Review of The Toybox (2018) by Artemiy V — 17 Sep 2018

The ToyBox was an interesting premise with a somewhat poorly execution. I blame the director and partly the writer for making the well-acted cast act out such an odd execution, which turns the film from interesting with potential to a sham with many tropes. Besides that, the special effects are slightly more good than they are bad, which I think for an indie film is a positive quality. Not only that, but the sound design in the movie is pretty great, really commend whoever was in charge of that. Unfortunately, the best part of the movie was not the horror aspect but the relationship between the sons and the father. It says a lot when the part of the film that felt so out of place and was not integrated well into the film is the best part of it, as well as the shortest.

If you want to watch a good horror film, it's best to put your time and money elsewhere. If you want to watch a good drama, it's also better to put your time and money elsewhere.

I think the director has potential to create something great. Same with the writer. They just need to be more innovative, more grounded, and less tropey with their directing/script, and they'll make a good movie in my opinion. However, with how bland the horror aspect of the film ended up being, I wholeheartedly cannot recommend this film.