Following our interview with the key cast members of Michael Nader’s feature directorial debut, The Toll, we also got a chance to sit down with the Director to talk about his terrifying dissection of the rise of the sharing economy.
Prompting a debate on society’s increasing dependence on and trusting of complete strangers, The Toll sees Cami (Jordan Hayes) order a car share service to take her to her father’s country home. She hopes for a quiet and uneventful ride, but a wrong turn by Spencer (Max Topplin), her socially awkward driver, results in the car breaking down on a dark and remote road. After several threatening and inexplicable occurrences, they both realise someone or something is out there in the dark, closing in on them, ready to exact a deadly toll.
The Toll releases in Theatres, On Demand and Digital today, 26 March, so we caught up with Nader who explained how this new horror villain was inspired by the classic highwayman, who, in The Middle Ages was called a “Gentlemen of the Road” which he found very evocative as it lends itself to the idea of a quiet, dignified and polite front that’s really just a disguise for a terrifying threat.
Words: Howard Gorman
