Tag Archives: Possession

The Toybox is Frequently Hilarious – Too Bad It’s Not a Comedy

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Supernatural horror film The Toybox was released earlier this week after a screening earlier in 2018 at the Texas Frightmare Weekend. Admittedly, I knew little about this movie aside from its two principal actors – Denise Richards and Mischa Barton. Now when I sit down write a review, it’s never my intent to be unnecessarily mean-spirited. I appreciate the passion and good intentions of creators. Yet I also want readers to know why I may like or dislike a particular film. In the case of The Toybox, it’s difficult to talk about any merits of the movie without making some rather frank observations. Spoiler Alert: This is a bad movie.

Synopsis

Recently widowed grandfather, Charles (Greg Violand), plans a trip in his new RV to bring his estranged family together again. Eldest son, Steve (Jeff Denton) and wife Jennifer (Denise Richards) agree to join him, along with their daughter, Mary. N’er-do-well son Jay (Brian Nagel) reluctantly gives in as well. Along the way, the family happens across brother and sister, Samantha and Mark, whose car has broken down. As they drive deeper into the isolated desert, the RV seems to lose control on its own and strands its passengers. Soon the family and their new passengers begin seeing awful visions of past crimes that may have been committed in the RV.

The Toybox Teases With Early Glimmers of Potential

Across its opening 10 minutes, The Toybox teases the audience with some glimmers of potential. A brief prologue offers a simple but effective jump scare that sets the stage. The opening prologue flashes haunting images across the screen that offer an ominous warning about what may be coming. Even when the low budget rears its head, director Tom Nagel still delivers some creepy images. Unfortunately, good intentions don’t make good movies.

Toybox 1

An Out-of-Control RV Crashing Into Unintentional Laughs

By the time The Toybox mercifully ends, you’ll have a hard time remembering all that early potential. An unholy trinity of factors come together to drag The Toybox into unintentional laughs. First, all of the performances are extremely weak. None of the male cast members effectively convey any kind of emotion. While Denise Richards was never confused with Meryl Streep  early in her career, she is surprisingly terrible in The Toybox. It’s not a good sign when a scene should elicit sadness and instead prompts snickers. That’s the kind of performance Richards delivers. Simply put, The Toybox will have fans thinking fondly of Wild Things and Valentine. Arguably, Mischa Barton gives the best performance. Let that sink in for a minute or so.

Mischa Barton Remembering That She Once Starred in The O.C.

A Screenplay Littered With Bad Dialogue and Illogical Characters

Second, The Toybox’s screenplay, which somehow is credited to four people, offers an inexplicably bad imitation of how real people behave. There are several head-shaking moments spread across the story. Characters behave in ways completely at odds with how people would react, rational or otherwise, in similar situations. At the halfway point of the movie, following a heartbreaking tragedy, parents Steve and Jennifer respond in an almost inexplicably bizarre manner. As a result, you’re more likely to laugh than feel any grief. It’s like Siri or Amazon’s Alexa tried writing how they think real people might act. Later in the movie, characters decide that the best time to have a heartfelt family conversation is in the midst of danger. Brain dead dialogue induces only serves to elicit more groans.

Poorly Paced Action Makes The Toybox Feel Like a Real Family Vacation

Lastly, The Toybox is a poorly paced film that long overstays its welcome. Director Jeff Denton is unable to generate any sense of momentum. A bad thing happens, followed by 10 minutes of nothing. Another bad thing happens, which begets 15 minutes or so of directionless storytelling. Once The Toybox unveils its supernatural killer, Robert Gunthry, any hopes of sustained fear are lost. While Gunthry is chilling in small doses, he mostly looks and sounds ridiculous when he is fully unleashed. Perhaps sensing how far off the rails his movie has fallen, Denton throws in some gore that just feels unnecessary.

The Toybox Has Little To Recommend

Two specific moments near the end of The Toybox provide a pretty good summary of the overall move. One frustrated characters refers to the possessed RV as ‘The Shitbox’, which would probably make a better film title. At the climax, Mischa Barton desperately struggles to escape the RV, which feels a bit like a metaphor for what The Toybox represents for her career. It’s a movie that liberally borrows elements from better films, including The Hills Have Eyes. Yet as a filmmaker, Denton doesn’t seem to know what to do with the parts. The end result is a bad movie that has little to recommend.

