The woods can be a very scary place. When I was in college, one of my friends talked me into going for a nighttime walk which led us into an old cemetery filled with trees. When we reached the middle of the cemetery, a tall figure which seemed to have no face stepped out from behind a tree and groaned like a ghost. I had run about half-way back towards the cemetery entrance before I heard people laughing hysterically. The "ghost" removed the gray hood from his head and my friends and I had a good laugh about the whole incident as we walked back to the campus. If it turns out there's no real danger, it can be fun to be scared. If you're in an actual haunted forest, not so much. A deep, dark forest with many reasons to fear it is the primary setting for the horror thriller "The Forest" (PG-13, 1:35).
Jess and Sara Price (both played by Natalie Dormer) are twins, but are identical in looks only. Sara is the responsible one, while Jess is a free spirit who often makes poor choices – and who has a dark side. Not long after Jess takes a job teaching English in Japan, she goes missing. Whether Jess wanted to disappear or whether something bad happened to her, Sara, who believes twins have a spiritual connection, senses that Jess needs her, so Sara flies to Japan.
Reportedly, Jess was last seen entering Aokigahara Forest. Covering 14 square miles at the base of Mount Fuji, the forest is dense and foreboding – and not just because of the tall trees and difficult terrain. The locals say that previous generations of poor Japanese brought their sick and elderly residents into the forest and left them to die. According to Japanese folklore, the spirits of people who die suddenly, are murdered or don't have the proper funeral rites performed, remain in the physical realm to haunt the living. That would make this forest a less-than-desirable place to, say have a family picnic. It doesn't help matters that, for decades, Aokigahara Forest has been a popular location for people committing suicide. Still, tourists without a death wish do choose to visit this place. Sara has to.
Not knowing the language, the customs or the terrain, and not knowing what to believe about the forest, all make Sara's search pretty challenging. She attempts to retrace her twin sister's steps, but when she gets out to the forest, the people at the visitor's center treat her with a strange combination of politeness, callousness and fear. Sara is determined to go into the forest looking for her sister, but is warned repeatedly "Do Not Leave the Path". In her hotel, Sara meets an Australian journalist named Aiden (Taylor Kinney) who offers to get her together with a local guide in exchange for her story.
Michi (Yukiyoshi Ozawa) reluctantly agrees to let Sara tag along with him and Aiden as Michi searches for bodies of people who recently committed suicide in the forest. Michi doesn't seem especially superstitious until Sara finds a recently occupied tent that she believes belongs to Jess and decides to spend the night in the forest. Michi tells her that the forest, especially after dark, can make you see things – and even make you do things – "very bad things". Sara is undeterred, so Aiden decides to stay with her. In order to avoid spoilers, all I'll say further is that over the ensuing hours, Sara's quest to find her sister gets more complicated and scarier and when Michi returns, he finds an empty tent.
"The Forest" is an original and entertaining horror movie. It's not a slasher flick – more like a creepy and sometimes scary supernatural thriller. Think of it as a combination of "The Amityville Horror", "The Descent" and "The Grudge". I'm not sure what's so scary about Japanese schoolgirls, but this movie makes good use of them, as well as visions of various deceased individuals, who have a more self-evident fright factor. First-time feature film director Jason Zada gives us enough scary images (a few of which might make some Movie Fans jump in their seats) to qualify this as a horror film, but it's effectiveness lies in what you don't see – and don't know about the characters and their surroundings.
Every movie of this type has its surprises and twists, but Zada doesn't overdo anything and the reveals he does put forward feel organic. In that sense, the film uses the common pitfalls of the genre in its favor, as we are on the lookout for cheap tricks which aren't there. This film also lays the groundwork for its plot more thoroughly and contains plot points, dialog and acting, that are all better than you find in most horror movies. I did spot a couple minor plot holes that I wish had been fixed up and a couple plot points that I wish had been clearer, but this is still an above average horror thriller that you'll be glad has the guts to stray from its genre's well-worn paths. "B+"
Jess and Sara Price (both played by Natalie Dormer) are twins, but are identical in looks only. Sara is the responsible one, while Jess is a free spirit who often makes poor choices – and who has a dark side. Not long after Jess takes a job teaching English in Japan, she goes missing. Whether Jess wanted to disappear or whether something bad happened to her, Sara, who believes twins have a spiritual connection, senses that Jess needs her, so Sara flies to Japan.
Reportedly, Jess was last seen entering Aokigahara Forest. Covering 14 square miles at the base of Mount Fuji, the forest is dense and foreboding – and not just because of the tall trees and difficult terrain. The locals say that previous generations of poor Japanese brought their sick and elderly residents into the forest and left them to die. According to Japanese folklore, the spirits of people who die suddenly, are murdered or don't have the proper funeral rites performed, remain in the physical realm to haunt the living. That would make this forest a less-than-desirable place to, say have a family picnic. It doesn't help matters that, for decades, Aokigahara Forest has been a popular location for people committing suicide. Still, tourists without a death wish do choose to visit this place. Sara has to.
Not knowing the language, the customs or the terrain, and not knowing what to believe about the forest, all make Sara's search pretty challenging. She attempts to retrace her twin sister's steps, but when she gets out to the forest, the people at the visitor's center treat her with a strange combination of politeness, callousness and fear. Sara is determined to go into the forest looking for her sister, but is warned repeatedly "Do Not Leave the Path". In her hotel, Sara meets an Australian journalist named Aiden (Taylor Kinney) who offers to get her together with a local guide in exchange for her story.
Michi (Yukiyoshi Ozawa) reluctantly agrees to let Sara tag along with him and Aiden as Michi searches for bodies of people who recently committed suicide in the forest. Michi doesn't seem especially superstitious until Sara finds a recently occupied tent that she believes belongs to Jess and decides to spend the night in the forest. Michi tells her that the forest, especially after dark, can make you see things – and even make you do things – "very bad things". Sara is undeterred, so Aiden decides to stay with her. In order to avoid spoilers, all I'll say further is that over the ensuing hours, Sara's quest to find her sister gets more complicated and scarier and when Michi returns, he finds an empty tent.
"The Forest" is an original and entertaining horror movie. It's not a slasher flick – more like a creepy and sometimes scary supernatural thriller. Think of it as a combination of "The Amityville Horror", "The Descent" and "The Grudge". I'm not sure what's so scary about Japanese schoolgirls, but this movie makes good use of them, as well as visions of various deceased individuals, who have a more self-evident fright factor. First-time feature film director Jason Zada gives us enough scary images (a few of which might make some Movie Fans jump in their seats) to qualify this as a horror film, but it's effectiveness lies in what you don't see – and don't know about the characters and their surroundings.
Every movie of this type has its surprises and twists, but Zada doesn't overdo anything and the reveals he does put forward feel organic. In that sense, the film uses the common pitfalls of the genre in its favor, as we are on the lookout for cheap tricks which aren't there. This film also lays the groundwork for its plot more thoroughly and contains plot points, dialog and acting, that are all better than you find in most horror movies. I did spot a couple minor plot holes that I wish had been fixed up and a couple plot points that I wish had been clearer, but this is still an above average horror thriller that you'll be glad has the guts to stray from its genre's well-worn paths. "B+"