The Forest: Movie Review

Why is it that we ring in each new year at the multiplex with the release of a pretty terrible horror film. (Here’s looking at you “The Devil Inside”). That may not be the case every year, but it sure feels like that way. I should have known better going in, but I actually had good feelings about “The Forest”. It was directed by Jason Zada, who happened to write (not direct) one of 2014’s best genre flicks, “The Houses October Built”. If you haven’t seen it, give it a look. I also liked the story, which takes place at the legendary real-life Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mr. Fuji in Japan. To top things off, we have Natalie Dormer (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay”, “Game of Thrones”), playing twins.

When her twin sister Jess goes missing, Sara Price (Dormer) travels to Japan to find her. Sara visits the school where Jess teaches and discovers that her sister made her way to the Aokigahara Forest, which is also known as the Suicide Forest. People tend to go there and take their own lives. Determined to find her sibling, Sara heads to the Forest, where meets a Aiden (Taylor Kinny), a journalist who wants to write a story on Sara’s search.

Although Sara has been warned that there is something in the forest that will make her see things that aren’t there, she doesn’t seem to heed the warnings. Big mistake! It doesn’t take long for Sara to start seeing things. Are they there or are they just in her mind? She also begins to question Aiden’s motives and if he knows more about her missing sister than he let on.

“The Forest” has an interesting premise and a great location, but its utterly dull and predictable. There is absolutely nothing frightening about it. Dormer is fine but that doesn’t mean much when the horror film she is in lacks any actual horror. Let’s hope that 2016 brings us some better terror than this.

By: Marc Ferman