The Toll (I) (2020) User Reviews

Low budget film, which delivers but could have been a lot better

[FixedYourEnding · 5/10 · 27 April 2021]

An Uber driver picks up a young female passenger. Throughout the movie it is unclear if he is sincere or sinister, and this psychological tension lasts very well throughout. He is obviously attracted to her, but when they get stuck on an alternative dimensional road, where there are no outs and time does not move forward. Is he her savior or he is "in on it" and the one she should be the most afraid of?

The creepiness of "The Toll" out-scales the several jumpscares in the movie. For a low-budget film I would say it is smartly done, using very few scenarios that are easy to create (the car, public roads, old house) and very simple special effects. In this respect the movie manages to pull a lot from a small budget and the jumpscares are placed correctly and not overly-done.

As for acting, I think Jordan Hayes does a good job of portraying a distressed woman ("Cami") without being hysteric and irrational. So, whats missing from this movie? Since the scenery is limited, no big effects or extraordinary acting, I feel this kind of production need to bring something extra to the table, and definitely not end on an anti-climax as it is. Maybe dive deeper into the alternate dimensional idea, maybe there is a different way out? Something that will make the audience think.

Overall watchable but will not win any Oscars. Exact score: 48 / 100.

first half great

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 28 March 2021]

Ride-share driver Spencer picks up female passenger Cami at the airport. It's the middle of the night. Cami is suspicious of the awkward Spencer when the car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There is a mysterious danger out in the night and they can't escape for some unknown reason.

The first half of the movie is great. There is a great back and forth with suspicion about Spencer. Quite frankly, the paranoia gets to a point where I even suspected Cami of foul play. Then the old lady breaks the tension. She arrives for an info dump and some questionable reveals. I don't get not even trying. Spencer should at least touch the vehicle and hop on to escape. The first half is much better for not revealing anything. The movie functions better without the info dump. The mystery is more compelling. The second half doesn't have quite as much tension.

Could have been better

[Horror_Flick_Fanatic · 5/10 · 30 March 2021]

This is primary a jumpscare film with a psychological horror element to it. The most obvious meaning of the Toll Man is the killer stalking the two main characters on the road. The more subtle meaning is the "toll" of the past baggage these two characters carry with them from their past. That's where the visions of the hurtful family characters come into play.

Unfortunately, they didn't take this idea all the way through to the end and messed up the ending. Instead they went for the mediocre ending which I won't mention. The acting wasn't that great but I was willing to overlook it if the screenplay had been a bit smarter. So this is worth a watch, but not a second one. Missed opportunity to make a low budget film into a smart horror film.

Starts Out Great, Ends Terribly

[AnirudhGod · 3/10 · 6 May 2021]

The film is about a female passenger spending a night with a suspicious male Taxi driver in a demonic hellscape. A hellscape created by the Toll Man, he invades and disrupts the mind and won't let them out, for the toll he seeks is something primal.

Frankly, I really admired its aspirational tone, and the supposed themes it was trying to deal with (like trust, loneliness and confronting the demons of the past) since the 1st act is terrific, and the 2nd act is decent, with enough intrigue mystery, and drama. But in the 3rd act, the final confrontation becomes an absolute abomination as everything that was established (the characterization, the themes, the emotional set-ups for Spencer), completely get undone by a superficial and generic psycho ending that made me very angry. Not because I expected something, but this film aspired to stand out from the crowd, with its interesting and emotionally resonant characters.

5 stars less for a terrible 3rd act.

Better than I was expecting, creepy atmosphere, good entertainment.

[deloudelouvain · 7/10 · 16 October 2021]

After reading some negative reviews on here I wasn't expecting too much from this movie but after watching it I can only conclude that I was entertained for the entire duration of The Toll. It has a good mystery level that keeps you focussed, the horror parts are mild but certainly creepy enough to be good, and the acting wasn't bad at all and that from the whole, very small, cast. There are some things that don't make much sense, just small details you shouldn't pay too much attention to, instead just enjoy a story that wasn't bad at all even though some people here seems to hate it. My wife and I were entertained and that's not always the case with this genre of movies.

