Thursday, September 20, 2018

Review: The Toybox


Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2018
Images from the Internet


The Toybox
Directed by Tom Nagel
Skyline Entertainment / Steel House Productions /
Millman Productions / ETA Films / Ron Lee Productions
94 minutes, 2018

Wow, I haven’t seen Denise Richards or Micha Barton – who are getting the largest share of promotion for this film, and rightfully so – in quite a while. That’s not to say they haven’t been working, it’s more that they haven’t crossed my indie-focused radar.  Both Richards’ and Barton’s work has been falling under the category of horror more over the years , and I’m happy to see them there. Though I’ve never watched Baton’s launching breakthrough role on “The O.C.,” Richards has been in quite a few releases I’ve seen, from “Seinfeld” to Starship Troopers and Wild Things.

However, it was the poster that caught my eye. It kind of comes across as Amityville Horror meets The Hills Have Eyes with a titch of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s mysterious hitchers. Is it a human monster killer? Is it a deadly spirit? Is the bus itself or the people haunted? Lotsa questions to be answered, so let’s get on it!

The titular toybox in question is an old (it has a cassette player!) Recreational Vehicle (RV), or motorhome, that’s been purchased by family patriarch Charles (Greg Violand). He does not do his homework to find out who is the previous owner. He bought it o take his family out on a trip apparently to the middle of the desert to see some cave paintings, but more specifically to bring them together after the passing of the matriarch. There’s Steve (Jeff Denton, who also wrote the screenplay) and his wife Jennifer (Richards) and young daughter Olivia (Malika Michelle), and his other, acidic (i.e., black sheep) brother Jay (Brian Nagel; the director’s brother, if you are wondering); you can tell he’s trouble because he’s wears his baseball cap backwards, has a beard, and wears earbuds!).

Along the way, they find a dead car, and pick up s brother and sister named Mark (Matt Mercer) and Samantha (Barton). Early on, I’m not sure if they’re good, bad, or merely fodder for whatever is going to occur. Twenty minutes in, and there are some cool hints of mysterious things to come, such as the radio tuning itself to a version of the classic lamenting folk song, “In the Pines,” and a window with a mind of its own. Clearly there are elements here beyond the human and into supernatural otherness. I’m glad.

Denise Richards
Before any of that, while this is a killing spree flick, it seems most of the drama is within the main group: tension between husband and wife, between brothers, between the family and those who get picked up. I understand that stressful situations bring out the worst in us, and it certainly plays out here. Sort of like Thanksgiving, but instead of yams, it’s killer ghosts; instead of turkey or ham, it’s…killer ghosts. You get my drift, I’m sure. Sometimes the group inner fighting is distracting. To note, though, while the ne’er-do-well bro is a bit cliché, Nagel does well in not making him over-the-top obnoxious, which is usually the more obvious route, so again, gratitude.

One of the things about genre films, especially ghost stories, that tend to be noteworthy is the disconnect with how fast things are either dismissed or ignored right after a really creepy event. This is true of the majors as well as the indies. For example, in Poltergeist, some guy rips his face off in the mirror in an iconic scene, and then comes out of the bathroom to stop and marvel at a ghost coming down the stairs. If it was me, I would have said “fuck this shit” and walked right through the ghost and out the door. There are a few moments like that in this film, such as a sink full of blood and hair one moment and clean the next instant, in one case. Something like that would not get a response of “I have a bad feeling about this;” I would be freaking the hell out. There’s a similar event with a broken television that I won’t ruin, but honestly, I wouldn’t just “oh, there’s something wrong.” I would have set the freakin’ camper on fire and hope the smoke would bring someone.

Jeff Denton
The sensibilities of the film are more mainstream than most indies, and the high-power cast belies that. But there are also some questionable moments that made me cringe that had nothing to do with the story proper, such as Jennifer saying to Steve, “It’s your job to keep the family safe.” This is a bit heteronormative, and confusing to me. She’s trying to get him to fix the toybox to get it going again, and he says he’s no mechanic. But earlier on Mark describes Samantha as such, so shouldn’t Jennifer be confronting her rather than him? In my family, my spouse knows way more about automotives than do I, and we just accept that. Keeping families safe is everyone’s responsibility, not just that of the man. This isn’t 1980. Okay, so that rant is over, thank you for listening. And yes, for the sake of this conversation, Samantha does step up to the engine issue so that is addressed. Eventually.

There are definitely some serious issues with the behavior of some of the characters. Food and water goes bad overnight, but no one really seems to fret, even though they are in the middle of the desert. No water, but no one seems to be sweating and everyone’s hair stays shiny and luxurious (Richards keeps her iconic Farrah Fawcett curls just fine). That being said, there are some brave choice made here and there in the story you don't see very often.

Now, I’ve complained a bit about the story and writing, but let me get to both the nitty and gritty. There is a lot of blood and wounds, which look great, so thank you David Greathouse and crew.  The acting is quite good of course so no issues there, and the film looks beautiful as we look out over the golden desert terrain.

Overall, the film’s issue is more in the writing than presentation, such as no truly likeable character with whom to identify (everyone’s personality is a bit too flinty), plot questions, and choices made by the characters, such as the timing of a deep, emotional family discussion that seems oddly placed in the story and throwing off the pacing. On the other hand, as I said, it looks lovely and is certainly okay for a Saturday afternoon distraction, has some nicely disturbing otherworldly characters, more than expected blood and mayhem, and has a post-1980s feel to it that is after the VHS explosion of cheese, but before the overwhelming detail of the Hostel/Saw physical torture.

Micha Barton
In the long run, as I know I have been comparing this to other films, let me posit one other, which is a bit obscure but actually aligns pretty well: The Car, from 1977. So now, let’s talk about spooks. First of all, there is a very cool Ghost Girl (Katie Keene, who was great in Inoperable), but what was that about? There is no context in the story for her being there, and her appearance is way brief. As for the central serial killer, there is some kind of indication of possibly trying to make Robert Gunthry (David Greathouse) part of the Freddy-Jason-Michael-Pinhead pantheon, but that isn’t going to work for one simple reason: no teenagers were seen harmed or threatened during the film, as they were in the initial run of the other horror gods.

While some of the actions are telegraphed (windows shaking before closing violently), including some deaths, it’s the surprise ones that are the most fun.

Just to note, much of the crew and cast also worked together in Tom Nagel’s previous film in 2016, ClownTown, and it comes across in the quality of the way things flow between the actors, and how well the film is put together.

I caught a screener of this film, but the Blu-ray and DVD will include a feature-length commentary by the director, producer Jeff Miller, writer/actor Jeff Denton, and Brian Nagel, plus there is a behind the scenes featurette.




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