825 Forest Road

825 Forest Road could have been a great horror movie with a few more script re-writes. There are a handful of great scares, and interesting relationships between the three main characters. You can expect that the creators of Hell House made the most out of the mannequin in this film. Unfortunately, the script also suffers from some significant flaws. For instance, there are only about four characters in the story who actually matter. Many of the side characters could have easily been written out of the story. The Gardening Club, realtor, and the opening scene characters didn't serve a relevant purpose. There are also often times when the writing makes basic story elements confusing. As an example, It took me awhile to realize that Ashley and Isabel were different characters. Finally and most importantly, the ending leaves a lot to be desired. Despite these flaws, I would recommend watching 825 Forest Road. Just don't expect the next Shining, or even the next Insidious.

I'm not sure why folks are giving it bad reviews. It wasn't as bad as folks are saying it was.

Could the ending have been better ? Yes.

Could we have done without the few barely mentioned characters? Sure.

Could there have been more insight to the supporting roles? Definitely.

But the scares still scared.

I like to think that jump scares still have their place in the horror genre.

Personally if a movie doesn't make me jump or cower even a little or even go as far as making me talk to the screen like they can hear me.. then it's not scary enough for me.

All and all.... There are better scary movies out there but this one was not among the worst.

I love the composition of the movie into chapters. It keeps it interesting and let's you interact with each character. Some of the actors are definitely better than others, but I wouldn't call any horrible. It's a pretty solid story line that I haven't really seen before, although there is a tiny Silent Hill vibe -and I've seen a LOT of horror films. It's a bit more psychological than straight up horror, but it has it's moments. All in all, it's a somewhat slower pace, really setting the story and the atmosphere. There are some scenes that seem out of place and kind of random, that are a bit of a distraction.

Honestly, this would get a MUCH higher rating if it weren't for the end though. As is with so many lower-budget horror movies, the end very much seems like they ran out of time/money/ideas and just decided to abruptly cut off the end with very little thought. It *tried* to tie things up, but really just left me with more questions and showed opportunities that they missed exploring or explaining. Even with the same cast and acting, a more complete story and a different ending would have garnered this an 8 or 9, easily.

As it is, it's a decent way to spend a rainy day, but definitely isn't what I would look to for a movie night. True lower budget horror fans might appreciate or enjoy it, but my husband -who just tolerates my horror addiction- would probably not be too happy, especially since he strongly dislikes movies with abrupt endings.

*Personal pet-peeve - why would anyone name a main character Chuck?! I cringed every time they said his name, it just didn't fit the time period, atmosphere, or the character himself. Totally random and mind boggling to me!

I can see why this movie is somewhat divisive. There ARE indeed some good elements in it like one reviewer stated in his/her title.

I would say what really props up this movie at all is the tense atmosphere. The acting overall is decent, not as cringeworthy as many of these modern day Horror films.

I personally like the approach when you have this small, rural town where everyone knows something is not right. That aspect I thought was done very well.

I just don't feel that there was quite enough substance and weight truly to carry the story as well as it should have been. There were definitely instances of genuine creepiness, but perhaps if the writing/plot could have been thought out a bit more thoroughly, I think it really could have been a lot better.

Yes, many good elements are there, but I think maybe a bit more skill was needed to bring it together and really make it much more strongly effective and powerful to the audience.

I was torn between giving it a '5' or a '6', but in considering the sum of everything, I ended up with a '5' So, there is some entertainment value here, but ultimately I honestly feel it is a bit too flawed to be called really good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MY PARTICULAR WAY OF RATING:

5 - Flawed, but with some entertainment value.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

Alright, let's just be real-825 Forest Road sucks. It's one of those movies where halfway through, you're checking how much time's left and hoping everyone just dies already so it can end. The setup isn't terrible-creepy house, weird vibes-but it feels like it was written by AI that got bored halfway through.

Doing this story in chapters was a huge misstep, ESPECIALLY from different angles of the same events. They should have done it from the POV of the vlogger and just run with found footage/view from the audience.

As a massive Hell House LLC fan... I was let down. Obviously it doesn't have to try and be Hell House, but it can at least be well made and scenes that are truly scary...