The Forest is really for fans of horror
who still get thrilled even in the face of obvious tricks (e.g., sudden blasts
of noise or light to make the audience jump) and characters who do really foolish
things. If there is a warning or a
rule, they will inevitably disregard it, i.e., “Don’t get off the path”, and
that is absolutely what they will do.
In
this case, the path is in an enchanted forest in Japan with a reputation for
its beauty and for being the site of suicides and mysterious events. The main character, Sarah (Dormer) is
convinced her twin sister Jess is in the forest and in need of her help, so she
flies to Japan and wangles her way into the fabled Aokigahara Forest with a
guide. Aiden (Kinney) is an
Australian reporter she meets in a bar who will be going into the forest with a
trusted guide the next day, and he invites Sarah to go along.
The
guide allows it, but outlines specific rules about staying on the path, not
remaining inside the forest after dark, and to remember that if she sees
anything strange, it’s not real; it’s all in her head. As noted above, in the next 24 hours,
she will manage to break every rule and end up completely horrified. For those who take to these kinds of
thrills and chills, they will be treated to a scary ride.
Natalie
Dormer, best known for her role in the hit TV drama “Game of Thrones”, plays an
entirely different character in The
Forest; here, she is oppositional, headstrong, and has no trouble speaking
her mind—at least in the beginning before she gets freaked out. Her performance is fine; it’s just that
the script makes her an unappealing character; and then after the stage is set
for her to seem paranoid and psychotic, a radical switch in the action makes
you see her in an entirely different light. The problem is that there are no cues or logical transitions
to carry you along to that conclusion; it’s a deux ex machina technique to end
a story.
The
most interesting aspect of The Forest
is its apparent setting in an actual forest in Japan that is part of Japanese
mythology (the filming actually took place in Serbia). The forest is very dense with trees,
has icy caverns and is associated with demons, angry spirits of the dead, and
paranormal events. And it is known
as one of the favored places in the world to commit suicide. Cinematographer Mattias Troelstrup
gives us grand vistas showing a dense forest in all its beauty, as well as the
grounds with hanging corpses, exotic little crawling creatures, and underground
cave-like passages.
A fairly typical horror story with the usual spills
and thrills.
Grade:
C- By
Donna R. Copeland
No comments:
Post a Comment