The Toll
Directed by:
Michael NaderScreenplay:
Michael NaderComposer:
Torin BorrowdaleCast:
Jordan Hayes, Max Topplin, James McGowan, Rosemary Dunsmore, Nicole Power, Sean Sullivan, Jess Brown, Madison Walsh, Sharon McFarlane, Katelyn McCullochVOD (1)
Plots(1)
It's 1am. An exhausted Cami orders a rideshare at the airport. Her driver: Spencer, awkward and unsettling. Her destination: Her dad’s place in the middle of nowhere. Cami grows increasingly suspicious of Spencer's odd behavior. This fear gives way to full-blown terror when their car breaks down on a secluded road. And they both realize they're not alone... Suddenly the car comes under attack - a rock smashes through the window. Attached to a message that warns visitors must “pay the toll.” Cami and Spencer realize it's a supernatural force haunting them: the Toll Man, pitting these two strangers against each other. Until they discover that for either to survive, one of them has to die. (South by Southwest Film Festival)
(more)Reviews (2)
Unfortunately, I can’t go further than average. The setting of a remote road in the middle of the woods at three in the morning is nice, the suspicion between the two lead characters generates the necessary tension and the character of the mysterious supernatural figure who’s after blood is also fine. But as the runtime progresses, things become generic and the script suddenly doesn’t know what to do with those characters to make their behaviour and interactions feel convincing or natural. The final twist is there basically because it has to, but what can you do about it today… On top of that, the craftsmanship lacks precision, it’s shot more like a cheap direct-to-video movie than something worthy of attention. Genre fans won’t regret dedicating those modest 80 minutes to it, but the rest should probably go for the older and thematically similar Dead End.
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I looked forward to The Toll quite a lot and in the end it's relatively OK, although it has far fewer horror elements than I would have expected before watching it. The film is presented in a more or less intimate style with two characters, with a strange Uber driver picking up a young girl who I found incredibly paranoid in places (the guy compliments her photo and she's already pulling out the pepper spray). On the way through the deep woods, their car breaks down, they lose signal and find themselves in a vicious circle ruled by a supernatural entity called Toll Man who wants them pay his toll and the only possible payment is blood. I wasn't bored, it's nicely suspenseful in places (the final 15 minutes have a decent atmosphere as well) and there were a couple of scares where at least one works. What's disappointing, though, is that the Toll Man isn't on the scene much and when he is, it's only for a few seconds. Also, I would have definitely welcomed more characters, if there were five people in the car and they were gradually dying in an interesting way, then the final twist would have had more impact, and there’s also the fact that the film is more thriller than horror. However, it's definitely watchable and certainly not a waste of time, but they would have had to try harder to get the four stars. 6/10.
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