Toolbox Murders 2 (2013) User Reviews

Only if you like special effects......

[KimbleLinda · 3/10 · 2 April 2013]

1. For Cinematography. 2. For great body parts. 3. For Bruce Dern.

Anything else you can add....please do. I like watching movies. I like Horror, Sci-Fi and the unspecified Weird Stuff. I will watch a movie just because someone put a story (I hope) into film.

With all that being said....I can't say much else for Coffin Baby. The plot or the title got lost somewhere. To contradict myself....there is a plot. But it is so basic it will inevitably put one to sleep. The victim needs something....can't put my finger on it....oh yes, I have no fingers. Don't get me wrong...I love weird, but this is not that kind of movie. The shades of gray are a good touch. But then early on into the movie one realizes that shades of gray and another body is all one is going to get. I can't possibly spoil the movie with this review. You will have to watch and see for yourself. I've seen bad movies. If you're like me...you will sit down and watch it just to say you did it. That will be the end of the story.

Bruce Dern is Bruce Dern...he can't play a bad role. I just like the guy because he creeps me out just being on film. I seem to be the first to review Coffin Baby. Looking forward to jumping back from time to time and see who watches the film and who comments....and what they say. Please don't hesitate to jump in here. Hmmmmmm...finger lickin' good......Q(:-}

Move along, nothing to see here.

[rushknight · 4/10 · 1 September 2013]

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.

Waste of time

[srikar-jam · 2/10 · 13 August 2015]

This is my first review on IMDb and I hope to do justice to myself. The movie is basically set in Hollywood, California where a guy has 2 girlfriends who are both sisters. He has a baby with one and one day plans o go a vacation with the other sis, but in a bizarre turn of events all of them are killed at different time-lines of the movie by a masked torturer. There really isn't a convincing storyline here and the movie really is funny and parody at times on some of the other serious well made torture movies made. The movie has lot of illogical moments and makes you want to question the director in every scene. The movie is filled with gore and blood with human body parts thrown around in the torturer's basement. For a 2013 movie, this is really bad. Other than the graphics of gore, everything else is boring. For a horror movie it only scares you in few seconds in the first few minutes, and the rest of the movie is just going to test your patience. The writer lacks creativity and also the low budget is visible all around. Dear horror genre connoisseurs - Stay away.

give it a go will not be sorry after 20 Min's

[sma8151 · 5/10 · 7 April 2013]

I think am the second person for a review on this film well lets go. First of all the plot its there but you have to figure it out be open minded bit slow and boring at the beginning does not make much sense considering the direction the film takes after about 20 Min's then the gloves are off it turns in to a blood bath of torture and gore this where the film stands alone for the budget the make up effects are incredible all the body parts are well thought out the anatomy to me seems dead on (no doctor)all the money for budget seems to be spent on make up and it works you can make a bad movie look good with a great effects and this has got it in buckets i also found the end credits very very well done lots of different shots of the film and some stop motion very clever indeed this why five stars i wish i could give it more but the beginning and some stupid bits in the middle let it down for a higher score (spoiler)the other reviewer said he did not know why it was called coffin baby the killer was called coffin baby he was born in a coffin when his mother died (when you see his face you can guess the rest) bye for now if you watch enjoy

strong on gore weak on story

[trashgang · 5/10 · 14 September 2015]

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

Was there a story, did I miss it?

[missismiggins · 1/10 · 11 May 2013]

Where to start with this one? The story. Well there really doesn't seem to be one, it is just a hotch potch of gore, (The gore is pretty nasty - I'll give it that.

The acting, well 1 out 10 for that too, pretty bad really, none of the actors had any character, probably didn't help that the plot, script etc. was terrible.

The more I watched, the worse it got, it is just a mess really, I cannot imagine why anyone would think that this was worth making into a movie in the first place.

Give it a wide berth, not worth wasting 90 minutes of your life on.

I enjoy a bad film now and then.

[robfla-38664 · 5/10 · 5 August 2018]

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.

