The Forest

Name: The Forest
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Horror
Released: January 8, 2016
Duration: 93 min
Rating: 34
Cast: Eoin Macken, Natalie Dormer, Osamu Tanpopo, Stephanie Vogt

2016

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 206 Ratings

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6.7

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6.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 206 Ratings

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The Forest

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Movie Details & Credits

Focus Features | Release Date: January 8, 2016 | PG-13

Starring: Eoin Macken, Natalie Dormer, Osamu Tanpopo, Stephanie Vogt

Summary: Sara (Natalie Dormer), a young American woman, goes in search of her twin sister, who has mysteriously disappeared. Despite everyone’s warnings to “stay on the path,” Sara enters the legendary Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mt. Fuji determined to discover the truth about her sister’s fate – only to be confronted by the angry and tormentedSara (Natalie Dormer), a young American woman, goes in search of her twin sister, who has mysteriously disappeared. Despite everyone’s warnings to “stay on the path,” Sara enters the legendary Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mt. Fuji determined to discover the truth about her sister’s fate – only to be confronted by the angry and tormented souls of the dead that prey on anyone who wanders into the forest.… Expand

Director: Jason Zada

Genre(s): Mystery, Thriller, Horror

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 93 min

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Critic Reviews

Bill Zwecker

Jan 8, 2016

With a nice, unexpected twist at the end, The Forest delivers as a healthy dose of psychological cinematic terror and an impressive first feature directing effort. Read full review

Neil Genzlinger

Jan 7, 2016

A decently executed creeper built around a convincing performance by Natalie Dormer. Read full review

James Berardinelli

Jan 8, 2016

To be fair, The Forest boasts a promising premise but squanders most of its goodwill as a result of narrative shortcuts and contrivances, horror film clichés, and haphazard editing. Read full review

Bill Goodykoontz

Jan 7, 2016

The Forest is one of those horror movies that starts with an intriguing idea but has no idea what to do with it. Read full review

Michael Nordine

Jan 11, 2016

Before devolving into the same series of demonic faces and jump-scares we've seen time and again, The Forest is a genuinely unnerving mood piece. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Mark Dujsik

Jan 8, 2016

Whatever difference Zada's relatively minimalist approach to scenes might make, it does not outweigh the overarching feeling that the movie falls into a predictable, repetitive routine. Read full review

Alonso Duralde

Jan 7, 2016

The accusations of cultural tone-deafness wind up being fairly moot, since The Forest turns out to be so generally inept and non-scary that to boycott it would give the film more attention than it deserves. Read full review

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User Reviews

AussieTEK

Jan 9, 2016

I loved this movie but I can understand low rating. This movie was more about mental scary not horror scary. Most of the critics that viewed this movie with low rating just didn't have the mental capacity to understand this movie. So if you love a good mental scary movie when willI loved this movie but I can understand low rating. This movie was more about mental scary not horror scary. Most of the critics that viewed this movie with low rating just didn't have the mental capacity to understand this movie. So if you love a good mental scary movie when will probably enjoy this one.… Expand

10 of 23 users found this helpful1013

GinaK

Jan 10, 2016

I enjoyed this film, and I don’t understand why it got such terrible reviews. One of my fellow user reviewers was absolutely right (after giving it a 10) – it is “mental scary” and not “horror scary.” What I would say is that it is psychological horror (that is, something like Hitchcock’sI enjoyed this film, and I don’t understand why it got such terrible reviews. One of my fellow user reviewers was absolutely right (after giving it a 10) – it is “mental scary” and not “horror scary.” What I would say is that it is psychological horror (that is, something like Hitchcock’s Psycho – the horror is Norman’s mind) instead of “place-based” horror such in Insidious. In some great horror films like The Haunting of Hill House, both types of horror appear – one of the characters is deranged but the house is also haunted. In The Forest, I thought the situation was interesting, the actors, especially Natalie Dormer (who seemed to get a good review no matter how much a professional critic hated the film), the locale was fresh and interesting, and the pace and direction was very good. To me the reviews of this film are another example of critics disdaining the horror genre simply because they don’t understand it.… Expand

0 of 4 users found this helpful04

HarriganMtvBlog

Jun 7, 2016

After seeing the trailers for 'The Forest' and then reading some critic reviews as well as checking Rotten Tomatoes scores, I had written this movie off as one that I might check out on home video. My expectations were pretty low, which can actually be a good thing: if the movie sucks, I'mAfter seeing the trailers for 'The Forest' and then reading some critic reviews as well as checking Rotten Tomatoes scores, I had written this movie off as one that I might check out on home video. My expectations were pretty low, which can actually be a good thing: if the movie sucks, I'm prepared, but if it's good it'd be a pleasant surprise.

