Forest, The (2016)
Staci Layne Wilson
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Starring Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney, Eoin Macken, Yukiyoshi Ozawa
Directed by Jason Zada
There’s a famous forest in Japan called the Aokigahara, or “sea of trees,” and it’s the (final) destination hotspot for suicides in Japan (and second-most popular place to pop off in the entire world; San Fran’s Golden Gate Bridge is numero uno). After the novel Kuroi Jukai was published in 1960, in which suicide in the forest is romanticized, glum guys and gals started taking their own lives there at a rate of 50 to 100 annually. Authorities sweep for bodies only on an annual basis, as the forest sits at the base of Mt. Fuji and is too dense to patrol very frequently. Ghosts known as ubasute are said to haunt the terrifying timberland. Bodies are stored in a makeshift morgue in the basement of a ranger station until they are claimed.
It’s at one of these stations that an American woman, Sara (Natalie Dormer), goes in search of her missing identical twin sister, Jess (also Dormer), and encounters a sinister spirit that pursues her throughout her journey. First Sara goes to the school where Jess taught and learns of the legend from some spooked students (a nice nod to J-horror here, with the look and feel of a Whispering Corridors movie).
Once the forest is fixed as the last known place Jess visited, Sara decides to investigate. She is convinced Jess is not dead. “I’d just know it,” she says. Not only are they twins, but in their youth they shared the tragedy of the brutal death of their parents. Somehow, she believes, all this bad luck is interconnected.
While drowning her sorrows in sake at a local bar, Sara meets a handsome and charming expat columnist named Aiden (Taylor Kinney). Aiden wants to not only help Sara, but to share the story of her search for her sister in his travelogue. She agrees, though reluctantly. The next morning the pair go into the deep, dark, dense forest where dozens of old, gray, cane-assisted boo-scares await.
It’s always a slippery slope for filmmakers to compare their movies to suspense and horror classics like Rosemary’s Baby or The Shining, but they do it all the time, and all the time they come up short. The producers of The Forest said they were going for an old-fashioned look and feel, which makes the movie seem even more lightweight than it already is. The premise is creepy, but the execution is marred by fake-out frights and cheesy CGI ghosts. Not to mention the fact it’s PG-13 and is clearly going for the teen box office buck – not because of its rating (The Others was PG-13 also, and it’s one of my fave ghost movies) but because there’s a slick veneer to it that’s nothing like the Polanskis and Kubricks the filmmakers claim to be paying homage to.
Luckily, The Forest has some saving graces in its cast and authentic Japanese location. Dormer is watchable as ever, but I was especially impressed by Kinney. He’s like a cross between Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio, and one can see that with meatier material he could be a superstar. While the movie crew was not allowed to shoot in the actual Aokigahara forest, they found something close. Regardless, the flora and fauna of the Orient is so much different than North America that a cheat would have been obvious. Also, the sets built really have a feel of authenticity (I have been to Japan several times myself, so I know how things should look). What’s more, the score and sound design are crisp and chilling.
The Forest is a well-made movie with a few things going for it. But not quite enough going for me to suggest you check it out in theaters. Unless you’re a huge fan of Dormer or Kinney and need to see their every pore on the big screen, it’s best to wait for home viewing on this one.
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Film
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