Haunted Forest

The reviews would make you think this is Ishtar or something. It is not a bad movie overall. The premise is a modification of classic ghost revenge stories. Like the plot, some of the shots and styles are heavily copied from your standard J-Horror yurie/onryo stories. The acting is so-so. It seems to come and go at various parts of the movie. The storyline requires you to somewhat pay attention and doesn't always resolve every plot point. This seems to be re-occurring reason for low ratings of many Asian horror films, which could explain some of the low ratings.

If you go in with an open mind, you will probably get a few jumps here and there, an original addition to classic stories, and a lot of pretty views of the forest where it was filmed. It's no Poltergeist, but it isn't Showgirls either!

The Indian descendant Sean comes to a forest with his friends Josh and Flipp trying to find the track to a mysterious cursed tree and a secret burial ground. His grandfather wrote a journal about the love of the Indian Satinka and the son of the medicine man of their tribe one hundred and twenty years ago, and how Satinka was trapped in a tree by an evil spirit. Meanwhile, the girlfriends Jennifer and Kiyomi are searching for flowers in the same woods. When Flipp and Kiyomi vanish, their friends meet each other and stay together while a deranged hunter chases new victims for the vengeful spirit of the tree.

"Haunted Tree" has a reasonable premise, but a very poor and flawed execution. There are many low budget horror movies that work, usually based on solid screenplays and great performances. Unfortunately this flick has a terrible and messed screenplay, and the story begins without any previous development of the characters, probably because of the restraint in the budget. Therefore, the viewer sees Sean, Josh, Flipp, Jennifer and Kiyomi, and even the forest, without any reference or explanations about their motives for being in the dark and distant place. When Josh shots his gun, surprisingly neither Jennifer nor Kiyomi listen to the noise. The girls lose their car (is it possible?) and there is no explanation why they have come to such a distant place without tent or appropriate outfits. Nobody eats in this film, and the day is extremely short. Satinka is a rip-off of typical ghosts of Asian movies, and recalls Sadako of "Ringu" franchise. There are so many flaws that I could extent my review, but I believe this is enough to give a hint about this film. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

God! I am a big time fan of Horror movies, i get the thrill and excitement when i watch them. But, let me assure you this movie comes with no such package. It bores you to death.

Based on some thought process, which is crazy to say the least, this movie revolves around a ghostly forest which has seen sufferings of a girl some 200 years ago. Who suddenly decides "Its my time, folks"! and she kills...

An American, an Englishman, and a stoner head into the forest in search of a hidden burial ground (just wait for the punch line). Sean, the American, has his grandfather's leather-bound journal, which details the horrific reign of Satinka, a malicious tree ghost with sharpened twigs for fingers who haunts the forest. Using the journal and the final photographs of a vanished tourist, the trio are intent on locating Satinka's haunted tree and the sacred burial ground that lies beneath. A couple of female botany students wander into the plot, apparently to keep things interesting.

It turns out Satinka was an American Indian who was killed by some crazy white boys intent on driving out all the Injuns. She exacts her revenge by stabbing victims with wood slivers, thus marking them, and then sucking them into the ground. Despite Satinka's Native American heritage, she looks and moves like pretty much every Asian ghost you've seen in J-horror movies (and their American remakes) since The Eye, black hair hanging in her face, dark eyes, crawling in stutters and jerks across the forest floor, with the sound of snapped twigs accompanying her arrival.

Please avoid watching it and wasting time.

I recently got to see this movie and it had some potential, but turned out just average. I've seen much worse movies and I was able to watch the whole movie, but I was hoping for more. None of the actors really stood out and the story was pretty cliché filled, but it did have a few cheap scares. It looks like an imitation Japanese horror flick and you will probably agree if you watch it. The movie doesn't really introduce anything new, but if you scare easy it should make you jump a few times.

Overall I'd say the movie is watchable if you go in expecting a cheap B type movie, but if you expect a great movie you will be highly disappointed.

I thought at first after seeing the cover of the DVD that it was gonna be yet another B horror movie put out by Mapple.With them it can be really bad or really good.I ended up liking it.I really like indie movies and this one definitely comes across like one.I liked the acting in this movie.Everyone came across really real and believable.The effects were pretty good and the thrills! I jumped out of my seat and didn't see it coming.The audio wasn't that great though.I had to turn the volume up high just to hear the conversations.Or maybe it was done like that on purpose so that when the scary parts happen they are so loud that it scares the living sh*t out of you.Either way it was effective.At times the story didn't make a lot of sense and there were definitely insufficiencies.I would have preferred Satinka played by an actual Native American actress instead of a Japanese actress.Or someone who could at least pass as being native Indian, not Asian looking.But it is a fun,creepy little movie guaranteed to scare you or at least make you jump.