THE FOREST
Dead wood
released 26 february 15 ( TBC) | TBC minutes
Director Jason Zada
Cast Natalie Dormer, Taylor
Kinney, Eoin Macken
The Aokigahara forest, near the base of Mount Fuji in Japan, is infamous for the inordinate amount of suicides that occur there, and should lend itself to spectacularly morbid cinematic homages. Sadly, this isn’t one.
Natalie Dormer plays dual roles as no- nonsense Sara and her wilder sister Jesse, both tormented by their parents’ unresolved deaths. When Jesse goes missing in Aokigahara, Sara takes a 6,000- mile trip to find her. Aided by a handsome stranger ( Taylor Kinney) who may be a killer, she travels deep into the woods, getting spooked by her own dark past as well as all manner of off- the- rack Asian ghosts.
First- time director Jason Zada takes a stab at claustrophobic, surreal horror, and a few shots of fog- choked trees and ominous ice caves nearly chill the blood, but with only two main characters – neither of whom garner much interest – there’s not a lot of room for body count or sudden deaths. There is, however, plenty of time to tromp around in the woods, and that’s basically all this movie is: a tiresome hike that leads to a cheap, cop- out ending.
Your last weekend camping trip had more thrills and chills. Ken McIntyre
Statistics about suicides in Aokigahara are no longer published, but in 2003 ( the last year they were), there were 105.