Saturday, October 29, 2022

October Horror Challenge 2022 #110: "The Forest (2016)"

I remember reading about this movie right after it came out. It sounded very depressing with its themes of suicide, depression, and family secrets, or at least that's what I could gather from the movie's trailer and articles about the movie. I knew that the forest in the film's title referenced a forest in Japan where people go to commit suicide, and that is dark and depressing enough on it's own without even adding in any family drama like this movie does. I waited 6 years to watch this movie, avoiding spoilers as best I could, so let's see what I finally think of this movie.

in this movie, when her twin sister disappears in Japan, a young American named Sara (Natalie Dormer) becomes determined to find out what happened to her. Sara's investigation leads her to the legendary Aokigahara Forest, located at the base of Mount Fuji. Accompanied by expatriate Aiden, she enters the mysterious wilderness after being warned to "stay on the path." Her investigation plunges her into a dark world where the angry and tormented souls of the dead prey on those who dare to explore the forest.

My friend Danielle told me that she couldn't believe the twist at the end of this movie, so I knew there was going to be a twist, and I spent the whole movie trying to guess what it would be. It would have been better for me not to worry about a twist and just enjoy the movie as it plays out, because there's seriously not much of a twist anyway, at least not anything I didn't already guess by the time it happened, and the movie is dark and twisted enough on ownit's own, it's not like there's a big "M. Night Shyamalan " kind of twist at bvb the end, so if you're expecting that, you're going to be disappointed. It's mostly just a sad little story about a woman trying to find her sister, and it's got enough jump scares to keep most viewers on their toes, so if that sounds like your jam, check this movie out.

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