come to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams. Some succeed. Some go home. And some just disappear.
Juliet Landau, who plays the role of Julia Cunningham, is better known for playing the part of psychotic, psychic vampire Drusilla in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series.