The Toybox is a film that comes to us from overseas in the United Kingdom. While the movie is in fact a horror film, I personally see this movie having trouble catching the eye of Americans. The reason for this is that the movie has entirely too much British lingo and seem more like a show on the BBC network here in the U.S. than it does of the likes as some other well known movies made in the U.K. like 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead.
The Toybox is a movie that is inspired by the imagination of two young children named Berenice and Brian whom make up an imaginary world based on books of local legends, myths and monsters. In the beginning of the film Berenice puts Brian in a toy box after he kills a pet in a blender while pretending that it’s something else. The film then cuts to years later and Berenice and Brian have grown apart somewhat. Berenice returns home to her parents house with her new boyfriend for the holidays, but an unexpected visitor; Brian shows up to see her as well and his imagination is still stuck on their childhood innuendos. Brian then begins to become somewhat obsessive about their tales and shit starts to hit the fan.
I found the synopsis of the plot to seem rather simple and I honestly thought I was going to get a simple horror film when I popped this film into my DVD player. However what I got was a story that was full of complexities and plot holes. It had a very hard to follow plot, and at times I honestly lost my overall concentration from what was going on in this movie. The movie was very jumpy from scene to scene, and it affected my overall view of the movie as a whole.
I can’t say that the acting in this film was either great or bad. I understand that there will always be a difference between American acting and British acting styles. However British actors all sound the same in their speech and they always seem to lack in expression. And that’s one of the things I found to be bothersome about the acting in this film was the overall expressions that the actors tried to include in their characters. It just felt dry to me, and it affected my overall view and feel of the film. Their expressive comedy was well received by me, but when it came to the seriousness of the horror in the film, I felt that expressionism lacked.
Where the film had it’s high points was with the use of shots and dark overall feel of the film. The effects were pretty decent as well. However one thing that did bother me was that I felt the sets were under lit in certain scenes and that the movie seemed too dark at certain points. This made me lose my interest in the shot or scene, however the film does bounce back with the shots used by the director, as I did find his use of shots to be effective in the telling of the story.
Overall, while it seems like I have more of a negative opinion than a positive one about this movie, I did find that this film did have some high points. I think that this movie will be one that does win over the fans of horror in the U.K. I don’t think it will be a hit with fans in the U.S.A. It’s not a bad movie, but it does have it’s flaws and along with it’s heavy British acting and cast. I can see this film not catching the eye of us Americans. Mainly because we need a lot more action packed suspense.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
