Check out the Interview with the Stars of the film “The Toll: Jordan Hayes and Max Topplin

To be honest, I’m not much of a horror movie fan. Doesn’t really make me the perfect guy to review a horror movie, does it? But I know a good horror movie when I see one and while I can definitely appreciate some good old school B horror films, I think the great ones are films with an interesting twist. There are movies were you definitely don’t see it coming and leave you in awe. It’s true that there’s a lot of horror films out there that are predictable. You know who the Killer is and you know what they want. It’s just simple, they have a killer who tries to kill everyone, but that’s kind boring. Horror films shouldn’t just be about blood and gore, there should be a Hitchcock like suspense to it that leaves you surprised by the end. And while I didn’t think much of the movie, The Toll, when I first started watching it, by the end it became one of those horror films that I really like. Mostly because I love the idea of The Toll Man being the antagonist… we all have to pay a toll and it’s a metaphor for Humanity. Nothing comes free especially when it comes to the atonement of our sins. Movies with a deeper meaning are always better than simple blood and gore.
Max Topplin and Jordan Hayes star in this horror film where they meet the toll man. The basic story is about a girl who gets into a Rideshare to be taken home and along their Journey they end up in a place where they’re trapped. The only way to get out is to pay the toll, but the toll is death. What I found interesting about this film is there so many things to fear than just this simple metaphorical demon. Imagine being afraid to get into a Rideshare like Uber or Lyft. Can you really trust the driver? It’s not something we really want to think about because it should be one of the most trusting things in our society, but it’s not us really that simple. I think we’ve all gotten into a Rideshare where we’ve had to deal with a driver that might be a little too creepy or just makes us feel uncomfortable. What if they are killer? I mean they would be the perfect kind of killer and if you’ve ever watched the Sherlock series with Benedict Cumberbatch then you know that the premise of the first episode was about a cabbie who is leading people to their death. But what’s even more interesting is while you distrust the driver and maybe the driver distrusts the passenger, what if you end up in a situation where you have to rely on each other to escape. It’s not about blood or Gore, but it can be one of the most frightening situations you’ll ever deal with. To be put into a position where you have to trust someone that you can’t trust in order to survive, that’s a great theme for a horror movie. And this film does everything right when it comes to making you feel that intensity when it comes to the characters survival well also wondering are either one of them really the Killer all throughout the film, tricks are being played on your mind and making you question everything. I definitely felt like this was a Hitchcock film in a lot of ways and that will definitely keep my attention when most horror films can generally be ignored while I work and still know what happens. Earlier I touched on predictability when it comes to horror films.

I honestly did not see the ending coming. There’s a lot of things that work for this film. One of them is, they don’t try to make it too long, it’s the right amount of time within 80 minutes. Sometimes horror films linger too long trying to constantly build up this intensity when really 80 to 90 minutes is all you need for the payoff. I want to praise the performances of Max Topplin and Jordan Hayes for making me question everything about their characters and wondering, again, if one of them really was the Killer or if I should feel sympathy for them.

I’m not going to give everything away because this is a horror film and you need to experience the intent to the idea by watching it can I do will be a rewarding experience. I think pretty much everything works for the most part in this film because it’s not too short or not too long so you feel exactly what you should with this film without being bored through half of it. If I have one complaint, sometimes I feel like it was too dark and the film could have been lighted better, but in the end, it does work when really the only lights you have is the headlights of the car. It’s a nice touch allowing simple lights to play tricks on you. And I think we should know a little bit more about the toll man, but then again less is more when it comes to fear. The movie Jaws prove that where we don’t really see the shark until the end of the movie. The audience’s fear builds throughout the movie until we see the monster. We don’t need to know much about the toll man because it’s a metaphor. Kind of reminds me of the Mothman where the image is similar but also very different for each person and sometimes spiritual manifestations whether they’re good or evil will show themselves in a new form to individuals based on that particular situation. But there is one thing that this film does very well, it’s the underlining story about the characters having to face their own past to what I referred to earlier as “atoning for their sins.” Human beings can never truly Escape those things. So, there’s so many different things to fear besides the Boogeyman in the night that might want to kill you.

This may not be the type of film you necessarily go to the theater to see. If you did, it be a great matinee. I don’t think it would be a waste of a good hour and a half because of everything that goes into this film. But it’s also perfect for streaming services like Amazon. I definitely think this is a good movie to watch late at night in the dark on a Friday night. It’s the kind of movie that will keep you awake and won’t make you turn your head every five minutes because there’s too much blood and gore. There’s a place for that in films, but the best ones are films that make you fear what you don’t know and what you can’t see, and then give you a great twist in the end. That’s what this film does and that’s why it’s worth seeing. It may not be the best horror film ever made, but you will get your money’s worth with it. And the performances by Max Topplin and Jordan Hayes will keep you intrigued and afraid throughout the entire film. Good performances make good films and The Toll is no exception.