I found the first 75% of the movie to be good, albeit lacking a little character development. The suspense was good and there were definitely moments where I jumped in my seat. Unfortunately the last 25% was a bit of a mess.
Pretty decent except for its reliance on jump scares...that ending was crap, feels like nothing got resolved.
Just do yourself a favor and shoot yourself from the pain endured during this horrendous boredom you’re about to witness.
amazing movie with good jumpscares and an eerie feeling that lasts throughout the entirety. The only reason it is not 10/10 is because of the ending.
I enjoyed parts of this and I enjoyed the main actress. It just fell abut flat like the concepts where good just not executed fully. Definitely not a horrible film just ok
The idea is not so Bad, but unfortunately, basically everyone is either stupid, unlikable or has too little screentime to be mentionable. Also a lot of jump scares.
To be fair, that's about what I expected so take it with a grain of salt.
Natalie Dormer stars in the atmospheric horror film The Forest. The story follows a woman who travels to Japan to search for her twin sister who is believed to have gone into a forest known for its allure for those intent on committing suicide; but the deeper she goes into the forest searching, the more she begins to sense a malevolent spirit at work. Dormer gives a decent performance, but she really doesn’t have much to work with as the script is incredibly weak. And the plot, if there is one, is paper thin. Additionally, the scares aren’t that frightening. Still, while it’s monotonous and uninspired, The Forest does deliver a few chills.
the acting is good - natalie dormer is strong as always, and having seen kinney act well, i'm pretty sure that the more stiff moments in his acting are intentional, as it contributes to the overall sensation that we shouldn't trust him. the minor characters are all believably people, not cutouts to further the story. when the movie employs japanese horror elements, it does it surprisingly well. the jump scares therefore feel a little out of place, but aren't completely awful.
here's the thing though: this movie could have existed without aokigahara forest. this was made before the latest western entertainer controversy with the forest, but even before logan paul was around to be tone deaf it was fairly common knowledge that the forest is a sad, unsettling place that gets treated like a weird circus act by tourists and foreigners. when the producer wondered why a movie about it had never been made, he probably should have taken an additional moment to consider that there were no aokigahara forest movies for a good reason. it's not horror fodder so much as just sad and unfortunate. a fictionalized setting with fictionalized lore would've made this worth the watch, honestly.
I had 0 expectations seeing all the bad ratings. But I found the plot really interesting. Could be way better, of course. The ending could've been better developed.
The Australian Guy could have his australian accent at least... ;>
I really thought this movie could be better after watching the trailer… I was proven wrong…
It's just horribly boring. Except for the expected surprise moments in ever horror movie, this was just plain boring! The story would have been really promising but execution was poor.
was excited about the premise, but poorly executed...the hauntingly beautiful forest could have been used more effectively in the horror aspect, but instead they decided to use jump scares and loud screams, which was disappointing...and the ending was fumbled by the director, instead of an unnerving finale twist that left you surprised, it had me confused and aggravated that I had wasted my time
Looks beautiful and some interesting themes but really cliche.
A great concept for a film, and one based on a real location, but falters in the execution and takes too many wrong paths to be anything remotely scary.
This movie was boring and not scary.
The story is interesting, but I dare to say the script failed it. I also dare to say that if it were better developed, it would have done better rating-wise. The movie goal seems to be a jumpscare-based production, but the jumpscares weren't jumpy or scary.
I've been really looking forward to an Aokigahara movie since I read about this place years ago. Althought it's fair and its interesting plot, I think the movie didn't deliver the full horror potential this forest has.
With poorly acted sequences that are strung together by cheap, unrewarding jump scares, and an overall plot that pays no mind to it's rich and interesting location, The Forest proves to be an unfortunate headlining debut for Dormer, especially when it is evident she's capable of so much more.
1/10
So bad at every aspect. A horrible film
It was honestly not that bad. I saw it at the cinema last night, the acting was way better than you see in most horror flicks, the cinematography was decent. Some of the writing was a big weak and every single jump scare (while really effective) was essentially the exact same thing, but it was decent enough.
not bad. the movie is scaring with tension and good actors. but the end is disappointing and deceive a lot.
Review by DeletedBlockedParentSpoilers2016-03-23T00:57:36Z
"Sara and Jess not twins but are one singular person in a split personality. There are TONS of clues to this.
1) The hair color is an obvious choice. It plays a role later, but to tell the difference, we see two dramatic changes. Could just be cinematic ease, however it does play a role later.
