Everyone knows that director Tobe Hooper was responsible for one of the all-time great horror films “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.“ What is less discussed about the director is that he sort of lost his way over the course of his career, and ended up directing low to middle budget Horror films that didn’t get much acclaim. (Including the intriguingly named “Spontaneous Combustion.”) It’s as if Beethoven ended up writing commercial jingles.

2004’s “The Toolbox Murders“ (a remake in name only of a 1970s film) is one of these later Hooper films. But here’s the twist: it’s a total gem of a horror movie. I absolutely loved it.

My interest was initially piqued not because of Hooper, but because of the film’s female lead, Angela Bettis, who I loved in 2002’s trauma horror flick “May.“ In “The Toolbox Murders“ she plays a character who, with her husband, has just moved into a dingy Los Angeles apartment building filled with kooks and weirdos. (Including a creepy handyman. Every building needs a creepy handyman.) Her hubby is busy working shifts as a doctor, leaving Bettis’s character free to explore the building and take notice when people start disappearing.

She soon discovers that a ski mask wearing madman is dispatching people using— you guessed it — common workman’s tools. He puts a hammer, a nail gun, a power drill, and a few other devices to good use.

I grew up around construction tools – my dad built several houses – and I can remember wondering as a kid how such tools might be used to kill people. (I was that kind of kid.) The film went a long way towards answering these questions.

What makes the film work? There’s a pretty interesting mystery built at its core that develops nicely. And the final explanation is satisfying enough, albeit being insane and unbelievable.

On top of that, I liked the set pieces, the gore, and the eerie, bell-laden score.

This is absolutely a film I would watch again. I’ve never seen the original and now I’m not sure I want to. Can it hold up to this?