Cinema Review: The Forest


Posted February 26, 2016 in Cinema Reviews

The Forest

Director: Jason Zada
Talent: Natalie Dormer, Eoin Macken, Stephanie Vogt, Taylor Kinney

Release Date: 26th February 2016

 

The latest in a long and burgeoning line of horror films that confuse horror with things jumping up on screen accompanied by a loud noise, The Forest sees Sara Price (Dormer) travel from America to Japan’s spooky Aokigahara forest to look for her twin sister Jess (also Dormer), reported to have gone missing there only days previous. The forest, it is said, causes sad individuals to decide to kill themselves when they walk inside. Sara and Jess’ mystical twin connection, however, tells our heroine that her estranged sister is still alive. The film never makes much use of its dark and evocative forest setting, instead relying on cheap shock tactics to make the audience jump. Even these, however, fail to register more often than not. It’s simply not scary, nor even interesting. Jason Zada, whose first time this is directing a feature film, would be best advised to go back to operating jack-in-the-boxes, on the strength of this effort.

Words: Oisín Murphy-Hall

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