Review of The Forest (2016) by Brett B — 23 Mar 2016

For a time, THE FOREST flirts with almost being an interesting little horror film. Before long, however, it becomes clear that it's basically your standard fare, and it devolves into fairly pedestrian, by-the-numbers schlock; it squanders what should have been a great hook under a plodding pace and increasingly dull goings-on, and its Japanese setting - which one would think could offers some great visual opportunities - manages to feel bland and rather rote.

The movie is not a total loss, however; some of the apparitions that pop up as the story moves along are legitimately creepy, it's nicely photographed, and Dormer does her best (in a role that doesn't particularly demand much from her).

There are some story threads that feel like they could lead in interesting directions, but the movie doesn't follow through, instead treating us to a second half that's basically a slog, albeit one peppered with cheap jumps to try to keep the audience engaged (it doesn't really work, as most are either telegraphed or insulting fake-outs).

All told, it's nowhere near the worst film you could ever see, but it's far too uninspired and - frankly - dull, which is the cardinal sin of horror films.