The toll

First film and master stroke, Michael Nader makes his debut film The toll surely one of the best horrific thrillers discovered this year. After several short films, this young virtuoso director manages not only to hold our attention throughout the story, to create a truly disturbing atmosphere but above all pays tribute to the classics of the genre by approaching an atmosphere close to one of the best episodes of the Twilight Zone. It is interesting to see that despite limited means, The Toll is a descent into hell so the main female character will not come out unscathed.

It is interesting to see to what extent the writer and director succeeds in 80 minutes not only to find the right approach to immerse the spectators in a story that goes beyond the simple framework of the exploitation film to transcend a genre that is most often limited to spectacular and outrageous effects. The director Michael Nader finds intact all that made the strength and the allure of the great horror films of the 80s and 90s.

We discover Cami (Jordan Hayes) who decides to hire a cab service to take her out of the airport to her father's house, hoping to put her worries behind her but runs into a talkative driver, Spencer (Max Topplin) who, through lack of vigilance, takes the wrong road and, to top it all off, sees his car break down in the middle of the forest and in the dark. Cami and Spencer are surprised when they realize that supernatural events are taking place and that a dangerous being is not only targeting them but also asking them to pay a heavy price so that one of them can survive a night of thrills.

A country setting with an isolated house, an abandoned road and almost only two main actors and a few ghostly characters as scenery. However, The Toll is not only a formidable efficiency but also by its careful direction, the presence of the actress Jordan Hayes (the series Helix, the films House at the End of the Street (2012), the F word (2013)) brings an undeniable added value and makes The Toll a disturbing and successful horror thriller that is really scary without having to cover to unnecessary gory effects.

The Toll is all the more successful as it benefits from a great care taken on the sound aspect of the film in order to create a really disturbing world in which the two main characters will find themselves confronted with their past and will have to find a way out of this time loop in which they seem to be held hostage. While current horror thrillers prefer to focus their attention on often useless effects, The Toll proves to be a truly intense cinematic experience as we would like to see more of.

Note that this film will be available on March 26 in vod and also in theaters in the United States. We can only encourage you to discover it as it marks the promising debut of a director to follow.

The toll
Written and Directed by Michael Nader
Produced by Jordan Hayes, Max Topplin
Starring James McGowan, Rosemary Dunsmore, Jess Brown, Sarah Camacho, Thomas L. Colford, Daniel Harroch, Pamela MacDonald, Dying Cami
Music by Torin Borrowdale
Cinematography : Jordan Kennington
Production companies : 4 AM Films, Always Hungry Productions
Distributed by Saban Films (USA)
Release date : March 26, 2021 (United States)
Running time : 80 minutes

Seen on March 03, 2021 (Screener press)

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