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    The Forest

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
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    “The Forest” is a horror film with a lot of potential that is squandered. Unlike a lot of horror movies that are bad through-and-through, this one has inklings of goodness in it. That means it’s even more lamentable that it doesn’t live up to what it could be. The film is set primarily in the Aokigahara Forest, a forest at the northwest base of Mount Fuji. This location is the most popular site for suicides in Japan. Permanent signs have been placed urging people to think of their families and ask for help before entering the woods. Sounds like a great place to set a horror film to me!

    When Sara Price (Natalie Dormer) learns that her twin sister has disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest, she picks up her bags and leaves for Japan. Despite everyone else’s insistence that Jess (also Dormer) has gone in the woods to take her life, Sara is convinced that she’s simply lost, or in some other form of trouble. When Sara begins retracing her sister’s steps, she discovers that there’s a lot more to this place than just trees and a gloomy atmosphere, the forest is haunted by yokai, angry spirits of the deceased.

    I’ve heard some people say that it’s tasteless to base a horror film around a real-life location where people commit suicide even today, but I think the real problem is that the movie isn’t good. Think about it. If there was a poignant message about the tragedy that is depression, how suicide hurts families and you managed to elegantly mix that with a horror film about ghosts, no one would be complaining. They’d be telling you how they were initially against the idea, but were turned around by a classy movie (and yes, I do believe horror movies can be classy, just like any other genre) My issue with “The Forest” is that it’s a horror film that does two things I absolutely hate. First, it features characters that have such a weak sense of self-preservation that they’re basically begging to get themselves killed and secondly, it flat-out cheats.

    I’m a forgiving person. I know Sara doesn’t realize she’s in a horror movie and her sister didn’t either when she first wandered into the forest. The same applies for the supporting characters, a reporter named Aiden (Taylor Kinney) who takes interest in Sara’s story and their guide through the forest, Michi (Yuyiyoshi Ozama.) Of course they’re not going to look at a creepy cabin in the woods or a puzzle box and say “Hmm, what are the odds that if I play with this or enter that place, Pinhead from ‘Hellraiser’ is going to show up? ” What I object to is the fact that Sara never listens to any of the warnings given to her and even when she has witnesses creepy stuff, doesn’t ever use the information that she’s learned to try and save herself. For example, we’re told that the forest is filled with angry spirits that are going to try and deceive you. They’re trying to lure you off the path and right into their ghostly clutches. Does Sara keep this in mind when she sees rustling in the distance, or creepy sights? Of course not. She doesn’t even react to having vivid nightmares about death and decides to spend the night in the woods instead. I mean why not? Isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time hanging out in abandoned mental asylums and slaughter houses where lunatics went on killing sprees? Suicide forests shouldn’t be a big deal then.

    A dumb protagonist is a big deal and it’s even bigger when it doesn’t lead to genuine scares. I will give the movie some credit here because there are points where it genuinely gets hair-raising. Some shots feature blurry figures just standing between trees, row upon row. Initially you won’t see them but they’re everywhere once you notice. That’s unsettling and exactly what I picture when I think of a suicide forest. Wall-to-wall corpses looking at you, so many that you want to just close your eyes and curl up into a ball in the hopes that light will eventually come to chase them away, or that death will come quickly for you so that you don’t have to be afraid anymore. Suddenly the forest is more than a place to commit suicide, it’s a place where you pray for your death! For the most part though, the film resorts to jump scares, and cheap ones too.

    I mentioned earlier that the movie cheats. What I mean by this is that characters act in a way that is totally illogical just so you can be led to think that they’re shady when they’re clearly nice, or vice versa. It’s not even that people are deliberately trying to trick Sara or that she’s delusional, it’s the movie thinking that me, you, and every other audience member is dumb and going to fall for a cheap hoax. Don’t let yourself be swayed by this sleigh of hand; you’re better than that. I can’t say any more because it would give it away, but if you see “The Forest”, ask yourself at the end if the characters’ actions really matched what their intentions where.

    The fact that “The Forest” isn’t good is a shame. Japan and ghosts go hand-in-hand and the story of a woman being forced to explore the Aokigahara, maybe even the frightening truths surrounding suicide could have made for some intellectual horror with a message as some chills to deliver. Unfortunately, it’s just a story about a bunch of white people in a foreign country doing stuff they’ve got no business doing while the locals go “Wow are these tourists dumb, or what? ” The movie’s not all bad, but the few morsels of horror goodness I found were buried deep, and the effort of digging them up weren’t worth it. (Theatrical version on the big screen, January 14, 2016)

    3
    HelpfulNot helpful  Reply
    adamwatchesmovies@  16.1.2016 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

    For a bad review you sure wrote a lot?

    HelpfulNot helpful Reply
    syfy@  18.1.2016 age: 50+

    Is that a question?

    HelpfulNot helpful Reply
    adamwatchesmovies@  18.1.2016 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

    Longest review ever read about a bad movie... lol.

    1 found this helpful.  
    HelpfulNot helpful Reply
    dramirg@  22.1.2016 age: 36-49

    Show all reviews for this movie
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