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MOVIE REVIEW: THE FOREST (2016)
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Storyline
The story is set in the Aokigahara Forest, a forest at the northwest base of Mount Fuji in Japan where people go to commit suicide. Sara Price (Natalie Dormer), a young American woman, arrives at the forest in search of her twin sister, who mysteriously disappeared. Despite warnings not to "stray from the path," Sara enters the forest to discover the truth about her sister's fate, only to be confronted by the angry and tormented souls of the dead who now prey on unsuspecting victims.|
Rating: PG-13 (for disturbing thematic content and images)
Directed By: Jason Zada
Gramercy Pictures
THE FOREST OPENS ON THE 7th OF JANUARY IN MALAYSIA AND ON THE 8th IN THE U.S. FOR EVERYWHERE ELSE CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHEN.
Meet Sara, like all twins in movies she has a "special connection" to her sister. ©Sony Pictures Releasing
A movie that takes place in a part of Japan that few who visit Japan will visit...
So The Forest, directed by Jason Zada who prior to directing The Forest has only directed shorts and worked on commercial projects and advertisements. The folks who wrote this movie, Nick Antosca, Sarah Cornwell and Ben Ketai with the exception of Sarah Cornwell have mostly written for TV shows whereas The Forest is Sarah Cornwell first credit as writer. To say that this film is their first big movie project would be very correct.
I didn't know this movie existed until about a few months ago when I saw a Facebook post shared by someone else. In that post the writer wasn't talking about how they were excited about this movie or about what it was about or who was in it, instead the post was a complaint, a criticism on how the makers of the film didn't cast an Asian actor in the main roles and how it was insensitive of them to use the forest of Aokigahara as a setting for a typical hollywood horror movie. I agree somewhat with the first complaint and completely with the second.
On the first complaint that why didn't they go with an Asian actor, I guess it could work with an Asian American who's looking for her twin sister but this being a horror movie and one directed by a new director would the studios have taken that chance? They're probably hoping that Natalie Dormer can pull in the crowds a little. As for the second complaint about how it was insensitive of the film to take place in Aokigahara you sort of have to know a little about what Aokigahara is, yes it is a place where people go to commit suicide and in the movie they explain that as well as a little history about the ritual of Ubasute which was something that was rumoured to be in practice during the nineteenth century, it's where during periods of famine or extreme poverty families would bring their elderly there and then with their consent leave them there to die. Aokigahara is also home to the yurei, restless spirits of those who have lost their lives there. You can read more about it at the Wikipedia page for it here.
Anyway, the reason I agree with the complaint is that having the movie there does trivialize the reason that Aokigahara is famous for. The problem of suicide. There is mention of the twin being suicidal in the past in one of the scenes but that's it. It's mentioned in passing when another character asks Sara (Natalie Dormer) about her sister. So why is this a problem? Well, what do you think most people who watch this film will walk away from think about Aokigahara? Obviously not about the problem of suicide and it's related issues but that Aokigahara is some haunted and creepy forest in Japan. And aren't the Japanese weird to have a forest just to commit suicide? So yeah I'm not a fan of that.
This happened the night before she goes into the forest. I'm sure you can guess what happens here. ©Sony Pictures Releasing
Well, on to the movie. SO THIS PART HERE WILL BE WHERE THE SPOILERS WILL BE. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. As in that short paragraph up there it's the story of Sara who goes to Japan after receiving a call from a Japanese police officer that her sister has been reported missing for two days and that she was last seen heading towards the Aokigahara Forest. The officer also tells her that it's usual for cases where the individual that goes into Aokigahara that after two days they are presumed dead. Sara of course doesn't believe him because being a twin she has a special connection to Jess and senses that she's still alive. So she decides to head over to Japan to look for Jess herself.
In Japan her first stop is of course Tokyo, she checks in to her hotel and gets a quick walking tour on her own and then goes back to her hotel where she wakes up the next morning from a nightmare. The next day she heads to Aokigahara by train and when she arrives she decides to walk and after a while coincidentally locates the local tourist centre which is just a log cabin with a little lady inside. She asks the caretaker if she's seen her sister and is immediately told that Jess is there. She asks Sara to follow her down into the basement. Asking why they're going down there, the lady tells her that that's where the bodies that they find in Aokigahara are kept before burial. Why? Because they believe that that way the restless spirits will not turn into yurei. And to make sure that the spirits aren't lonely one person will always stay with the bodies at all times. Luckily for Sara the body isn't her sisters.
Later at the hotel she meets with Aiden (Taylor Kinney) who claims to be a journalist for an Australian travel magazine. Sara tells him her story and he tells her that he's getting a guided tour by a volunteer who regularly goes into Aokigahara to look for bodies of those who have committed suicide and occasionally try to convince those that he meets who haven't yet.
