Movie Review: HORROR IN THE FOREST

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: July 14th, 2023 / 09:39 AM

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Alexa Lauren, Andrew Thomas, Jim Johnson, Dylan DeVane, Reggie Johnson, Alyssa Jackson, Brent Downs, Jessica Murphy, Howard Hawkins, Leah St. Onge, Alyssia Garza
Writer: Kellan Rudnicki
Director: Brendan Rudnicki
Distributor: Indie Rights Movies/DBS Films
Release Date: June 23, 2023

Director Brendan Rudnicki and writer Kellan Rudnicki, who recently brought us the respectable low-budget FOREST OF DEATH are back with another tree-shrouded entry, HORROR IN THE FOREST.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but HORROR IN THE FOREST is a variation on THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which doesn’t stray too far from the path cleared by that earlier film. HORROR IN THE FOREST is found footage, with a small town that blames its many disappearances on a witch in the woods.

An onscreen disclaimer at the start tells us: “This film is based on recovered footage.” It goes on to say that video has been edited for clarity and narrative continuity, and additional sound and audio have been added for enhancement.

We then get a brief prologue, in which a mother and young daughter are camping out in the woods. Something happens that lets us know there is indeed a menace afoot out here.

We learn that Rudnick Forest has the highest per-mile unsolved abduction rate of anywhere in the United States. Sometimes-couple video podcasters Georgie (Alexa Lauren) and Bo (Andrew Thomas), bringing along their camera operator Steve (Dylan DeVane), are determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. So, they rent a very large house in the town of Rudnick as a base, and start interviewing the locals.

This leads the videographers to a lot of people who don’t know anything, a few people who know a little, and one fellow, Nelson Morgan (Jim Johnson), who lost his daughter and may know a lot.

Knowledgeable or insane, Nelson is extremely high-strung. Bo is understandably wary and doesn’t want to go anywhere with this man. However, Georgie thinks that accompanying Nelson into the woods may get them “the opportunity of a lifetime” in terms of reporting.

HORROR IN THE FOREST (like FOREST OF DEATH) has some good jump scares, albeit about half of them here are false alarms. It also has good performances, solid production values, and makes strong use of its locations.

But the setup leads to too many unanswered questions. For starters, with the national reputation of Rudnick Forest, why would any parents ever bring their children here? Teens messing around on a dare is one thing. Any parent middle-class enough to afford camping is generally protective enough to keep their offspring from playing alone on the front lawn, much less go vacationing in a spot famous for child kidnapping.

Then there’s the matter of a videocassette tape left for our trio. First off, we salute the employment of analog, and we find out who left it fairly quickly, but who shot it in the first place? And how do they know there will be a VCR in the rental house?

Finally, there’s Georgie’s certainty that either seeing Nelson have a complete breakdown or summon a witch is going to catapult her and her colleagues to nonfiction stardom. How are they supposed to prove it’s real, when it looks exactly like what audiences get from this kind of fiction?

Eventually, HORROR IN THE FOREST takes us exactly where the opening information indicates we’re headed. As found-footage movies go, at least we can see what the camera is pointing at, and with so many characters to operate the camera, we never wonder why it’s still running.

HORROR IN THE FOREST fulfills the basic mandates of its subgenre. It doesn’t do anything new with the form, and some elements don’t make a lot of sense, but it’s competent and better photographed than many of its kin.

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