The Forest - Review
by Anne Hunt
We haven’t had a good horror since The Conjuring surprised us all in 2013 by being wonderfully fresh and creatively scary. The film has perched it’s freaky little bum on the high mantle that only 80s and early 90s classic horrors reside – with but a few exceptions. Next up to try and emulate that success and catapult it’s way onto the shelf is The Forest starring Natalie Dormer (you know, her off Game of Thrones).
Dormer stars as Sara, an American woman who journeys to the legendary forest at the base of Mount Fuji called Aokigahara, in search of her twin sister Jess (also played by Dormer) who has mysteriously disappeared. Aokigahara has a reputation for being a place where people go to take their own lives, and of course, our leading lady and twin sister are battling some personal inner demons that threaten to make themselves known in forest.
Considering Aokigahara forest, the inspiration and back drop for the film, is a real place with a real reputation for the paranormal – it holds the record for being the place most people go to commit suicide in the entire world – the film should be scarier. It excels with the psychological aspects but resorts to cheap and lazy scares on numerous occasions. For example, a corridor with a dodgy green light flickering and an old freaky looking lady jumping into the camera - the cinematic equivalent of a child yelling BOO in your face. The moments where Dormer starts to imagine the people helping her might actually be part of her sister’s disappearance are more impactful and suspenseful than any of the ‘scares’ put together. Had the film expanded on this and steered more toward psychological thriller rather than full out horror with Japanese girl ghosts, it would have fared better.
The cliché bad childhood backstory (complete with fun filled flashbacks full of traumatic murder and creepy twin girls) wasn’t entirely necessary but did flesh out Sara and Jess’ relationship and motivations somewhat. Again, though, it needed to be thought out a little better, a little creatively perhaps. Ain’t nothing we haven’t seen before.
Dormer gives a great performance though, and thrives once the meatier material arrives later in the film when Sara starts to lose her mind and wonder if the things she’s seeing in forest are real. Taylor Kinney, as a journalist who accompanies Sara on her journey into the forest, does his best with a character that never really fully develops and the outcome for him just about sums that up. The forest acts like a character itself and looks stunning throughout. Tourists have said how beautiful the place is in real life and director Jason Zada portrays that well before flipping and making it intensely creepy when needed.
The Forest is good for the jumps if you like that sort of scare but don’t expect to be kept awake at night, you’ll sleep soundly. If anything, the film will make you want to research the real life stories of Aokigahara, which are much more sleep depriving than the film.
Sidenote, it’s weird seeing Natalie Dormer in modern clothes.
The Forest is out in cinemas 26th of February