Review of The Forest (2016) by Uniqueusername — 07 Feb 2016

This was a decent effort from first-time director Jason Zada. The premise and setting are intriguing, and for the most part this is used to an advantage. There are suspenseful and tension-filled scenes to be found and the atmosphere of the forest is quite creepy.

The first act is fairly slow, but I did find myself invested in the story. Natalie Dormer is good and I was interested in her character and motivations. The rest of the cast are fine, but you don't really care about them.

In overall, the setup is solid, and as well is the atmosphere, but unfortunately as the movie goes on the story starts to lose itself, and by the third act you don't care anymore, and what started as a mostly interesting and investing story with a creepy atmosphere and suspenseful scenes, eventually becomes a repetitive and predictable galore of questionable character decisions, clichés and jumpscares and ends on a dry note.

Although the third act is very underwhelming, there are suspenseful and tension-filled scenes to be found in the movie and the first hour is mostly effective. The Forest is better than most January horror films, and if you walk into the cinema with low expectations you will propably enjoy what it has to offer.