The Forest
2016 · Directed by Jason Zada
Original language: English
- horror
- thriller
- mystery
The story
Set in the Aokigahara Forest, a real-life place in Japan where people go to end their lives. Against this backdrop, a young American woman comes in search of her twin sister, who has mysteriously disappeared.
What it’s like
Muted, desaturated greens and grey-brown earth under flat overcast light, with dense forest pressing close in nearly every frame. Fog hangs between trunks, shadows pool beneath the canopy, and the camera often drifts through the trees at eye level, giving a restless sense of being watched from between the trunks. Sound does much of the work: a low drone and sparse strings that swell into sudden stings, with long stretches of wind and rustling leaves between them. The vibe is uneasy and eerie, a slow creep of dread punctuated by jump scares, best suited to a late night alone with the lights off or a cold grey afternoon. The pacing is steady and tense, following a grieving, determined young woman through disorientation as her sense of what is real frays, a sister-searching arc driven by fear and doubt. Intensity: frightening imagery, jump scares, some bloodshed and injury, and direct depictions of suicide and its aftermath, so it is not a gentle watch. For viewers who want atmospheric, supernatural horror and can handle heavy subject matter.
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