Chilling atmosphere and brutal kills are the hallmark for this sequel.

[jp_melville-58170 · 5/10 · 12 July 2019]

Having seen the original 1978 film and becoming an instant fan and later learning of a sequel I immediately didn't have high hopes for this considering it was decades later little did I know that this was in fact the sequel to not the 78 film but the 2004 remake which I hadn't even know about which I will now check out.

As for the film itself once the opening credits started rolling and the flashy metal music started to blare I was thinking cheapness and just another young director making a quick buck on an old classic and was beginning to have serious doubts about what was to come but I kept an open mind and while this isn't perfect it has its strong points and weak for the good the setting is a abandoned warehouse in L.A which is a plus because the original was in that city and this was a creepy setting for such a deranged killer to be hiding out and this film unlike the original focused more on the main victims internment against her will and what she had to endure which in the original that angle was only explored during the last few minutes so I did like the fact that they went a different direction,the kills in this movie are as gruesome as you can get especially the part where the killer is cooking a victim in a over and basting the corpse absolutely brutal not to mention the shocking treatment dished out to the female victim who eventually goes semi insane but still had the will to live and used her smarts to escape the situation also with the help of other vagrants living within the same warehouse.

Now the bad I would have liked some connection to the original maybe some backstory as to why the masked killer is doing what he is doing or if he is a relation something or you never get to really see the killer in action stalking or picking out victims you only see him bring the people back,there was a confusing part for me in this film where in the beginning Samantha comes home to find her sister murdered by the killer and she is told to come to the police station while waiting in the back of a cruiser she is harassed by a vagrant and she shuts the backside passenger door and a minute later the vagrant violently killed by the masked killer who then abducts Samantha but while she is later trapped in the warehouse this being after the incident I just described she has a flashback of being interviewed by a black detective about who the killer could be and she is outside and its daylight she is with her boyfriend talking so I don't know how this could be when in the beginning she was taken from the murder scene but a different cop and it was night time when she was abducted it gives the impression that she was at the scene two separate times when in the beginning the very first time she was at the scene is when she was abducted unless the flashback took place on the same day then it doesn't make sense.

Not bad for something that is clearly B level and couldn't possibly live up to the original it was one of those films that started out weak and slowly got bit by bit better and the actress Chauntal Lewis did a great job in my opinion at playing the part and one key thing she did well was not screaming in such a way where it is like nails across a board which was realistic very well done so if you've seen the original or the remake I'd recommend seeing this just for the fact that it is part of the series and tbh its not terrible its alright.

What where they thinking , awful

[blaketarno6696 · 1/10 · 24 January 2016]

This movie is the definition of horrible !! I love horror movies and even cheesy ones to just have fun with but this is just straight up bad . The acting is some of the worst I have ever seen !! The people show almost no emotion when getting killed or seeing someone get killed ! It's so bad it's laughable. If they knew it was this bad and had fun with it that would be different but the actors are trying so hard and it's just bad ! There is zero plot to the movie too . I mean wow I honestly think this was made by a 13 year old who's dad had a extra 1000 dollars laying around . I mean the girl has been locked in a cage for 13 days and her hair and make up is perfect even after she has cried and messed it up days before but yet in the next shot it is perfect? One of the laziest movies iv seen . They also play the worst music , when the killer is attacking someone it just randomly plays this upbeat tech no music?? And at another point she is out of The cage and the killer walks off but the girl just crawls right back into the cage!!!?!? the dialogue in this movie is awful and there is barely any In it ! What where they thinking when they made this movie? Who looked at this pile of poop and said "yeah that's a good one! That's the shot right there ! Perfect"

Amateurish, bizarre, enigmatic, ridiculous....

[Someguysomwhere · 3/10 · 14 August 2013]

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.

