Awkward car rides with strangers are the worst. Getting pulled into a pocket dimension during an awkward car ride with a stranger, forcing the two of you to rely on one another to survive the ensuing onslaught of fear and terror would be an absolute nightmare. Unfortunately for the protagonists of last year’s The Toll, they find themselves in that exact scenario. At three in the morning.

Spencer (Max Topplin) is a socially awkward rideshare driver. One night, he picks up Cami (Jordan Hayes), a young woman on her way to visit her reclusive dad. She’s tired after a bad flight and overly cautious. He’s trying way too hard to overcompensate for the awkward atmosphere. They’re a match made in Social Anxiety Hell, and the situation is in no way improved when Spencer takes a wrong turn and the car suddenly breaks down. Suddenly, the movie goes from zero to one hundred.

Cami sets off alone into the dark, assuming the odds of anyone finding them on a backroad in the wee hours of the morning are slim and/or none, and sees the impossible: the road is unmistakeably barricaded, with a detour leading into the woods. With a healthy dose of skepticism, Cami decides to ignore the signs. They just drove down that road, after all. There’s no way they could’ve missed it being closed, right? As she gets closer to each “road closed” sign, creepy notes scribbled on them at eye-level taunt her. Unsettled but not put off, Cami presses on. And finds herself right back at the car.

With the assistance of a mysterious old farmer who claims she can’t help the pair because they’re “somewhere else,” Cami and Spencer come to understand what they’re up against: a mysterious Toll Man who must be paid – in blood. What follows is a tense, reality-bending game of cat-and-mouse as whatever’s waiting down that detour forces the pair to confront their unhappy pasts, challenging the tenuous trust they’ve built at every turn.

Mixing the terror of Cami and Spencer’s present situation with the pain of their pasts – especially Cami’s – is where The Toll absolutely shines. There’s a sequence where Cami confronts past and future versions of herself that feels like something straight out of a Mike Flanagan movie – a compliment I do not give lightly. And it all leads up to a spectacular ending that is one of the most satisfying I’ve seen in a long time.

The Toll will absolutely leave you with questions, but in the best way. Director Michael Nader does a very good job following the “show, don’t tell” principle of storytelling, and there’s enough lore for at least one more film in the same universe. A direct sequel would probably suck, but that just means that a complete and satisfying story was told. The Toll is terrifying, with an effective blend of supernatural and deeply human elements. I’d recommend checking it out on Does The Dog Die before watching, though. It’s a bit like the film equivalent of walking through a well-crafted haunt, with the added bonus of being able to bring popcorn.

9 out of 10