YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Instagram
Chris Eberle
Sara and her identical twin sister Jess live a world apart. Jess teaches English in Japan and has a thirst for adventure. After a class field trip to the mysterious Suicide Forest, she decides to return alone and quickly loses contact with the outside world. Sara immediately flies in to mount a rescue. After convincing a local travel writer and his guide to take her into the forest, unexplained events begin to occur. Ignoring warnings to “stay on the path”, Sara finds her sister’s campsite but Jess is nowhere in sight. She decides to stay the night in hopes she’ll return but after dark, the forest turns into a place where the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred.
2016, Color, Rated PG-13, 1 Hr 33 mins
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
Starring: Natalie Dormer, Tailor Kinney
Directed by Jason Zada
Rating
Violence: Yes
Sex: No
Language: No
I’m thankful The Forest was only 90 minutes because it only contained about 45 minutes of actual story-telling. The plot is pretty thin and better suited for a short subject rather than a feature film. There are long sequences that exist solely to kill time between events. Once something does happen, it takes on the form of a brief flash and that’s it. You get a fairly long buildup but the payoff falls short.
Secrets Sponsor
The subject of a creepy forest is nothing new and towards the end it becomes a challenge to tell what’s real and what’s not. A few more “boo” moments might have livened the pace a little but it seems the director was more interested in providing closeup shots of the principal actors. You never really get drawn into the environment. Rather, the viewer watches a series of conversations peppered by Sara’s childhood flashbacks. Even her backstory is oversimplified. The movie wants to provide twists and turns but never really gets off the ground. The Forest is worth a rental at best.
The image is clean and detailed with well-rendered textures and a natural color palette. Given the subject matter, scenes are appropriately dark and retain good shadow delineation without descending to murkiness. A light grain has been added to the image which was shot entirely on Arri Alexa digital cameras. I felt a little more grain and grit might have been appropriate at times to give the movie a more organic feel.
Secrets Sponsor
Audio is competent and clean with good use of the surround speakers during the characters’ trek through the forest. Wind and the rustling of leaves takes place all around the viewer. This would have been a great subject for Dolby Atmos but only a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is included.
Bonus features are brief and include an eight minute discussion with director Jason Zada on his approach to the story and information about Natalie Dormer’s role and other behind-the-scenes info. Also included are a series of still photos arranged in eight slide shows along with audio commentary by the director.