Movie Review: FOREST OF DEATH

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: March 31st, 2023 / 02:26 AM

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Stephanie Kirves, Dylan DeVane, Chloe Rhoades, Tyler Miller, Benjamin Newmark, Reggie Johnson, Howard Hawkins, Alex Ussery, Kellan Rudnicki
Writers: Brendan Rudnicki & Kellan Rudnicki
Director: Brendan Rudnicki
Distributor: DBS Films
Release Date: March 31, 2023

The new FOREST OF DEATH is not to be confused with either the 2007 Hong Kong film of the same name or any of the entries in the Japanese DEATH FOREST series. Instead, this FOREST OF DEATH is a modest but fairly well-done low-budget horror movie. It’s uneven, but its merits add up to more than its faults.

For starters, the pre-credits sequence gives us multiple jump scares that actually work in the span of a few minutes.

The opening credits themselves provide eerie artwork that ties in to what will happen later.

Then we’re in the story proper. Couple Tom (Tyler Miller) and Ashley (Chloe Rhoades) are trying to persuade their respective best friends, Dylan (Dylan DeVane) and Tracy (Stephanie Kirves) to accompany them on vacation.

Tom, hoping that he’ll get some cash help with the cabin rental, promises Dylan that he can score with the single Tracy. Ashley, meanwhile, promises Tracy that Dylan is harmless and won’t hit on her.

The upshot is that the quartet go in one car to the “cabin.” The place has such a large exterior that one of FOREST OF DEATH’s more implausible aspects is that the cabin only has two bedrooms.

Our friends take a hike in the woods that starts out in daylight, but goes on until after dark. By then, they’re totally lost.

They then encounter Roger (Benjamin Newmark), the bearded, gun-toting nephew of cabin owner Joe (Reggie Johnson). After enjoying terrorizing the guys for a minute or two and hitting on the women, Roger leads them all back to the cabin, where Joe is waiting.

Joe says that something has been preying on his livestock, so our tourists should be careful in the woods. Joe adds that if they have any trouble, they should call him rather than the sheriff, as he’s closer and apt to take them more seriously.

There are a few incidents where one character thinks they hear another calling from the woods, only to find that person back at the cabin. Roger shows up uninvited to a campfire and tells our group lore about a local shapeshifter that can assume the appearance and voice of anyone. It is afraid of fire and unlikely to attack a group, but once it gets you alone …

Since we got a glimpse of the shapeshifter in its natural form in the opening sequence, we know this is not a question of psychological games, but rather full-on supernatural horror. The characters are slower to accept this. Indeed, given the evidence and the relatively short running time, we become a little impatient with their inability to put together the impossible things they’re seeing and hearing with Roger’s warnings.

However, director Brendan Rudnicki and co-writer Kellan Rudnicki provide consistently good suspense and moments of fright. There’s a little editorial flourish used when the creature attacks that works even when we’ve seen it a few times.

It’s also refreshing to see a low-budget horror movie that is not found footage. Not to slam the found-footage subgenre, but it’s a weight off the mind not to have to wonder how the camera wound up where it did, or why people continue to lug it around while they’re in mortal peril.

There are a few things that ought to be explained (like how it is that Roger is able to walk around the woods at night unharmed), but overall, FOREST OF DEATH hangs together as a respectable indie horror entry.

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Movie Review: FOREST OF DEATH

Modest but decent low-budget horror film

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Modest but decent low-budget horror film

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