In a Japan Aokigahara forest a young America named Sara decides to find out what happened to one twin that went missing after venturing into the forest only to confront her supernatural terrors.
The eminently watchable Natalie Dormer is front and centre in the new psychological horror from first-time director Jason Zada, but you can't help but think that the actress deserved better.
With no compelling characters, scares, or plot points to redeem The Forest, the best option for those curious about Aokigahara is probably to watch a 20-minute 2005 VICE documentary about it.
The Forest boasts a promising premise but squanders most of its goodwill as a result of narrative shortcuts and contrivances, horror film clichés, and haphazard editing.
The Forest plunders the J-horror vocabulary to muster what jumps it can, and is pretty nice to look at. But only the really good horror films know how to end on a high note, and this isn't one of them.
