The Forest

After Sarah discovers her twin sister has disappeared into the suicide forest, she travels to Japan in hopes of finding her, after getting some help from a guy she's met, of which had clearance to take her into said forest, things take a turn for the worse as strange occurrences befall Sarah, as well as the others, turning more, and more sinister, and even deadly. First off, the story of this entire film I personally thought was neat. Having the emotional depth of knowing your close siblings missing was unique, and added impact toward this film. Making things serious, including having said sister missing in another country, let alone the deadliest place in said country is worse, adding tension, as well as some hope for the audience. Moving on; throughout this entire movie, things ended up a bit clichéd-like, in terms of the whole genre of horror. This horror movie took the clichéd route. You know when your sitting there, soaking the film in, and suddenly, for example, someone slams their face randomly against the window of your house, or say car for absolutely no reason, other than the sake to just make you jump. This movie did that a few times, for absolutely no reason, out of nowhere, something just jumps at you for the sake of scaring you. Another element, following through with that. Again, have you ever seen a horror movie to where the film tricks you to think the characters actually going through a trauma, but awakes to find out it's just a nightmare? I personally felt as if this movie overdid that quite a bit, it kept having our main character, Sarah dream of something terrifying, then awake - Once again leading the film to just throw that randomly in there for the sake of scaring us. However.. for the scares in this film to where actually made sense, they successfully succeeded in not only adding tension, but managing to be nerve racking, and completely unsettling. Dark, creepy atmosphere, as well as a tense build-up of suspense succeeded in not only making the audience paranoid, but scaring them in the process of unleashing the awaiting scare. The characters, all around, I felt did a solid job executing their characters, and what they stood for, in terms of their background stories, in-depth traits, etc., as the audience, it felt compelling to know more, and dig deeper toward the characters' personality depth, instead of keeping them vague, and randomly placed just for the sake to be killed off, as they were actually quite intriguing, and well played out.

Overall, this movie had flaws. But usually horror movies in January are red flags, showing it's bad. However. This movie was quite surprising, succeeding in some successful jump scares, but more importantly creepy, unsettling atmosphere, and an overall white- knuckled environment. Although this film took a cliché toward the constant, randomly placed jump scares, as well as dream sequences, in my opinion, it still managed to tie in necessary jump scares, so to speak. The characters were intriguing, with great back-story, and development. The film managed to tie in some thought - provoking moments that succeeded, but were answered. The film, however, not mentioned before seemed to have a bit of a mixed - unresolvable way of answering the entire film itself, making the entire thing a bit confusing, but for the most part answering needed answers to have this movie make sense. For a first weekend January horror film, this wasn't bad, but it suffered heavily clichéd plot flaws. Aside that, this was surprising! I honestly had a good time with this film, and would recommend a look toward horror fans / people who want an intriguing, unsettling time!

An idea can be a powerful thing. Especially when explored well and thoroughly.

And indeed a horror-film based around the famous (and infamous) Aokigaha Forest of Japan is a powerful idea, filled to the brim with endless potential for drama and sheer ghostly thrills.

The problem is... even a great idea can falter and disappoint when mishandled and when not explored properly. Which is sadly the case with the 2016 horror-flick "The Forest."

It's a movie with a great idea behind it... that sadly falls just short of being anything special due to an over-reliance on generic jump-scares, abbreviated story development and occasional convolution in its storytelling. And while it's definitely not a terrible film, its inability to elevate itself beyond the level of "mediocre" is most definitely its greatest fault. It's neither bad enough to become unintentionally entertaining or be dismissed, yet also not good enough to warrant serious consideration from anyone except the most desperate horror fans looking for a quick-fix of the creeps. It's merely a "meh" movie with nothing special to set it apart.

The film follows American Sara Price (Natalie Dormer), who is informed that her twin-sister Jess has vanished into Japan's Aokigahara Forst- a vast forest at the base of Mount Fuji, well- known for the numerous suicides to have occurred deep within. Unable to believe her sister is dead due to their deep and complex connection as twins, Sara ventures into the forest with reporter Aiden (Taylor Kinney) in hopes of finding her before the dark forces surrounding them claim her very soul...

The fundamental issue with the film is that the idea- an intriguing one- is mishandled. In the hands of a better storyteller, this set- up would hold much promise. But director Jason Zada and the screenwriters seem scared to try anything new beyond "throw in a few eerie establishing shots and then have something jump out in front of the camera every 10 minutes." It feels very stock and clichéd with its over-reliance on jump-scares and a distinct lack of atmosphere building in many scenes.