A traveling woman stuck on a rural backroad with her "weird" Uber driver

[Wuchakk · 4/10 · 4 November 2021]

A socially awkward Michigan Uber driver (Max Topplin) picks up a weary young woman at the airport (Jordan Hayes) to take her to her father's farmhouse, but the vehicle mysteriously breaks down in the backwoods, where uncanny things start happening. What's going on?

Written & directed by Michael Nader, "The Toll" (2020) is a technically well-made mystery/horror Indie that borrows the basic plot of "Wind Chill" (2007), yet isn't as good or moving. If you like these kinds of flicks give it a try, but you'll probably be disappointed. While the two main characters are interesting enough and there's a sense of creepiness to the situation, not to mention the core mystery is intriguing (I don't want to spoil anything), the increasing illusions were tedious to me.

What really puts the nail in the coffin is a minor twist at the end that contradicts everything the viewer is led to believe about something up to that point (I'm being intentionally vague). "Wind Chill" had a minor twist as well, but it was organic to the story. This one just feels wholly contrived and you're left feeling duped in an eye-rolling way. At least this was my experience.

Nevertheless, I liked the filmmaking, the plot, the spooky sylvan ambiance and the cast. Less illusions, no artificial twist and more focus on the paranormal mystery would've put this in the ballpark of "Wind Chill."

The film runs 1 hour, 20 minutes, and was shot in Ontario, Canada.

GRADE: C-

Okay hear me out, I liked this one!

[MovieQween-33622 · 7/10 · 1 April 2021]

Spoiler Free: This movie was on my horror watchlist from a few months ago and I was worried by the less than stellar reviews thus far...So I wasn't expecting much, but I'd have to say I kind of liked the story. It was familiar to 1408 and Incidents in a Ghostland, both which I loved. If you liked either of these movies, give this one a chance. I liked the theme of the movie of "paying the Toll".

Not bad, but could have been so much better

[fatfil-414-451797 · 4/10 · 27 March 2021]

There seems to be a broad spectrum of reviews for this movie, from 2 to 9 stars. I'm going to settle in the middle. It had a great premise, and potential to be a franchise, "The Toll Man" , but from a strong opening, to a very muddled middle section, and a disappointing ending it kind of just petered out. The acting was okay, the storyline was all over the place, and never seemed to fully commit itself to being a horror movie. I would suggest psychological thriller with supernatural undertones that are never fully realised. There was a lot of supernatural stuff going on, but the ending suggested otherwise, and so many story threads that went nowhere. In retrospect, 4 was quite generous.

A horror film without an open enigmatic ending

[doujyr · 7/10 · 23 March 2021]

I quite enjoyed this film. Low key believable start then gets more and more weird. What did it for me was a reasonably clear cut ending. Too many films seem to want to have some puzzling incomplete ending leaving you hanging. Not this. Jordan Hayes looks yummy.

The Troll

[108YearsOld · 3/10 · 25 March 2021]

When you can use emergency lights and power window (without the engine running), that means the car battery is not dead. Hello.

Enjoyable movie

[mbprocter · 9/10 · 23 March 2021]

I thought it was good. The horror film scene is pretty much burned out now with no new story lines but this was well worth a watch. Kind of Twilight Zone but I always loved those. I'll give it a 9.

a one-time nice movie & scary forest

[yamahapic · 6/10 · 24 March 2021]

A nice movie, interesting and some scary moments..i liked the the forest as it is filmed in a natural but very scary way

Nonsense

[sophimatar-81901 · 2/10 · 13 April 2021]

The movie is ridiculous, and the main character (the girl) is unconvincing, irritating, and seems to be low-beginner.

If the driver was continuously killing women for (the Toll man), he had several opportunities to kill her from the start; why did he wait until the end to kill her in such a sluggish and inept manner? What is this nonsense?!

Everything is cheap, implausible and not thought out. Stupidity.

Stupidity

[AndreyFur · 4/10 · 26 March 2021]

The beginning was still normal, and then delirium began. The car battery ran out and the headlights were on for half of the movie? Everything is cheap, implausible and not thought out. Stupidity.

Not that bad

[zafertunaboylu-77521 · 6/10 · 23 March 2021]

Low- budget but enjoyable. All you need is low expectations...

