The Forest

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The Forest

PG-13,

2016,

1h 33m,

Horror/

Mystery & Thriller

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10%

136 Reviews

Tomatometer

22%

10,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

10%

Tomatometer

136 Reviews

22%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

When her twin sister disappears in Japan, a young American named Sara becomes determined to find out what happened to her. Sara's investigation leads her to the legendary Aokigahara Forest, located at the base of Mount Fuji. Accompanied by expatriate Aiden, she enters the mysterious wilderness after being warned to "stay on the path." Her investigation plunges her into a dark world where the angry and tormented souls of the dead prey on those who dare to explore the forest.

Critics Consensus

The Forest offers Natalie Dormer a few chances to showcase her range in a dual role, but they aren't enough to offset the fact that the movie's simply not all that scary.

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Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

Aug 16, 2016

2/4

The film feels more like an expertly crafted missed opportunity, a suspense opus filled with some solidly intriguing ideas that for some reason it refuses to investigate.

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Roxana Hadadi

Chesapeake Family Magazine

Aug 2, 2016

1.5/5

Disturbingly manipulative and yet totally conventional, The Forest is more memorable for being opportunistic than for being truly frightening.

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Donald Clarke

Irish Times

Mar 6, 2016

2/5

We are packed onto a poorly designed ghost train and hurtled past a randomly arranged array of stuff that would fail to frighten even the frailest infant.

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Matt Oakes

Silver Screen Riot

Oct 14, 2026

D

A listless turd of a film, 'The Forest' lacks the requisite scares to qualify as a horror and is devoid of the necessary singular iota of intelligence required to work as a psychological thriller.

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Jordy Sirkin

Jordy Reviews It

Feb 22, 2023

It’s not scary, slightly cheesy, and a little confusing (but not in a good way). While there’s an interesting twist at the end, you can’t help but feel completely robbed of time when this movie is over.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Apr 23, 2022

1.5/4

Instead of turning the forest into a place where Japanese people find some kind of sad and disturbing comfort on a mass scale, the filmmakers have chosen to turn the place into a haunted house.

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Harry S

Apr 22, 2019

Cheap movie, not scary at all.

Hermione W

Jan 6, 2019

Truly awful film, not interesting at all. The characters were boring & at no point was the film suspenseful let alone scary! Natalie Dormer is hot, but she can't save this pile up crap.

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Rey S

Oct 31, 2018

Natalie Dormer shines not just as the eye-candy but rather a surprisingly effective protagonist in the horror genre, unfortunately, and while the film quite looks beautiful and creepy, the film never manages to effectively turn atmospheric or scary, and while some interesting and gruesome takes place, Jason Zada's film about the classic Japanese legend of the Aokigahara forest struggles to provide a satisfying horror experience.

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George W

Oct 29, 2018

My take is the critics underrated this film by a wide margin . The story I found to be quite good. (Dormer) plays the both twin sister roles . Sara Price (Dormer) discovers her twin sister 'Jess (Dormer) has vanished in Japan's infamous 'Suicide Forest' It really exists i looked it up 'Aokigahara ' . Sara plunges into a the dark forest . She enters a tormented world where angry spirits mess with ones own reality . Its is a very good story and surreal. I liked the macabre setting knowing that a Suicide Forest 'Aokigahara' my very well be in true reality haunted by very troubles souls . Creepy .

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Abraham W

Oct 12, 2018

Natalie is the perfect bitch for this film. She has to make believable that a girl would be that bitchy, self assured and wrong at the same time. With this kind of bitch, would a guy want to be heroic?

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Draco M

Oct 5, 2018

Two Natalie Dormers lifted this otherwise it would have gotten a lower rating for me. Atmospheric, loved the creepy forest setting and reputation of Aokigaharaas the suicide forest. I have the say the supporting cast and majority of the other actors/actresses other than Dormer were pretty terrible. Lot of pointless flashbacks but a conclusive ending. Why did the brunette Dormer look like a crack addict. Why did blonde Natalie wear the same clothes the whole movie. Natalie is gorgeous but she looks like a cat. All in all , pretty average stuff, all a bit silly and hectic.

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Jason Zada

Director

Natalie Dormer

Sara

Taylor Kinney

Aiden

Yukiyoshi Ozawa

Michi

Eoin Macken

Rob

Stephanie Vogt

Valerie

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The Forest: B-Roll 1

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The Forest: Trailer 2

1:02

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Synopsis

When her twin sister disappears in Japan, a young American named Sara becomes determined to find out what happened to her. Sara's investigation leads her to the legendary Aokigahara Forest, located at the base of Mount Fuji. Accompanied by expatriate Aiden, she enters the mysterious wilderness after being warned to "stay on the path." Her investigation plunges her into a dark world where the angry and tormented souls of the dead prey on those who dare to explore the forest.

Director: Jason Zada
Producer: Tory Metzger, David S. Goyer, David Linde
Screenwriter: Ben Ketai, Sarah Cornwell, Nick Antosca
Distributor: Focus Features
Production Co: Lava Bear Films, AI-Film, Phantom Four Films
Rating: PG-13 (Disturbing Thematic Content|Disturbing Images)
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 8, 2016, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 6, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $26.6M
Runtime: 1h 33m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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