Toad Road (2012)

A portrait of contemporary youth culture, where the lines between reality and fiction are blurred with often frightening results.

Director:

Jason Banker

Writer:

Jason Banker

Stars:

James Davidson, Sara Anne Jones, Whitleigh Higuera

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview:
James Davidson	...	James
Sara Anne Jones	...	Sara
Whitleigh Higuera	...	Whitleigh
Jamie Siebold	...	Jamie
Scott Rader	...	Scott
Donnie Simmons	...	Donnie
Damon Johansen	...	Uncle Damon
Andy San Dimas	...	Sarah (as Sarah Joelle Hildebrand)
Jim Driscoll	...	Detective
Andy Martin	...	Psychiatrist

Storyline

A portrait of contemporary youth culture, where the lines between reality and fiction are blurred with often frightening results.

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Plot Keywords:

drug use | woods | male nudity | male frontal nudity | animal in title | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The majority of the actors in the film had never acted before and have "Toad Road" as their only acting credit.

User Reviews

Excellent Transcendental Experimental Film

This was a really enthralling film, quite gripping, and I would disagree with those who have said it has no horror elements; it has them, but that isn't the focus on the film.

Overall it leaves things unresolved and unsettles the viewer, but it also makes the viewer think, which is something these films typically don't do. It doesn't give any handy or quick answers as to whether or not 'drugs are bad', passes no real judgement on its characters, and seems to have at least some grasp on drugs and drug culture. Some of the aspects of the film were not entirely plausible for all the characters (which most viewers probably won't notice), and others seemed superfluous.

As the film went on, it became difficult to distinguish what was actually happening, which was interesting enough; it seemed at times prosaic, but did that mean it actually occurred that way? You don't know, because neither does the main character. What happened in the woods? Are they really a gate to hell? You don't know. But something happened in those woods, and part of the horror is just that: you don't know.

A very effective and bittersweet film, with horror elements that cannot be denied, this works very well because the characters are real and the situations seem to be very believable. It is definitely experimental...that's what I would call this...but it's an excellent film. It's worth watching, and it also makes some great statements about life. It's not a 'drug film', it's not a 'youth film'...it's a film about life and how we're all pretty much feeling our way through darkness to try and find some meaning and some vague destination that we really just don't know.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 October 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Toad Road

Filming Locations:

York, Pennsylvania, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Random Bench Productions, SpectreVision

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1