2) She always says that when her sister makes bad choices, she has to come and save her. Sara is the passive personality, and "comes forward" during times of high stress or trauma. This split originated during the trauma of the parents murder/ suicide. Sara said she never saw the scene, so when Jess faces that sadness it sparks Sara to the rescue as Sara can hide behind the idea that she never saw the trauma. One very specific case of this is the second suicide attempt. Sara said she had not heard from Jess and could not reach her on the phone, so she had 911 check on her. You call 911 locally. You do not call it across states, so Sara called 911 when Jess took the pills to save her. Another thing is the use of pills, which someone dealing with this level of scarring would have high amounts of medication, like the ones seen in her bag. If we were to look closely at the pills, I bet there would be heavy medications for schizophrenia.
3) When Sara tells Rob that she needs to go save Jess, Rob looks like he has dealt with this before. What he sees is that Jess has relapsed into Sara, and is doing his best to keep her grounded. By "sleeping on it," he is trying to buy time for Jess to take over, but in the morning she has all ready left. One small aspect is we never see her in a plane, only in an apartment and then in Japan. Jess was actually in Japan teaching when she had a snap, and Rob did not have to fly to catch up to her. It may even be possible that Rob is her psychiatrist, and the apartment was his office. More on him later.
4) When she dreams about Jess in a tent, you see two silhouettes, but when she opens only 1 person is in the tent, which is Jess.
5) Sara knew exactly which direction Jess' tent is in. We never see the two together ever, except in pictures or during the split event. Jess was lost for 5 days, yet when she runs to the rescue party at the end she was at her tent.
6) When Sara searches her apartment, she looks at all of the hair products (which I bet hair dye is one of them)
7) When she sees a picture of Jess on Aiden's phone, it was actually a picture of her he had taken for the article. She does not recognize it is her because she views herself as blonde, but Jess is the real person so any picture would be of Jess and not of her perception of blonde hair.
8) The Sara Teasdale poem
"And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone."
Translation: No one knows about her splits warring for control, and no one will care about the Sara's death as she is not real. Neither bird or tree relates to the forest gaining another spirit upon the shedding of the sadness. When she awakes at dawn, she barely knows the war took place as she never acknowledged she was split, but she does scarcely know she is gone.
9) When she explains the twin link, its a sound or buzz, and when the other is dead, it is silent. That is the quiet in her head after the split no longer occupies her subconsciousness. In this case, both personalities have a reality, but only one exists. The noise is the presence of the other personality in her subconscious.
10) When Jess comes out of the forest, Rob says "Sara?" They have opposite hair, so he should recognize that it is Jess. When she says nothing, he changes the name to Jess. She then answers. To further this, he strongly asks her if she has seen Sara. Knowing Sara is the trauma, he needs to know if Jess has regained control. When she says she is still in the forest, Rob knows it may mean Sara has been eliminated from Jess. She also says "she came to save me," which I think is when she realizes that Sara took control. More than likely, Jess understands their is a Sara, but is unable to control when she takes over.
So, to sum up the story. Jess moves to Japan and takes on a job as a teacher, but has been dealing with this mental health and trauma from the child's view of the horror. She knows the forest is where people "find themselves" and can "face their sadness." She had a tent, brought along reading material as she is their for a walkabout to finally face her trauma. During this, Sara takes over while she is in the forest. Two things could happen here. Since the story is told from Sara's view, most of the Sara adventure is just a completely false reality happening while Jess is in the woods, or Sara completely takes over, changes clothes (why Jess' clothes are hanging in the woods) and goes back to her psychiatrist in which she believes she is married to. Then the story goes as we follow Sara through backtracking to Jess. Jess said she was lost for 5 days, meaning she was in the woods for 5 days, but that is also how long we have followed Sara.
The story comes to an end in the ranger's cabin when she kills Aiden, and then is faced with the basement scene. She protects Jess from seeing the scene, telling her to not look, but then Sara sees the scene. Sara would not know what this looks like, as she said she never saw it but the scene was obvious to her. This is where Sara is forced to face the fact that she saw the horrible scene, and cannot hide between a split that is a witness to it and one that is safe from it. She then finally, once and for all, faces it, by literally asking her dad why, and then cutting him away from her. This of course is the suicide of Sara, but it is the killing of the split, leaving Sara to die in the basement where she was created. After the suicide, Jess awakens, and both can be seen running parallel to each other, indicating the return of control by Jess. This is the moment where they pass each other in the main control of Jess. Jess comes forward as Sara is running, causing Jess to run. She eventually emerges from the forest, having faced her trauma, and left behind a soul for the forest to keep. The Yuri are the remnants of the sadness left in the forest by the people who faced their sadness, regardless of suicide or success.
Nichi could not handle the sadness of losing someone under his guide, and this is why he is now susceptible to seeing the spirits, and Sara comes for him in the end."