Not quite Martyrs but infinitely better than any POV garbage

[hedlykarok · 8/10 · 13 June 2014]

FINALLY! A horror movie that delivers. Kudos to Dean Jones for a well-done outing. On a par with The Collector but not quite as good as Martyrs or Frontiers. Slasher films are generally done for laughs - it's pure entertainment to watch people with little critical thinking or self-defense skills get whacked in creative ways. A good horror film should be a least a bit twisted to be other than that and this one does hit the mark. I am so outright sick of the mind-numbingly boring and jaded 'found film' cheese genre I could wretch. I'll spare you the details of the plot as you can find those in the lame reviewers' opinions who have dominated this movie so far (they obviously think Insidious or The Grudge is quality). If you like a good, true horror flick; you will like this. If you like Hollywood mainstream bovine excrement, you won't. Nuff said.

There and back again... A nasty, nasty flick...

[stsinger · 6/10 · 8 August 2015]

"The Toolbox Murders 2" has an interesting history. A sequel to Tobe Hooper's remake of the grind-house classic, I'm not sure the film ever got a formal release. It did get a digital release on Amazon (which I own!) and was a sleazy, incredibly gory, horrific work about a woman who gets kidnapped and abused by the killer from the first flick. Somehow, the director got Brian Krause and Bruce Dern (!!) to make appearances, and Dern's is actually more than just an extended cameo!!

Apparently, the film's reception wasn't good (not surprising) so it was pulled back, re-cut, new scenes added, and rechristened "Coffin Baby" after the nickname of the murderer. "Coffin Baby" had most of the graphic violence cut out and made a major change in plot -- our main victim was no longer a totally innocent woman but someone who committed a horrific crime and "Coffin Baby" had become sort of an "avenging angel."

Now we finally have the official release of the film. Released on DVD and Blu-Ray under it's original title, "Toolbox Murders 2" is the original cut that I had seen long ago. And folks, this is a nasty piece of work.

The "plot" is simple. At the start of the film, the killer (dubbed "TBK" in the credits) carves up a woman in her house. The woman's sister Samantha goes to the crime scene, and while waiting in a police car to be taken to the station to give a statement, TBK grabs her and takes her back to his house of horrors.

And horrors it is. For the next 80 minutes or so, Samantha is starved, tortured, forced to watch as TBK murders and mutilates a jaw- dropping amount of victims. He also cooks and eats some of his victims. We see every thing in graphic detail, including watching poor Samantha start to lose her mind as she desperately tries to escape.

And that, friends and readers, is the entire film. As bleak and reprehensible as the film is, it's carried by the extreme gore and the performance of Chauntal Lewis as Samantha (Chauntel lost her hand in an accident a year or two prior to this film, see if you can notice!).

Overall, I think most people will find this film unwatchable so it's hard to totally recommend it. But if you want to see the bleak side of extreme horror, check it out.

Truly Awful

[bournemouthbear · 1/10 · 14 October 2015]

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.

Check out more of my reviews at www.mybloodyreviews.com

Gore Splastic

[imdb-735-808593 · 1/10 · 11 July 2013]

Hmmm, where to start and end with this one. I'm not anti horror I enjoy horror but this one apart from being incredibly lame storyline wise seems to be an excuse for the special effects department to offer their splattering s to us the audience in blooded bucketful's. What kind of brain thinks up this sick nonsense? Seriously it really concerns me that this sort of film is even made. Trouble is making comments like this only tends to fuel the fascination, ergo adding appeal to the curious and perhaps not so balanced minded person. However, I did sit through this messy production in all senses of the word. If you like wading through an intestinal and cannibalistic horror movie I guess this will be right up your street. Pity that such a good director was involved in this mess.

You wouldn't make sense.. if you believe this does.

[InDyingArms · 2/10 · 19 October 2020]

Horror sequels or sudden additions nobody asked for usually don't go so well- especially if the base film is something not many would consider memorable. But when you combine this with zero story, zero reasoning, we get a movie like this that feels like and makes us feel zero care.