THE PROFESSOR’S FINAL GRADE: F

The Devil’s Candy is Tasty Heavy Metal Horror

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Few horror directors make quite the impression on their first kick at the can like Sean Byrne. The Aussie director’s debut effort, The Loved Ones, was critically acclaimed and has earned a cult following. Unfortunately for horror fans, Byrne took nearly six years to craft a follow-up. But it turns out the wait was worth it. Courtesy of IFC Midnight, Byrne’s sophomore effort, The Devil’s Candy, mixed heavy metal sensibilities with a devilishly minimalist approach to its subject matter. With so many movies spinning the same demonic possession story, The Devil’s Candy delighted in challenging audience expectations.

Synopsis

Late one evening, Ray Smilie, an eccentric man struggling with voices in his head, murdered his parents in their isolated farmhouse. Months later, struggling artist Jesse Hellman moves his wife, Astrid, and teenage daughter, Zoey, into the same house. To make ends meet, Jesse sets aside his own artistic vision for bland commission painting jobs. As he struggles with his most recent project, the same voices that plagued Ray Smilie haunt Jesse. And now a recently released Ray begins creeping around his old home, taking a strange interest in Zoey. As the voices tell Ray to take Zoey for ‘Him’, Jesse and his family find themselves in danger.

The Devil’s Candy Offers a Fresh Take on the Demonic Possession Genre

You won’t find any lazy story developments or tired tropes in The Devil’s Candy. In fact,  Bryne’s screenplay never explicitly mentions demons or The Devil, and the film avoids most of the conventional demonic story-line elements with which we’ve grown accustomed.

…Bryne’s screenplay never explicitly mentions demons or The Devil, and the film avoids most of the conventional demonic story-line elements with which we’ve grown accustomed.

Both Ray and Jesse hear demonic voices in their head. There’s also an upside crucifix motif that appears a few times. Yet most of the demonic elements of The Devil’s Candy are only subtly addressed. Ray, a child murderer, seems to be driven to claim his victims by ‘Him, and refers to the children as ‘His Candy.’ Over the course of the film, as Jesse increasingly falls under the spell of the voices, his artwork begins to include hellish imagery of dead children and his own daughter engulfed in flames.

Are the voices that Jesse hears Ray’s victims? Has he had a premonition of his daughter’s possible fate? Is the house some kind of gateway to Hell? Byrne leaves these questions to the viewer, opting instead to scatter breadcrumb references across the movie. For example, the art gallery that agrees to represent Jesse is called Belial, a reference to a demon from the Hebrew Bible that is often equated with the Devil. The gallery’s proprietor, Leonard, seems to evoke Faustian references, promising Jesse fame and riches. It’s Leonard tempting of Jesse to have another drink that leaves his daughter, Zoey, vulnerable to Ray. But The Devil’s Candy never offers easy answers, preferring to leave much of what is happening to mystery. Not everyone will like this approach but it adds to the story’s mounting suspense and unpredictability.

A Haunting and Disturbing Film That Will Linger

From its opening scene, The Devil’s Candy settles into a haunting and lingering atmosphere. Byrne mixes disturbing imagery and visuals with heavy metal riffs to produce a very unique aesthetic. A sunny park scene with a boy on a swing results in one of the more eerie horror films moments I have seen in a long time. Scenes in Jesse’s workroom as he paints mix shadows and stark colours in a visually arresting manner. Byrne has a unique style that is on full display in The Devil’s Candy and the result is a horror experience where you feel uneasy for much of the movie.

The Devil’s Candy is Anchored by a Strong Emotional Core

Another strong aspect of The Devil’s Candy is Byrne’s attention to his characters. Jesse’s relationship with his daughter, Zoey, provides a strong emotional core that anchors the movie amidst its creepy vibe and visuals. It’s a relationship that feels so genuine and real – Byrne gets that audiences will be more frightened if they have some investment with the characters. Ethan Embry brings an excellent mix of intensity and sensitivity to Jesse, while Kiara Glasco impresses as Zoey. Shiri Appleby is sadly underdeveloped and given much less to do as wife, Astrid. And Pruitt Taylor Vince, like the best horror villains, mixes menace with a creeping sadness.