The next day they meet with Michi (Yukiyoshi Ozawa) their guide. Before entering Michi tells them to never stray from the path and that whatever they see or hear may not be what they think it is. So off they wander into the forest and for the most part it's a lot like watching a bunch of people hiking through the forest until they come across some tape strung up on branches. Michi tells them that some who come in the forest leave a trail of tape so that they can find their way out if they change their minds. Some leave it so that others can find their remains. At the end of the tape they find the remains of a man who has hung himself.
They continue on and just as it begins to get dark Michi spots something, Sara follows his gaze and spots a yellow tent and instantly recognizes it as her sisters. Michi tells her to leave a note and that they'll return the next morning to see if Jess has returned. Sara refuses to leave. Aiden decides to stay with her.
What happens next is a lot of running around in the forest in the dark, an encounter with a Japanese teenage girl who tells Sara she knows where Jess is. The next morning there's no more running but Sara begins to get suspicious about Aiden which leads to her running away from him an ending up i a hole in the ground which conveniently has a cave where she meets the teenage girl again. This time she realizes the girl isn't normal and immediately screams for help at which point Aiden shows up and rescues her.
Look at how confident she looks before she decides to not listen to the guides advice. ©Sony Pictures Releasing
After rescuing Sara, Aiden tells her he's spotted what looks to him like an abandoned rangers cabin and that they should head that way for shelter and to see if they have a radio. There Sara notices power bar wrappers all over the place, the same one that Aiden had given to her earlier. Then while Aiden fiddles with the radio Sara while looking around the cabin finds a door at the other end of the kitchen but when she opens it the door is locked. But when she begins to walk away she hears footsteps behind the lock door. Sara hears Jess's voice. Jess writes a note and passes it to Sara, the note asks Sara if Aiden is there.
Sara immediately asks Aiden about the door and where it leads to. When Aiden's answer doesn't satisfy her she threatens to kill him unless he opens the door. The end up in a struggle and in the struggle Sara accidentally stabs Aiden in the chest. Aiden dies soon after. As Sara gets up the door in the kitchen open. Sara heads towards it and opens it, the door leads to a staircase that leads down to a basement. As she looks down the stairs she spots Jess but it's Jess as a child. They're back in her childhood home, back in the basement the night her parents killed themselves. The night that Jess saw everything that's happened in the basement that Sara didn't.
As Sara goes down to protect young Jess, to stop her from looking she finally sees what Jess saw that evening. As Sara looks at the bodies of her parents her father's corpse comes alive and grabs her wrist. Sara tries to pull away but can't so uses the same knife that she had used against Aiden to cut herself free.
The movie ends with Jess rescued by Michi and Sara's husband who arrived in Japan after not receiving a call from Sara. While Sara is lost to the yurei of Aokigahara.
The end. I still left a fair bit out.
So how was The Forest?
In a word? A little dull. The story is pretty much predictable but that's to be expected of the genre. All the tricks of the horror genre are present and since it takes place in Japan the Japanese horror movie tropes are present and accounted for. The reason it's dull is because the build-up of tension to get from one scare to the next either happens way too subtly or not at all. From one scary bit to another you're treated to lots of walking, lots of pretty scenes of the forest and occasionally close-ups of whatever is on the forest floor when Sara goes into her sixth sense twin thing which happens every now and again but doesn't really mean anything.
The acting isn't horrible but it isn't all that impressive either. Nothing wrong with it, it's just that it doesn't draw you in. You don't find yourself investing yourself much in their characters or their situation.
No she's not trying to slit her wrist. She just trying to get rid of something under her wrists. ©Sony Pictures Releasing
All in all this was a mediocre horror fare. Could it be better? Who knows. Could it be better if they had cast more Asians? Nope, I don't think so. And honestly other than Aiden I don't have a real problem with the main character being white. You have to have a reason to link the U.S. with Japan, right? Of course the role could have gone to an Asian actor but I think they were smart enough to not do this movie.
Anyway, I have nothing more to say. I was bored, I yawned quite a few times. I wasn't scared. It was too predictable. And I'm going to give this boring walk in the forest a 1.7 out of 5. It isn't worth watching so that person who was saying that they're going to boycott this movie need not worry. Once the actual critics see this few will. Unless of course they're hardcore horror fans or hardcore Natalie Dormer fans.
Here's the trailer.
BIG THANK YOU TO SONY MOBILE MALAYSIA FOR THE PASSES!!
AND THAT'S NOT ALL, THE REASON I GOT TO WATCH THE FOREST IS BECAUSE MY DEAR WIFE SAW A CONTEST ON THE SONY MOBILE MY FACEBOOK PAGE AND ASKED ME TO WRITE UP SOMETHING SO THAT SHE CAN ENTER IT. ENTER SHE DID AND NOT ONLY DID WE GET TO WATCH THIS BEFORE MOST OF THE WORLD BUT WE ALSO WON THE GRAND PRIZE WHICH WAS A SONY XPERIA Z ULTRA!! THANKS SONY MOBILE MY!! (of course my dear wife gets to keep it...)
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Tag : Horror, Movie Review, Preview Screening,