While the early months of the new year present a few Oscar hopefuls opening to wide audiences, it also marks a run of less impressive material. Welcome to January, folks. The Forest is a ghost story that was clearly intended to send shivers down the spine. Yet the numerous jump scares fall flat and aren’t likely to raise more than a yawn from most viewers.
The premise is interesting enough. In Japan near Mount Fuji lies the legendary Aokigahara Forest. It’s a huge preserve famous for its frequent suicides and (for the purposes of this movie) suggestions of an evil supernatural presence. When American Sara Price (Natalie Dormer) receives word that her twin entered the forest and disappeared, she flies to Japan in a desperate attempt to find her. Naturally, it isn’t long before the woman comes face to face with all sorts of strange phenomena and begins to question her own sanity.
While one can imagine all sorts of visual potential and interpretive drama as one travels through an eerie sea of bended trees filled with dead bodies (and perhaps something more sinister), this picture never manages to develop tension. Unfortunately, it has a disadvantage from the beginning. The lead characters are never particularly interesting to watch and the attempts at establishing a threatening tone are so overdone that they come across as amusing instead of intimidating.
And no one involved appears to have very much to work with. The writing and performances appear stilted and an early scene in which the twins (portrayed by the same actress) interact feels stiff and unnatural. From the moment Sara arrives in Japan, the filmmakers attempt to instill fear by having the locals behave strangely, but it only comes across as preposterous.
This includes Sara’s visit to the park’s Visitor Tourist Center. You’d expect concerned attendees giving stern warnings to those entering the grounds. Here, they smile in a sinister manner, speak cryptically and leave guests alone in a makeshift basement morgue for lengthy periods of time. And there isn’t any rational explanation for the behavior. Even stranger, the lead doesn’t question any of these actions as being completely crazy.
Things don’t improve when the heroine befriends an ex-pat journalist named Aiden (Taylor Kinney) who decides to assist the woman on her quest. The budding friendship between the pair isn’t developed in any meaningful way. His thankless role involves scenes of the character attempting to be helpful and then following up his actions with a long, malicious stare. It’s in the hopes of presenting himself as a threat, but it couldn’t be more ineffective.
While all of this is occurring, Sara begins to experience strange visions, most of which involve conversing with a teenaged Japanese schoolgirl – a less than intimidating otherworldly presence. Sure, there are some fake-out jump scares from the shadows along the way, but they’re predictable and telegraphed to the point where they ultimately aren’t effective.
There’s also minimal use of music to score the film. One assumes that the intent is to startle with sudden soundtrack cues, but these moments are too few and far between. Instead, the long silences emphasize the awkward dialogue and unintentionally funny actions of the characters.
The Forest moves quickly and offers a few nice views in addition to its intriguing concept. However, there’s little else about the presentation that is in any way compelling. In the end, with so many award contenders still in theaters, there isn’t much reason to get excited about this trip into the woods.