A dreary trek through a haunted Japanese forest, with a straight
forward plot that sports only cosmetic twists.
Purely
as a horror, 'The Forest' is simply not that scary or original. The
setting was a neat idea, but the cultural background isn't built upon
very much. Natalie Dormer plays both the lead and her twin sister, in
a very cliché move for range. It doesn't really work, mostly because
both characters are quite flat and samey.
It's
once the film goes from being a simple shock-scare horror and tries
to explore the lead's psychology that it turns from being simply
forgettable into being irritatingly boring.
Very
by the numbers, with lots of unimaginative scares. The setting showed
promise but was not implemented very well.
The Forest: 13.5