The film starts out with the main character of Sara (Natalie Dormer) searching for her identical twin sister, Jess, who has gone missing in the Aokigahara Forest in Japan where she currently lives. The forest, nicknamed the "suicide forest", is a palce where Japanese residents go to commit suicide, leaving their bodies for park rangers to find (yes, this is actually a real thing).

Seeking a guide to take her into the forest, Sara enlists the help of Aiden (Taylor Kinney), a reporter
writing for an Australian news outlet. Aiden resides in Tokyo and is fluent in Japanese and knows a guide to aid Sara. With the help of her two new allies in Aiden and Michi, they explore the forest until they come across Jess's tent. Intent on finding her sister, Sara refuses to leave and return in the morning, not heeding all of the warnings locals have given her about the strange happenings of what goes on in the forest. People are haunted by spirits of the dead, causing them great paranoia and hallucinations and ultimately causing their suicides.

Sara and Aiden stay the night, but Sara's ghostly visitors lead her away from camp and start to wreak havoc on her psyche. Becoming evermore paranoid, Sara begins to distrust Aiden, believing that he knew Jess and had a part to play in her disappearance.

Sara eventually escapes from Aiden and continues her search for Jess, encountering more spirits and losing her sanity in the process. After falling into an underground cave and more paranormal experiences, Aiden rescues Sara and they happen upon an abandoned ranger station Aiden had found, piquing Sara's distrust of Aiden even more. After a struggle, Sara winds up stabbing and killing Aiden. As Sara is traveling through the forest, she sees Jess and goes after her, but Jess is equally as paranoid and runs off.

The backstory of Sara and Jess goes into the death of their parents, initially told to be a drunk driving accident, but we are shown that their father killed their mother and himself. Jess saw their bodies but Sara didn't, which caused Jess's troubled upbringing and multiple suicide attempts.

In a scene where Sara thinks her father is trying to kill her, she pries his hand off of her arm with a knife. Jess manages to escape the forest and finds the help of authorities that have been searching for her, including Sara's boyfriend Rob. Sara is revealed to actually have slit her own wrist when trying to escape the illusion of her father, and is then pulled into the ground by multiple arms coming our of the earth. As Jess and the authorities postpone their search for the night, Michi looks back into the forest one last time and sees the ghastly apparition of a now deceased Sara.

While this movie wasn't all that scary, the tension ran high throughout and the constant paranoia made for an uneasy watching experience. Because my expectations were so low for this film, I wound up enjoying it more than I thought I would.

My rating: 6 out of 10… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SolInvicta

Apr 1, 2016

The Forest is well-acted and has a creepy enough atmosphere, but it's not nearly enough to make up for the confused plot and complete lack of scares. The director sure knows how to build tension, but The Forest is all build up and no pay offs.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Rebecca31

Feb 27, 2016

A horror movie about a woman traveling to Japan's Suicide Forest to search for her twin sister. Starring Natalie Dormer and a bunch of other actors you won't recognise from anything. Now with the words Japan and Suicide Forest you'd expect a very creepy, suspenseful and terrifying movieA horror movie about a woman traveling to Japan's Suicide Forest to search for her twin sister. Starring Natalie Dormer and a bunch of other actors you won't recognise from anything. Now with the words Japan and Suicide Forest you'd expect a very creepy, suspenseful and terrifying movie right? All the right ingredients yes? Well you'd be wrong, very wrong. Starts off well, gets in its cheap jump scares wherever possible but slowly and surely descends into a chaotic mess that so many of these movies falls victim to. Not really recommended but I feel compelled to tell you that The Blair Witch Project will give you more laughs.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Hurricane16

Feb 2, 2018

An interesting premise is put to waste by too many jump scares and a muddled plot

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

InglouriousAndy

May 18, 2016

The Forest is a soulless abomination capable of absolutely nothing. The plot twists are hackneyed, the performances lifeless, and the writing awful. The ending is offensive. After sitting through the painful running time, it ends with zero closure and a particularly insulting jump scare.The Forest is a soulless abomination capable of absolutely nothing. The plot twists are hackneyed, the performances lifeless, and the writing awful. The ending is offensive. After sitting through the painful running time, it ends with zero closure and a particularly insulting jump scare. Don't watch this.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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