THE TOOLBOX MURDERS

A man dressed in black drives through Los Angeles, listening to the exhortations of a radio preacher. Near a car dealership, the man has a flashback of a car accident that occurred at the site, which killed a young woman. The man arrives at an apartment complex and kills Mrs. Andrews, a female tenant (who recognizes him), with an electric drill. Afterward, the man dons a ski mask and murders two other women, the first with a hammer and the second with a screwdriver. The police are called, and they interview the people who found the bodies, as well as Vance Kingsley, the owner of the building. The next night, the killer strikes again, breaking into the apartment of a woman who is masturbating in her bathtub and shooting her in the stomach and head with a nail gun. The murderer then abducts Laurie Ballard, a 15-year-old who lives in the above apartment with her family.

Laurie's brother, Joey, is questioned by Detective Jamison and, frustrated by the detective's seemingly lax attitude towards Laurie's disappearance, decides to search for his sister on his own. While looking through the homes of the murdered women, Joey meets up with Kent, Vance's nephew, who has been hired to clean up the apartments of the dead tenants. While Joey is helping Kent, Kent mentions that Vance has not been the same since Kathy, (his cousin and Vance's daughter), was killed in a car accident.

It is revealed that Vance is the serial killer, having been driven insane and to religious mania by the death of his daughter. He is killing sinners and has kidnapped Laurie (who is kept tied up and gagged in Kathy's bedroom) to replace Kathy. During a discussion with Detective Jamison, Joey realizes that all the clues point to Vance being the killer, so he goes to the Kingsley house and is followed there by Kent (who had earlier seen the bound and gagged Laurie in his uncle's home). Joey finds bloody tools in Vance's garage, and is confronted by Kent, who sets Joey on fire—burning him to death—to protect his family.

Kent walks in on Vance talking to Laurie, and enrages his uncle by telling him that he and Kathy had an incestuous relationship. Vance and Kent fight, and Kent ends up fatally stabbing Vance with a kitchen knife. Kent goes to Laurie and cuts her bonds with a pair of scissors; Laurie, crying, is elated to be free, and Kent appears to comfort her, but he begins kissing Laurie and then rapes her. Afterward, Kent relaxes on the bed and behaves as if he and Laurie are married, and implies that he killed Joey and Vance. Laurie sees the scissors Kent used to cut her free on the bedside table. In the final scene, Laurie, dazed and bloodied, is seen slowly walking through an empty parking lot in the twilight, as an intertitle states that the film was a dramatization of events that occurred in 1967 and that Laurie, after having been institutionalized for three years, now resides in the San Fernando Valley with her husband and their child.

The film ends with the revelation of the killer’s identity, his death, further violence, and Laurie’s traumatized survival. An intertitle states that Laurie was institutionalized and now lives in the San Fernando Valley with her family.

The climax exposes not just the identity of the killer but the twisted motives and further cycles of violence within the apartment complex. The conclusion underscores the profound and lasting trauma inflicted on Laurie, shifting focus from the sensational violence to the grim aftermath for survivors. The final intertitle blurs the line between fiction and alleged true crime, leaving viewers with a lingering sense of unease and the suggestion that horror doesn’t end when the credits roll.