Usually these gore-hound or torture porn films don't feature much in the realm of story or plot, but take that a step further and you've got this film, where zero things that usually would matter exist. Character development, establishing scenes, information? Nope. We get thrown into this .. ordeal from the jump, and the movie wastes no time with throwing us into plenty of other pointless things too. When you reach midway, toward the end, it becomes known 1000% the ideas, care.. or writing is gone. This film has no payoff, nothing new to offer, other than some brain cells lost, or the new sense of confusion, growing with every new minute you waste in this. Some small bit of substance could've made a difference, even by a small bit, that is, if any effort was put toward that.

If you came for mindless gore or flat out action, there's some effort toward each, and that's about the only credit I could find for the two stars given in the score. Even with this being said, the gore and effects truly were not the best, as it lacked and even seemed a bit subpar, feeling more like random excuses for filler or random scenes and occurrences just because. Tension proves low, with the exception of a time or two actually managing to capture attention involving a feeling other than confusion.

As mentioned prior, around the mid to end of this film, all hope was lost. The film takes a strange and completely out of place turn with religion, and you read that correctly; the ending, sudden and jarring introductions and everything you see before your eyes, to me, felt rushed, forced and even more confusing than the rest of this film and the random occurrences that led, creating a tedious new flow.

If you want to watch a sequel that sustains absolutely nothing new, really interesting or exciting, while throwing different bloody scenes at your face with zero context or plot, this will easily do it for you! But if you're wanting NOT to waste your time, watch another gorehound flick, it won't be much different. But it'll surely be better than this Hollywood deep web home-video.

The Disgrace of Horror Movies

[olcayozfirat · 3/10 · 27 February 2022]

I wouldn't watch such sub-par movies, but a friend gave it to me. I mean, there are a lot of aimless serial killers out there. How did you create such an empty space? The movie is really bad. Like a performance theatre. My advice is never watch.

Gory

[thesaviorsservant · 7/10 · 13 September 2021]

This is the nastiest and creepiest movie I've seen. When he smoked and basted the body in the furnace!! So many gross situations. Kept my attention the full time. This was better than Saw series as far as the grossness.

Visually Gory and Very Creepy, kinda like my Mother-in-Law.

[horrorkungfutv · 7/10 · 16 August 2015]

A well done Horror movie. Very GORY and visually creepy. The TBM 'Coffin Baby' should be up there with the other supernatural maniacs. I see some reviews talk about 'where is the story'?. If you know the history of the other movies, you wouldn't have to wonder, those are NOT true Horror fans. To enjoy the story more, trade places with the kidnapped female. Also a 'Gore Fiends' pleasure. Associated with the Great Toby Hooper. Oh by the way, I do not live in the basement of my parents house (like some of you Jack-Ass's). I own my own home and am married. I rate this movie the Horror/Kung-Fu Theatre way, from 0 to 13 Skulls. I give it a 10 Skull rating. The Nightshadow.

Give it 15-20 minutes before giving up

[PolytheneSpam · 6/10 · 20 August 2021]

My initial impression of this was negative because it starts off just terrible. There are clips about Hollywood which are a nod to Tobe Hooper's 2003 Toolbox Murders but are completely unrelated here. Chauntal Lewis is very weak in the beginning, but actually seems to improve as the film progresses. The script is initially nonsensical. (MINOR SPOILER) Lewis is hysterical upon hearing news of her sister's murder, and a police officer yells at her for being insensitive to his plight having to inform the families of victims. And she apologizes to him!

As her character's sanity breaks, the movie improves. Fans of gore and women-in-captivity movies should be happy. There are some enjoyable scenes making it worth a watch. I'd recommend watching Hooper's movie first to make it less confusing, though.

More questions than answers

[QueenoftheGoons · 6/10 · 25 May 2021]

If there was a story it was barely visible. The blood & guts were pleasant, however i didn't catch a story. Though i've never seen a better pair of blue eyes in my life. The credits at the beginning were cool. That's about it. Though the jealous natured chick i am, i didn't much like him falling for the bimbo in the movie.