Nonureva
Really Surprised!
Reptileenbu
Did you people see the same film I saw?
Breakinger
A Brilliant Conflict
Tyreece Hulme
One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
hcampbell-70473
This is a perfectly dull muddle of nonsense for almost an hour, then from out of nowhere a weak attempt at a plot shows up! Seriously though, Toad Road is a mess of a movie saved only bybsolid performances. We get just short of an hour of aimless drug abuse and dialogue before our "filmmaker" seems to have remembered that a plot is a requirement in a movie ansd, oh yeah, this is a horror movie. Our leads then wander off looking for the seven gates of hell, when all along the very movie they are stuck in is hell enough. In short, some talented young actors working with a minimal script and a pretentious director equals a bad movie.
Scott Hoffman
This film is for a small audience. Most people are going to grow bored and/or disgusted with this story 10 minutes in. For some of us though, this is the type of film that we love to stumble upon. It is a beautifully shot and acted indie picture featuring a unique and brutal story. As I watched Toad Road for the first time, I got the impression that the players and their performances were something more genuine than paid actors reciting a script. I have since then learned (from articles found online) that this film wasn't just thespians regurgitating lines. Many people involved played roles modeled after themselves. Most of the actors play characters of the same name and in a tragic turn of life imitating art, Sara Anne Jones who played the leading lady died of a drug overdose a couple weeks after the film's debut. If you like cut and dry story telling, this isn't for you. If you want something with all the blanks filled in, this isn't for you. But if you want something uncomfortably gritty and in your face, you need to check this out. I look forward to watching this again in the near future and I can't wait to check out other works by Writer/Director Jason Banker.
filmbizarro
I admit it, I get a kick out of movies that distort reality. I don't mean strictly surreal movies, even though I like that too, but movies that take on a rather realistic style and then twist it around - much like the previously reviewed "Ape" did. "Toad Road" takes a slightly more subtle way of things, especially since it deals with drugs as well. Yes, if a movie deals with drugs I am more likely to accept the way it bends reality as still being realistic. F*ck it, I don't need to explain why, do I? It's drugs! You all kids do it, so you know exactly what I mean.The movie is based around the legend of the Toad Road, a long road through the woods that has 7 different gates. It has been said that no one has came to the 7th gate, and that after the 5th some seriously strange things start to happen and that's the furthest anyone has gotten. A group of friends get high in all the ways they can, and just seem to enjoy the life they are living, albeit going nowhere. The movie is about James and a girl he meets, Sara. Sara sees the drug use as something bigger, and after James tells her about the Toad Road her curiosity is piqued. She needs to go there, she has to try and reach the final gate. She manages to get James with her, and that's the last time Sara is seen.The movie is very real and simple a lot of the time, but it still manages to get creepy once they go to the Toad Road. The last part of the movie is spent only with James and it's hard not to reflect on the past events in a similar way to how James does it. It feels even more odd knowing that the actress playing Sara, Sara Anne Jones, has since passed away. Her part in this movie is so important to keep it steady - James Davidson is fantastic too, but he needs a co-star that carries just as much strength, and Sara did that. It's a shame to lose someone like her."Toad Road" brings up a lot of questions while still working as a creepy story of a missing person. Most of all it's existentialistic and the use of drugs in the movie is just spot on to put every piece where it belongs. The movie doesn't need to go over board with anything, and the pace becomes one of the most important things about it. It's slower than your typical Hollywood movie, but still not a movie that literally struck me as "slow". It's hard to describe it, but it's a movie that keeps its audience busy and hooks us in to the experience. It's a movie that makes you question your choices, your past, your future, your curiosity and your mortality, and that's probably one of the biggest compliments a movie can get. A really strong effort!More reviews at FilmBizarro.com
Boyd
OK ... Lets go out and film our mates getting trashed ... Then throw in some walking in the woods ... Then lets just throw in some sort of blair witch old rubbish about some urban legend ... Then we'll just edit it together in a form that relates to a narrative and hope nobody realises that its absolute nonsense Toad Road or Watch a blank screen I'd go for the second option Life's to short for this sort of rubbish Oh god ... The review is too short ... But if your reading this you are considering watching this waste of time "film" so I'd better blather on till I've got ten lines and save 74 minutes of your life for you so there we are : ) Peace