The Toybox – Movie Review
Director: Tom Nagel
Writer: Jeff Denton, Jeff Miller, Brian Nagel (Screenplay)
Cast
- Mischa Barton (The Sixth Sense)
- Jeff Denton (King of the Lost World)
- Denise Richards (Alpha Code)
- Brian Nagel (ClownTown)
- Greg Violand (Carol)
Plot: An estranged family take a trip to the desert in their used RV but become stranded and isolated in the scorching terrain. They soon learn their RV holds terrible, haunting secrets, and it starts killing them off one by one.
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Toybox starts when a family, Charles (Wioland), Steve (Denton), Jennifer (Richards), Jay (Nagel) and Olivia (Michelle) set out on an RV vacation. They have come together after a painful year to try and reconnect and move on after a loss in the family. Along the way, they pick up two stranded people Samantha (Barton) and Mark (Mercer).
However, after an incident sees the RV get trapped in the desert, people start getting killed. This leads to a series of strange events happening around the family, as they learn the RV has a much darker history.
Verdict on The Toybox
The Toybox is a horror thriller following a family that finds themselves stranded in the desert after their RV breaks down. However, that isn’t the worst part of their story, they find out the RV is haunted and is looking to kill anyone inside.
On paper, this is an interesting concept by having the travellers struggle to battle an unseen presence. However, it does a few things that are confusing, that lead us down a strange path. First, it doesn’t seem to know whether it is committing to one presence or not. Like, we see others, but they don’t seem to have any impact on what we see unfolding. It seems to set up one type of presence and then never use it.
The movie doesn’t hold back in everything we see as the family deals with their own personal problems. However, it seems to leave us in a strange position by the end. The performances are strong and help with the personal and horrific nature of everything.
Final Thoughts – The Toybox is a solid late-night horror movie.