All going well till the final five minutes

[namstonk · 5/10 · 24 March 2021]

So this was an enjoyable, although been done before 'urban myth' psychological film that was well acted and directed till the final five minutes. The usual 7st women against the 13st man ensues and then an even sillier end, would have got a respectable 7/10 if it hadn't have been so stupid, great pity.

The Start and Middle make it worthwhile the time.

[sharmajayant-73296 · 6/10 · 26 March 2021]

Very nice start and middle. Very bad ending, all the character building dumped right into the drain, should have spent some time on the ending.

Waste of time ++

[lespritz · 1/10 · 23 March 2021]

Low-budget, void of scare and point. Don't sit through this.

Road Closed

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 10 April 2021]

Cami (Jordan Hayes) uses a ride share to take her from the airport to her father's remote house in Michigan. Spencer (Max Topplin) is her slightly creepy driver who may just be socially awkward. They go down a road and end up stranded unable to leave the area until they pay the Toll Man who we later discover (PLOT SPOILER?) wants a blood sacrifice. In the meantime he messes with their minds with hallucinations attempting to get the two to turn on each other.

This is a nice combination of films most of us have seen. It starts to drag in the middle with just two people in one car, but then it expands. Nice ending I didn't expect, but had minor clues.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity,

So badly executed

[funnycommentor · 2/10 · 5 November 2021]

The plot of the movie was basic, the location was a dark creepy road, the characters were only two and they were well-developed. The monster's appearance was so fake and bad-edited. Anyway, the ending was kinda silly. Even though, the movie was so interesting at the first 20 minutes, after that it becomes so stupid. Also, I have to admit that the jumpscares (most of them) were scary a lot. Overall, it was a low-budget movie that eventually, wasn't good.

Unsure why everyone hated it

[K_Rad88 · 9/10 · 4 April 2021]

This movie was good.

Like, i was never bored, i squeaked a few times and i dug the end. If you like horror, watch it. Sure it's low budget blah blah but it's a supernatural horror story and none of it has to make a lot of sense. Just give it a go, you won't regret it!

Creepy

[aciarleglio-1 · 7/10 · 4 April 2021]

I enjoyed this film. It was pretty creepy. It could have been even better, but it seemed like just when they had the audience vulnerable to a real huge scare at the climax they kind of backed out and moved into the ending. Maybe it was there in the footage and just was edited a little too much. I think if it had the middle developed a little more the ending would have been more effective. Either way it was still decent. A sequel with a larger budget would be cool.

Bad movie, rad haunted hayride

[samgslp-87237 · 4/10 · 23 March 2021]

Are you planning a haunted hayride? Looking for costume ideas, jump scares, even a whole theme for a Halloween haunted experience? This is the movie for you!

Are you looking for a horror movie? A supernatural thriller? You can do better.

The premise has some promise. A driver and a woman take a long trip out to the middle of nowhere when things start to go wrong. She's paranoid that he's a psychopath when things take a turn for the worse. Sadly, the lore surrounding the story is just ridiculous. There are attempts at clever writing, character development and a story arc but nothing really succeeds. At best, it's a good try and deserves credit for not overextending itself with terrible CGI, a long run time or overly serious dialogue (except in one scene which is particularly awful).

It reminded me a lot of an equally bad or possibly worse film called "Dead End." So I can't be too negative about it when it was made during a pandemic, probably on an iPhone and with no established actors and it's still as good as if not better than a similar movie which faced none of the same limitations.

You can do a lot better, but hey, the filmmakers could have done a lot worse.

Dumb and boring

[tstyles1 · 2/10 · 4 April 2021]

Hard to believe so many brilliant and creative people out there who never get a shot and for some reason this drivel gets to see the light of day. Only in America.

B-Movie Gem

[JungleJeffyGoesToMars · 7/10 · 15 May 2021]

This movie made a real impression on me. I wasn't expecting much, as a lot of low budget horror films are basically just junk food for your brain and don't deliver much beyond a couple of memorable scenes at best. However, this movie often pops back in to my head and even as I write this I really want to see it again.

The antagonist of the film, a cosmic-like entity known as the Toll Man is great. He looks creepy as hell and the writer invented a unique mythology for the film. I also cared about the characters a lot, which is rare in a lo of films. The ending actually envoked some real emotion for me. Also that song at the beginning is wonderful. Seek this one out.