Toxin (2015)

Familiar faces result in familiar mush. Jones, and especially Glover, show that they are way, waaay, past their prime in this sci-fi would- be thriller with weak effects and it's sleep-inducing soap opera pace.Jones does occasionally shine convincingly as a disciplined soldier tool - he's got that MADman look down pat. Glover though is plain boring as a "doctor scientist"? Like other actor losers, Glover hardly ever changes his voice/accent, tone or look - it's as if he plays himself in every movie. Not as bad as that Machete guy, or Ice T or Ice cube - but Glover is still an all too familiar cardboard stiff popping up in too many movies.Every time Glover appeared I glanced the clock, wondering whether to bail or check email, or see if it got better. It didn't.Weak plot overall but the film does have a few engaging moments. Sadly - they are few and far between. Zzz. There were simple continuity mistakes galore in lighting and several scenes.Initially, Dean the hero is driven by the "urgency" to save his grandma from eviction - from there it gets complicated and whatever heat there that begins to flare up, quickly gets dissipated. There's a toxin in grandma's house and as usual the bad guys are the Evil Government villains who have corrupt designs on that toxin. From there it's the usual body count game - predicting who the next victim will be. Zzzzz.There's a laughable scene when the teen-looking Dean "manhandles" the taller, heavier mercenary soldier character played by Jones - yeah right.Like another reviewer here put it - go in not expecting anything great and you'll pass the time easy! Or you could do laundry or some cooking at the same time and feel productive - you will not miss a beat in this slow moving movie.OR save this movie for a night when you got amnesia! Zzzz.

A LOT of familiar faces and yes a similar plot to add to the many - "end of days" movies, but this one didn't suck! I walked out of similar films that made it much larger and IMO director Jason Dudek did a nice job. Perhaps it was mis marketed as a horror and thriller, when it is really more of a drama. With that purview, perhaps these reviews would be more kind! I really enjoyed Margo Harshman (I won't give any spoilers!) and Taylor Handley was stepping up into a larger role since his child acting days. Not too bad on the eyes either. If you can stick with the journey through character relationships and and plot development (with some twists and turns) it does all come together. Give it a try but don't think that this is a psychological thriller or next big horror film. I think the biggest disconnect is that the actors are so diverse you may not know what to expect out of them in a low budget flick.

The bio-terror thriller is always ripe for a reboot, and TOXIN keeps alive the idea that scientists that work on creating and/or trying to control an unleashed virus are usually portrayed as at least somewhat psychotic. That approach is on view in this low budget but effective thriller, in which Danny Glover gives a good "I'm calm behind these eyes" performance as this film's resident psychotic researcher. Glover is well aided by Vinnie Jones and athletic Taylor Handle, as the heroic Dean who attempts and nearly succeeds in getting anti-serum to his girlfriend (the exceptional Margo Harshmann), who is slowly dying from exposure. Dudek gets good intensity from his leads and offers Fiona Hale a juicy part as Granny Sara. Director Dudek is, though, not well served by screenwriter Dudek. The teenage body count section dips its toe into parody territory, but it is played straight. And too many teenie characters are broadly played by lesser 2nd tier actors. Once Dean goes after Glover the movie gets more interesting, with a fairly good, logical ending for this type of anti-science movie. The science, incidentally, sounds pretty loose when it comes to the bio warfare aspect, although there are some mildly startling uses of CGI to portray 3-D computerisms and the bacterium itself.... those things give the movie some needed production value.

When I saw the poster for Toxin, I was expecting a B-horror movie with over the top gore and effects. This film stands out as solid entertainment and is more of a drama/sci-fi hybrid. The storyline with Dean and his grandmother is very endearing. Dean sets out to help his ageing, hoarding grandmother get her place cleaned up. She comes across at first as the typical crazy woman, but soon develops into a wonderful movie stealing performance. Fluctuating between lucid and disoriented she is able to overcome her hoarding with the help of Dean. There's a hint to a spiritual theme of living in the present moment that plays out nicely at the end of the film. A film needs to have a message. This one does and it seems the other reviewers missed it. Dean may seem like the unstoppable protagonist as critics have pointed out, yet he failed to save the most important thing in his life, his grandmother. The loss of her and how he copes with it ties into the loss of his friend during battle. The lesson Dean learns helps him cope with loss. The film ends with a powerful image of a Buddah that Dean leaves on his grandmother's headstone, which was a perfect visual image to seal their journey together. Interspersed throughout is an entertaining sci-fi take on pharmaceutical companies and the dangers they can be to society. If you are expecting actors to make good decisions in a horror movie, then don't see this one. If you don't mind actors making entertaining decisions, see this movie and have fun with it.