Not that I can only blame the director and writers, because it is pretty darned obvious watching the film that there was a fair amount of studio-meddling. Particularly in the first 10 minutes... a prolonged montage of events that clearly were a heavily-abbreviated versions of a much larger sequence, and just stank of "a producer thought the scene was boring and made them edit it down to a break- neck pace." (As happens all too often.)

That being said, the film isn't a total loss. The storyline definitely has its moments, and its fun trying to figure out where things will end up. Dormer is a charming enough lead. And even though the scares routinely rely on cheap jumps, there is a few genuinely startling moments of atmosphere peppered in that will generate an honest thrill or two. (Including one well-executed sequence involving the body of a hanged man stalking our hero, and a few moments where the characters are completely surrounded by spirits in very fun shots that have a great tone of oppression.) And sue me... I liked the idea behind the ending, even if its execution was a bit too fast. (Though I will not spoil it here.)

Overall, "The Forest" is nothing more than a middle-of-the-road thriller. I can't recommend it (thank god I didn't have to pay for my ticket), but I also can't NOT recommend it. It's the sort-of film that would be worth checking out on cable or Netflix for free on a slow rainy afternoon. Good for a laugh and maybe a jump or two... but nothing more.

I give it a VERY average 5 out of 10. If you're a horror fan and happen to catch it on TV, by all means give it a shot. But don't make it a priority.

Aokigahara, otherwise known as Suicide Forest, literally writes its own stories. It's a place where people go to end their lives, a real life horror vista which has haunted many documentaries and videos. As creepy as the setting is, The Forest is still trapped on archaic horror gimmicks. It doesn't mean it has no merit, few of its moments are quite delightful, yet it spends most of the time wandering across predictable set-ups and mundane scares.

Sara (Natalie Dormer) goes to Japan to find her missing twin sister Jess (also Natalie Dormer). The search leads her to Aokigahara, the infamous forest. Unfazed by this revelation, Sara is still determined to search for her, almost stubbornly so. Natalie Dormer of Game of Thrones' fame is definitely a draw as this is a different genre than her other works. She does put in the effort, her strong motivation persists although the character is stuck on typical scream queen stereotype.

It's insane how many times her character randomly strolls to dark corners or investigates weird occurrence alone even though ample warnings have been given. These are actions common sense would dictate as unwise, especially on a place called Suicide Forest, yet she performs them blindly anyway. It's pretty over saturated that the excuse of her being in trance because hypnotic forest made her do it is not sufficient anymore.

There are some good moments that are chilling and well presented, it even occasionally ventures to psychological perspective of the ordeal. However, the movie usually returns to average scares of oriental horror such as vague ominous warning or lost girl in peculiar outfit. It's a rigid showcase of horror, one that's been used since the days of Ju-On and arguably even before that.

While the draw of exotic location and appealing lead actress might interest visitors, they would only find basic horror in The Forest.

As a whole the movie works and is very satisfying. It's like a joke that seems to have a weak set up that's made up for with a hilarious punchline, but waiting for the punchline to come in a feature film can be dull.

It's not like pulling teeth dull or anything like that, It is a good story. It really does not hurt that Natalie Dormer is fun to look at for an hour or two as she plays a woman looking for her twin sister who entered a forest in Japan known to attract those who want to commit suicide and never comes out. For those of you not into Dormer, Taylor Kinney is in it as well as a reporter trying to help, but has his own agenda. If you you don't like either actor that will be a problem cause for the most part it's the two of them in the woods for the majority of the film.

It's not as scary or frightening as I hoped for. The disturbing images did the trick, but it did not get my heart jumping like I expected, but it feels like the overall story is what is supposed to haunt you. I get it but I'm not all that impressed.

Natalie Dormer plays a woman who is searching for her twin sister(also Dormer) who has gone missing in Japan, last seen in a forest where everybody seems to die, but she is determined to find her no matter what, but will she find her, or will the forest drive her insane?

The film does have some good scares, and Natalie Dormer does give it her all here. But the story itself feels to cut down, and actors like Taylor Kinney who play it so bland, he just does not have much to work with. The movie tries to hard and it shows, the ending does not leave much to be explained. All in all, it could have been better. Just don't leave much to enjoy all of it.