"Realms" versus "The Toybox"

Welcome to another one of MoVTie Critic's "Movie Versus". For those unfamiliar with this, this is where I put two films with similar themes (or sometimes actors or directors) in a head to head review to see which earns the most Green Mountain Stars (G.M.Stars). Today's theme is supernatural psychological horror. While these films are very different from one another, they each take the characters on a horrific thrill ride as supernatural forces play mind games with them and they must fight for their survival. So without further to do, let's get started.

Up first is the dark creepy "Realms" starring Ryan Kelley from tv series "Teen Wolf". In this story, two American bank robbers Bobby and his girlfriend Jewel (Ryan Kelley and Madison McKinley) have just gotten through with a violent and lucrative hold-up in a Bangkok, Thailand bank and have taken three locals as hostages Winny (Praya Lundberg) her friend Earn (Air Phantila) and a random guy with a getaway car Chaow (Golf Pichaya Nitipaisankul). After high speed chase with police and an attempted escape gone wrong, the five find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere with the exception of an old abandoned mansion where the robbers secure their hostages with the intent on holding up until the heat dies down. Yet it isn't long before the hostages begin to realize that there may be a greater danger than just their captives as they start to see things and experience flashbacks of the old mansion's dark past. It will take everything they have to escape their captors and find a way to safety, if the mansion lets them leave alive.

Next, we have the gory thriller "The Toybox". In this film, Charles (Greg Violand) has just purchased an old RV in the hopes of fulfilling a long talked about family trip with his two sons Steve (Jeff Denton) and Jay (Brian Nagel) who has been estranged from his dad for years. Coming along is Steve's wife Jennifer (Denise Richards) and their little girl Olivia (Malika Michelle) who are trying to help Steve keep the peace between Charles and Jay as they head out towards the desert to a site seeing destination. Along the way, they pick up stranded motorist Samantha and her brother Mark (Mischa Barton and Matt Mercer) and promise to get them to a garage after their planned stop, but before they can come close, the RV violently breaks down resulting in Mark being killed. Stranded out in the middle of nowhere with no signs of any help coming, the group tries to decide what to do next, but with every attempt to fix the RV or leave, accidents seem to follow injuring or killing off a member of the group one by one. As the situation becomes more dire, it comes to light that the RV has dark secrets that are starting to manifest with frightening images and a supernatural entity that plans on playing with them, to death.

Each movie brings dark and disturbing plots to the table, but only one can go away with a plate full of stars. "Realms" is eerie and brings enlightening surprises to its story making it confusing yet creative as you follow the journey of the characters while they take on the darkness with Ryan Kelley taking on the role of the villain from his traditional role as tortured hero that many have come to know him shows that this actor has range. Yet what it delivers in its suspense, it tends to lack much in the way of a shock value. There was little to know dramatic scenes that made you want to jump out of your seat that you might expect a ghostly supernatural film to have. So while it will interest the die-hard horror fan looking for originality, it won't be much of a thrill at scary movie night, so I feel this only deserves three G.M.Stars

⭐⭐⭐

"The Toybox" however jumps right into the torture and gore and not sparing anyone that it comes across. The visual and make-up effects are definitely top-notch and the family dynamic that goes from broken to fighting as one delivered an emotional impact as you crossed your fingers in the hopes there just might be a survivor. The only thing I could find at fault with this film is it kept a simple backstory that didn't go into divulging details leaving a lot of questions unanswered. This may have been partly intentional, perhaps for the chance to give more in a future sequel, but whatever the reason, it adds to the enigma that is the RV and takes home three and a half G.M.Stars making it the winner of this "Movie Versus". Hope you enjoyed reading about these "Movies You May Have Missed" and that I have you intrigued to want to see them. Just be sure you watch it with friends in a house that's not on wheels or strangely abandoned, you never know.

⭐⭐⭐½
Green Mountain Stars

"Realms" and "The Toybox" are currently available at Redbox and where movies are sold/streamed.