The Devil’s Candy a Treat for Patient Horror Fans

Not all horror fans will appreciate the ambiguity of The Devil’s Candy. Its story leaves much of what happens open to subjective interpretation. Additionally, the scares aren’t of the ‘jump scare’ variety, but more tied to a patient investment in the characters and situations. Nonetheless, with this second effort, Byrne mixes things up a little from The Loved Ones. And the end result is still a hauntingly good horror movie that should leave most viewers feeling unsettled long after the credits are done rolling. film. Hopefully, we wont’ have to wait as long for Byrne’s next film.

THE PROFESSOR’S FINAL GRADE: A-

Veronica Is Familiar But Genuinely Scary Spanish Horror

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As compared to 2017, the 2018 year in horror has been a little slower. By this time a year ago, Split, Get Out, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, and The Void had already been released. To date, the only major horror releases, Insidious: The Last Key and Winchester, have been lacklustre or outright duds. The Ritual, available since early February on Netflix, met expectations. But there hasn’t been much else for horror fans to sink their teeth into this year. Fortunately, Netflix released Spanish horror film Veronica from director Paco Plaza on February 26. According to some critics, we now have an early candidate for horror film of the year.

Synopsis

Veronica is a 15-year-old girl living with her three younger siblings and mother. Since her father’s death, Veronica’s mother works late hours at a local bar. With her mother out of the house, Veronica is forced to play surrogate parent to her younger siblings. During a solar eclipse, Veronica and two school friends sneak away from class to play on a Ouija board. Something strange happens during their brief game. As the days pass following their seance, Veronica begins experiencing supernatural phenomenon. Soon Veronica learns that she may have put her family in horrible danger.

Veronica Breathes Scary Life Into a Familiar Concept

While Veronica doesn’t offer much new with its storyline, it more than makes up for it with style, acting, and genuine scares. Like the best supernatural films, director Paco Plaza takes his time, methodically ratcheting up the tension. Strange occurrences start small. Toys make noises by themselves, lights flicker, and shadowy apparitions linger in the background. It’s all pretty familiar stuff for ghost movies. Yet the movie is seeped in enough style to make it feel frightfully new.

… Plaza wisely elects to focus on atmosphere, maintaining a consistently mounting sense of dread.

During a family dinner, for instance, Veronica freezes with food dribbling from her mouth and hands trembling. Her siblings can only look on helplessly. It’s a scene that perfectly balance family drama with standard horror elements. Demonic figures lurk in the background. Plaza wisely keeps these figures in the shadows, thereby increasing their menace without exposing budgetary restraints. Plaza’s ghost story boasts some truly haunting images. Veronica’s deceased father makes a ghostly appearance that serves up a good jolt. A blind school nun, nicknamed “Sister Death” by the students, may out-creep Valak in The Nun. Plaza also spreads out several effective jump scares, while largely focusing on atmosphere and mounting dread.

Frights Rooted in Strong Performances

All the acting performances in Veronica are excellent. Sandra Escacena, who shoulders the bulk of the film as Veronica, is a standout. The young actress absolutely convinces as isolated teenage girl increasingly backed into a desperate situation. Even the much younger child actors offer believable performances.

Veronica is one of the first films released over the last several months that has left me with a genuinely chilled sensation.

In addition to the performances, Plaza sets up several disturbing images that will be pure nightmare fuel for some viewers. The climax and its twist aren’t game-changers. Seasoned horror fans will see what’s coming. But Plaza’s execution of the horror tropes enlivens the scares. Veronica also distinguishes itself from similar films through its investment in Veronica’s plight. Mainstream horror films often sacrifice character development for cheap scares. Here we have an example of a movie confident enough in its material to spend time with its characters. This is one of the first films released over the last several months that has left me with a genuinely chilled sensation.

Early Candidate for Horror Film of the Year

Critics have heaped a lot of praise on Veronica. In this case, Veronica has earned very bit of that critical recognition. While it’s certainly not an original premise, director Paco Plaza constructs a chilling film that invests its well-worn concept with an abundance of style and substance that exceeds any limitations of familiarity. This is a film that works on its aesthetics and performances, managing to chill regardless of its adherence to genre conventions. After a stretch of two months in 2018 with not much worth watching, Veronica joins The Ritual as as early candidate for a ‘best of 2018’ horror list.

THE PROFESSOR’S FINAL GRADE: A-