Movies
[Fantasia ’12 Interview] Director Jason Banker On Drug Use And Paranormal Experiences In ‘Toad Road’
Jason Banker’s debut feature film, Toad Road, had its world premiere this past Friday at Fantasia Film Festival. Banker has quite the impressive cinematographer portfolio, working on many documentaries such as My Name Is Faith, and All Tomorrow’s Parties, but with Toad Road, Banker delivers a realistic portrayal of a drug induced paranormal world. The film explores an urban legend about The Seven Gates Of Hell, and it follows a group of misled party-goers who venture a bit too far into the rabbit hole.
Jason Banker took the time to chat with me about his first feature film, his past relationship with drug use, urban legends, and a lot more.
BD: Toad Road explores an urban legend from York, PA. Can you tell us about the legend and why you wanted to make a film about it?
Banker: Toad Road is a small wooded road that is said to contain seven gates that lead to hell. As you pass through each gate your experiences and the world around you change. I really wanted to explore the aimless nature of youth culture with its obvious and sometimes hidden dangers and this urban legend lent itself to that story.
BD: Did you ever walk take a walk through “The Seven Gates Of Hell” yourself?
Banker: I haven’t, but in my life I’ve known a number of people who have done it.
BD: Psychedelic drugs play a huge role throughout the film, as well as the culture that goes along with drug use. How does drug use relate to hell, or the paranormal for you? How do you approach the subject without making it seem like an anti-drug movie?
Banker: Psychedelic drug use blurs the lines between what’s real and what’s going on inside your own head. It seems to be the most direct parallel to having a paranormal experience. As a filmmaker, I felt it was important to objectively portray all sides and let the audience make their own discoveries.
BD: In another interview of yours, you mentioned that you have experience with friend groups like the one in Toad Road. Was it difficult to revisit that part of your life and to explore it on film?
Banker: It wasn’t difficult because I had enough distance and other life experiences to see it objectively. I wanted to understand and explore it. This is such a part of our culture that now I felt like it was fertile creative ground and with a new perspective, I could understand it better.
BD: The non-linear narrative of Toad Road creates a slow burning sense of dread rather than constant shocking images to bring the horror to the audience. As a director how do you go about creating such a mood? Did a lot of it come down to the postproduction?
Banker: With my background in documentary filmmaking, the approach was to shoot a wealth of footage so that when Jorge Torres-Torres, my filmmaking collaborator and I began editing we found a number of powerful tonal shifts that ultimately elevated the mood.
BD: You’ve got a pretty impressive DP portfolio under your belt, mostly shooting documentaries. How did you find the transition into fiction storytelling and directing?
Banker: I love shooting and collaborating with other filmmakers, but it was exciting to finally have complete control of the filmmaking process on my first narrative feature. I felt I had a story I really needed to tell and this was that story.
BD: A lot of the scenes and dialogue seem very natural, almost eerily real. Were a lot of the scenes improvised? How much creative freedom did the actors have?
Banker: I chose not to go the traditional actor route and did my casting off of MySpace to find a cast with real relationships to aid the authenticity on screen and to allow for some improvisation.
BD: One of my favorite parts of the movie was the pervasive and dynamic soundtrack. There’s some really creepy music combined with heavy droning throughout. I sense a bit of a David Lynch influence. Can you tell us a little bit about your vision for the sound design?
Banker: Lynch is a huge influence for me, and I wanted to create the full sensory experience of being inside these drug moments through the use of sound and editing.
BD: What projects are coming up next for you?
Banker: I just finished a documentary on squatter culture in the east village, and I’m currently exploring a number of story concepts for my next narrative feature.
BD: Thanks for chatting with us, and I hope you enjoy your time at Fantasia.
Ghostface is back on the big screen this weekend… well, sort of… with the release of Scary Movie, which marks the Wayans brothers’ return to the horror spoof franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2 back in the day. It’s likely to be the talk of the horror community for the weekend, but don’t overlook the other six genre movies that were freshly unleashed today.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Friday, June 5, 2026.
The horror spoof franchise is back with Scary Movie now playing in theaters!
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directs Scary Movie 6 from a script written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, original Scary Movie director Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans (Scary Movie 2), and Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House).
From IFC, shark attack movie Chum is now available on Digital.
Alice Eve (Haunting of Queen Mary) stars in shark attack movie alongside Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock, Elle Haymond, Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat.
This one sounds very similar to last year’s Dangerous Animals…
Here’s the plot: “A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.”
Jonathan Zuck directs Chum, from a script by Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) come together in Carolina Caroline, a sexy crime thriller now playing in theaters.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but it’s worth a mention here all the same.
Kyra Sedgwick (Family Movie) and Jon Gries also star in the romantic crime thriller.
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s film stars Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast.
Adam Rehmeier previously directed the films Dinner in America and Snack Shack.
Tom Dean wrote the screenplay for Carolina Caroline.
Similar to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming big screen blockbuster Disclosure Day, Signal One explores humankind’s enduring question: what if we aren’t alone in the universe?
The sci-fi thriller is now available on Digital.
Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Josh Hutcherson (Five Nights at Freddy’s), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Raoul Bhaneja (Possessor), Emma Ho (“The Expanse”), and Dennis Quaid (The Substance) star in Signal One from director Jonathan Sobol (The Art of the Steal).
When tech billionaire Sam Houston (Quaid) hires the brilliant computer scientist Annika (Fuhrman), she ventures to an isolated facility run by the brilliant, nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine which can communicate with alien intelligence.
Annika soon learns some humanity-altering facts: that we are not alone in the universe, that alien intelligences are communicating around us at every moment, and that we are likely too primitive to even remotely understand what they are trying to tell us.
When the goal of the endeavor shifts from listening to talking back, the project rapidly devolves into chaos. With contact comes consequences, and soon Annika and the team must work to ensure the very survival of our species.
A schoolyard dare becomes an urban legend in the creepypasta-inspired horror anthology The Summoning. The indie film is now available on Digital from Brainstorm Media.
“A babysitting gig becomes a nightmare of urban legend when three teens summon Baby Blue. Survival depends on uncovering the past to escape a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave.”
Felipe Vargas (Rosario, Hive), Sergio Gonzalez, Brandon Piskorik, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk direct the segments. Valeria San Martín, Justina Ceballos, Daniela Flombaum, Nannu Spannauss, Agustín Olcese, and Giovanni Onetti star.
The Summoning is written by Camilo Zaffora.
Happy Death Day actress Jessica Rothe stars as a mom struggling to keep her grip on her sanity and memory in the mind-bending Affection, now available on Digital at home.
In Affection, “Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again.“
Joseph Cross (“Big Little Lies”) and Julianna Layne (“Chicago P.D.”) also star in the sci-fi horror thriller. Affection marks the feature debut by writer/director BT Meza.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review out of the film’s premiere, “Affection is steeped in existential questions and fears that plague modern society, while it embraces the ethos of the ’80s through bold body horror. Add to that Rothe’s revelatory performance, and Affection is a hidden gem that will connect with your mind, body, and soul.”
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s latest dark fairy tale, The Ice Tower, loosely reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Snow Queen,” and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
In the ’70s set film, “Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot of a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.“
Clara Pacini stars as Jeanne. August Diehl and Marine Gesbert also star in The Ice Tower, and look for a cameo from director Gaspar Noé (Climax, Irréversible).
“For me, The Ice Tower solidified Lucile Hadžihalilović’s place amongst the most fascinating creators of fairy tales today,” said distributor Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick.
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