Movie Review: The Forest (2016 | Horror)

The Forest


Circa 2016.


In the horror genre, a movie, claiming to chill one's bones was released.
It is about a young woman, Sara, who goes off into the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fiji in Japan to search for her twin sister, Jess.


The movie follows a distraught Sara as she battles yurei and other dark creatures in the eerie forest. Known as the suicide forest, the Aokigahara forest has many uncovered secrets. People apparently go there to take their lives and the general belief that Sara has to fight is that Jess is probably dead for ages.


Aiden, a journalist, and Michi, a forest guard offer to help Sara and off the trio goes into the forest. Despite repeated warnings by Michi, Aiden and Sara stay back in the forest in the night.


The Forest is a good movie, which I enjoyed, after a long time. I like watching horror movies and found that The Forest finely catered to the 'horror-need gene' in me. Some scenes leave you wanting but I personally loved the portions where Sara hallucinates owing to the effects of the creatures of the Forest.


Does Sara eventually find Jess? The Forest lures you to brave it out. I kind of guessed the ending still found it creepy to watch it being executed on screen. Jason Zada's The Forest, delivers the right amount of creepiness and keeps one guessing. You find yourself rooting for Sara (Natalie) and wishing she had some common sense and kept her sanity alive. But then, the boss here is Jason and he drives this effortlessly.  


Demons and dark creatures are an integral part of the Japanese folklore and like us Indians, the Japanese are also quite superstitious. When I say this, I do not necessarily mean I am supporting the belief system but I do advise caution in disregarding the belief system altogether. Like they say, when we have light, we also have darkness in this world. Does the Aokigahara forest actually have yureis who lure the innocent and suck their life blood? Maybe they do. But, it also depends on the environment such belief systems take root and thrive in.     


So, cutting it short, I give it a 3/5 and would say do pick this up if you are looking to go on a virtual walking trail.


Starring: Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Eoin Macken   

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