Waste of time

Really Surprised!

Absolutely the worst movie.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Toad Road is absolutely mislabeled as a horror film, and the DVD case synopsis is extremely misleading as the vast majority of the film has nothing to do whatsoever with the literal Toad Road urban legend highlighted on the synopsis (and for which the movie is named).However, there is something worthwhile that can be taken from it if you've not been duped into believing this would actually be traditionally horrific or even slightly scary.Toad Road, as the urban legend in the film, is entirely metaphorical. It isn't a "real" place - It's what happens when a person goes down the road of drug addiction.The first "gate," which causes the feeling of being watched, can be attributed to either paranoia as a side effect of certain recreational drugs or the fear of being caught doing drugs.The second gate, where you hear voices, can obviously be attributed to hallucinations, but the specific mention of the voices being family/friends "disappointed" in you refers to those around you appalled at your decision to begin drug abuse.The third gate, where you see things that aren't real, is again referring to hallucinations but probably also the delusional view that your life will be fine.The fourth gate, where everything starts to die, refers to one's physical body after long-time drug abuse - this metaphor is especially obvious to those who have seen time-lapse photos of meth addicts.The fifth gate, where time distorts and things seem unreal, is when the continual drug use makes you start going insane literally all the time, and your life becomes an incomprehensible mess of harsh reality and horrifying fantasy.The mention that "no one's ever gotten to the 6th gate" is because the 6th gate is the point of no return. No one ever gets back from the 6th gate because once you're there it's when the body and mind finally succumb to what the drugs have put you, mentally and physically, through.The 7th and final gate, of course, is death.Sara's belief that Toad Road leads to something good is the blind, naive assumption that continual drug use will always take one to a higher, better state of mind - Instead of resulting in pain and eventual death.Toad Road is not a horror film - It is a cautionary metaphorical tale. While I personally wish the DVD case wasn't so amazingly misleading, it was still interesting... though it would be a lot more so to people who actually seek out this sort of film instead of a horror film.2/10 for horror, but 8/10 for metaphorical cautionary tale. The average of those is 5/10, thus my rating.

Horror turns metaphor into reality. This one leaves it vague, so not quite a horror. Maybe ghost story is a better description.I wasn't glued to it, but the naturalistic style was enjoyable along with the improvisation. The lead parts are played well and the way one overtakes the other is well paced.It's an odd piece that works nicely, leaving no consolation in the end and no bogus morality - just nihilism. Not much more to say about it really.Review: (maximum of 1,000 words, minimum of 10 lines, see guidelines for details)

There's nothing here. No characterization, no plot. Netflix calls this a "thriller" but it has nothing even remotely resembling a thrill, reviews called it a "horror movie" but it never even tries to be scary in any way, although there is a couple of mentions of a "road to hell" that you never see more of than a few people taking a walk through ordinary woods during which nothing happens. They hired a bunch of teenage loadies who weren't actors, filmed them getting wasted and throwing up, and added the few minutes of them throwing up, and then 2 minutes at the end of a detective interviewing one of them about a crime that wasn't shown and isn't explained. A complete waste of film.

Something tells me, the people who gave this film a bad review are most likely fans of The Core or Gravity. Toad Road to me is a masterpiece of filmography. I couldn't walk away. I kept asking myself "Is this really happening?" Are they acting? The creepy music, the grainy images, and the whole mystery of Toad Road left me only wanting more. I wanted to know more about Sara, the director, and the rest of the cast. The credits roll, and I swallowed my gum. No spoilers here. Real Film buffs watch and love. All others, keep trying to find out how to lose a guy in ten days. Do not research this film prior to watching. I would almost like to see a documentary about the film. I don't know why the film has been overlooked, perhaps its the name. I admit, I skipped over it multiple times trying to find that diamond in the ruff amongst the sea of coal usually found on streaming movie accounts. Well, this is one. Like Lovely Molly, I was left disturbed, but satisfied.