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In the beginning, “The Forest” does not live up to its reputation. We are accustomed to the typical scare sequences, in which creepy music plays in the background while a character navigates a sinister setting. These sequences are intended to terrify the audience. As the unavoidable startle moment draws near, the music builds to a crescendo, and then, when it finally arrives, there is a dissonant, deafening sting to accompany the howl/screech/yell of the frightener and whatever terrifying form it takes (monster, masked killer, pale demonic child, etc.).
In his first feature film, director Jason Zada chooses a path that isn’t quite as conventional as one might expect. Although our main character does make his way through a number of spooky and shadowy locations, there is no creepy music playing in the background. In this case, the emphasis placed on ratcheting up the tension through editing rhythms and background noise is, on paper at least, a welcome change. When the unavoidable event finally takes place, the disorienting musical cue is not played (although the growl, shriek, or scream will, of course, continue to be played, as the audience’s reflexes need to be tested in some way). Zada is obviously aware that the typical strategies have become stale and predictable, and although he isn’t exactly inventing anything new here, he is at least reducing some of the traction by removing an aural redundancy.
However, this does not continue for the duration of the whole movie. That would be an unrealistic expectation at a time when it seems that every other mainstream horror movie, if not every single one, feels obligated to end with a shot of the face of some ostensibly terrifying entity rapidly approaching the camera. This would be a hope that would not be fulfilled. This movie does not buck that trend, and indeed, the other cheesy and familiar strategies end up appearing at some point in this one as well. While this is going on, there are plenty of other ones that can make up for the ones that are missing but are not being missed at the moment.
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It’s a little funny that Sara shows people a picture of Jess when all she really needs to do is point at her own face and say, “But she has black hair.” The story follows Sara Price (Natalie Dormer), who has come to Tokyo after receiving a call from local police that her twin sister Jess (also played by Dormer) has gone missing (the fact that Sara shows people a picture of Jess when all she really needs to do is point at her own face and say Jess was last seen walking into Aokigahara, which is a forest at the base of Mount Fuji that has become known as the “Suicide Forest” due to the significant number of people who end their lives within it. Jess was last seen walking into Aokigahara. There is a myth that the spirits living in the forest feed on people’s misery and drive them to take their own lives. The sisters each have a traumatic experience from their past, which provides the spirits with an easy source of material to work with.
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Despite the fact that everyone has warned Sara not to go into the woods, she is unwavering in her commitment to look for her sister there. She is eventually accompanied by Aiden (Taylor Kinney), a travel magazine writer who believes that her story would make for a good article, and Michi (Yukiyoshi Ozawa), a person who makes regular rounds through Aokigahara to search for bodies. Both of them are looking for her.
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Even though the screenplay was written by Nick Antosca, Sarah Cornwell, and Ben Ketai, and the movie’s expository scenes played out in flashback as Sara arrived in Tokyo, it still took a very long time for anything significant to take place. As Sara learns more information about Jess’s activities leading up to her disappearance, the movie shows scene after scene of her walking through shadowy areas, being startled, and coming to the conclusion that everything she saw was just a dream (the “It was only a dream” gimmick occurs so often that it deflates whatever tension may exist in the earlier scenes). Whatever difference Zada’s relatively minimalist approach to scenes might make, it is not enough to outweigh the overarching impression that the movie falls into a predictable and repetitive routine.
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There is a great deal of potential in the central location, which is based on a real place with depressing and ever-increasing statistics that might cause one to question the taste of exploiting and publicizing it. This promise, however, is only partially fulfilled in the form of fleeting flourishes, such as a menacing fog rolling through the forest, tape and rope attached to trees serving as guides to the bodies of those who wanted to be found, and a river that appears to change its course in order to confuse Sara. This final one hints at the method that is used throughout much of the third act of the movie, which is to pose questions regarding what is real and what is imagined. The chaos has little to do with any kind of pattern or logic. It’s just a matter of convenience to lead the story to its somewhat underwhelming twist, which comes about halfway through the narrative.
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The admiration that is initially garnered for the few things that Zada does in the early sections of “The Forest” that are done differently is not sustained for very long because the film continually hits the same beats over and over again. The movie by Zada feels like it’s leading up to a conclusion that’s already been decided upon and then just shrugs its shoulders when it gets there.
For more personality quizzes check this: Hell Or High Water Quiz.
