“The Forest”

Susan Granger’s review of “The Forest” (Focus Features/Gramercy Pictures)

 

Situated at the base of Mt. Fuji, the Aokigahara Forest is Japan’s most notorious suicide site. Former advertising veteran, now first-time feature film director Jason Zada uses this aptly named “Sea of Trees” as the folkloric centerpiece of this wannabe horror story.

As it begins, Sara Price (Natalie Dormer) discovers that her willful, self-destructive twin sister Jess has disappeared in rural Japan, where she moved to teach English. So she bids farewell to her restaurateur husband (Eoin Macken) and hops on a plane to search for her sibling, whom she subconsciously senses is still alive.

After traveling by train to the Aokigahara region and checking into an Inn, Sara meets Aiden (Taylor Kinney), an expat American travel writer who offers to let her accompany him and a knowledgeable, yet timid park ranger, Michi (Yukiyoshi Ozawa), into the fabled forest where Jess was last seen on a class field trip.

Screenwriters Ben Ketai, Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosca delve into how the 14-square-mile woodland is haunted by angry ‘yurei,’ the twisted, tormented ghosts of those who have died there. The ambiguously malevolent result is only vaguely creepy.

Best known as spirited Margaery Tyrell on TV’s “Game of Thrones” and rebellious Cressida in “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” franchise, Natalie Dormer does her best with woefully underwritten dual roles.

Although Jason Zada utilizes familiar jump scare tactics, along with spooky sounds and eerie, ominous music, he fails to achieve the necessary suspense to sustain audience interest.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Forest” is a formulaic, trivializing 3. If you’re curious about the real-life location, I suggest watching “Aokigahara: Suicide Forest,” a 20-minute short.

03

 

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