I enjoyed the trailer for The Toll, though I’ve had enough disappointments to know that a good trailer does not a good movie make.

That being said, The Toll is damn good. Part of what makes it work is the writing, which is particularly strong though what’s also worth mentioning in that in the Toll Man, you have an antagonist that cares about other things beyond killing whomever he happens to be after.

Though to be sure, that’s all you initially see though as the movie plays out you begin to notice that’s there’s more going on between Cami (Jordan Hayes) and Spencer (Max Topplin) than you initially thought, and the Toll Man plays an interesting role in their reaction.

Another thing is that the Toll Man is powerful, but he exists in a world of well-established limits (one being that he doesn’t seem capable of directly harming anyone. His think is to make his victims harm themselves, which he does by manipulating their perceptions, typically by using their pasts against them).

The establishing of limits is an important thing about any monster because if you take away limits they become essentially invincible, which is a bit boring, truth be told.

In fact, The Toll reminds me somewhat of The Bye Bye Man (2017), except taking away that movie’s glaring logic flaws and inconsistent lore.

In other words, it’s pretty damn good.