Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: A woman attempts to find her missing twin in Japan's infamous suicide forest, Aokigahara.
Review: At a glance of the trailer, this looks to be nothing more than a high-budget version of "Grave Halloween." Needless to say, my expectations going into this film were extremely low. Surprisingly, this was a lot more entertaining than I imagined and significantly better than "Grave Halloween." However, this still wasn't a very good movie with all things considered. The main problem being the abundance of wasted potential and a lingering feeling that a good portion of the story was left on the cutting room floor; I likened the problem to taking a 200 page script and reducing it to 100. There are numerous plot elements at play, and you sense the climax is building up to some amazing reveal, but the ending delivers nothing. In fact, when the lackluster ending concludes, you are left with a million questions due to all the plot tangents that went unanswered or glossed over. Ehh...what can I say...January horror movies certainly have a reputation for this shit.
What works? The cinematography is great--better than this movie deserves. Truth be told, I've laid this claim against multiple movies so, perhaps, the cinematography industry is stepping their game up with inferior films to display their talents. The atmosphere is captured extremely well with unique shots and an ominous tone throughout; the polished look to every scene and the use of creative angles enhances this dark mood. Overall, the technical aspects were topnotch. There isn't much I can praise about the story other than the interesting ideas that go nowhere. The play on duality with the twin sisters, seeing things from a reverse perspective, this notion of one sister seeing while the other closes her eyes...cool ideas that should have significance to the story. Admittedly, the main mystery is presented well enough as you wonder where things are going or how it will all tie together...it just never happens. Specific scenes I want to give credit toward are the Hashiko transformation; she looked successfully creepy pre and post transformation. When Sara is running around and there is a ghost behind every tree--it gave off the idea that every tree represented a spirit. Lastly, when Sara is getting mixed up with the direction they were going. This disorientation needed a greater importance in the grand scheme of things. I mean, come on, this is Aokigahara Forest for fuck's sake, make damn good use of it! By the way, this was not filmed in the actual forest in case you're wondering.
As for the film's faults, the most glaringly obvious are the dead end plot lines. Why did the twins' parents kill themselves? Why build up a connection with grandma that led to jackshit? What is the point of the Hashiko ghost/demon--to embody the forest's evil? So the forest is actively trying to trick you into suicide? Why was the distrust between Aiden and Sara hyped when it went nowhere? More so, what was Aiden's deal after all? His character was not handled realistically at all since a normal person would have dropped Sara like a sack of potatoes when she started going crazy. What was the point of the guy in the hood? Where the hell was Jess at during the events of the movie? Sara goes through all this trouble to rescue Jess, and Jess simply walks away without a care?! Nice. Sara is instantly evil the moment she dies...because reasons? Honestly, I could go on all day with plot lines that were introduced only to amount to nothing. It's hard to explain, but when you see the movie you feel that the events are connected and building up to something. Like, there should have been a twist that brought the story full circle or showed us something was never true from the start. I had plenty of ideas I thought could have spiced things up; the best one being to make the hooded guy's mask come off and reveal that it was either Aiden or Michi. They could have easily made it so the twins' identities were reversed or actually explained what triggered Jess' apparent suicide attempt. This chickadee just started a new life in Japan yet wants to commit suicide...why? Why not, right? Give the audience something to work with here! This sense of wasted potential is especially painful when they start to cut back and forth between Sara and Jess as if they are coming together in a meaningful way. They don't. There were too many aspects done commendably for me to believe this shoddy storytelling wasn't due to forced editing. I'll tell myself that.
Besides that, the use of Natalie Dormer to begin with irked me. Nothing against Ms. Dormer, but there's no reason she needs to be playing American twins. I get it, we can't have an Asian lead (for whatever reason), but was it necessary to not have Ms. Dormer departing from the UK instead? Would that have changed anything other than her accent? I get that this is a minor nuisance, but this decision baffles me to no end. The real icing though is with Aiden. I don't care if you unrealistically want non-Japanese characters in Japan, but can it not come off as such a huge ass contrivance?! Of all the people in Japan, Sara keeps running into people who speak English and meets up with the one white guy in the area?! That's a good one.
In the end, this is a slightly above average film that had the potential to be great. While there are definitely numerous cliches abound, the material is worked with in a distinct way. The atmosphere is depicted excellently and establishes the intrigue meaningfully. Unfortunately, the same care given to the design was not taken with the story. The premise is interesting yet the general plot is a mess, and the ending is pointless and needlessly abrupt. Not enough is explained given the structure of the story's events nor are the various plot elements tied together coherently. Nonetheless, I do believe this is worth a watch, but only at the rental level when you're out of ideas.
Notable Moment: When Hashiko transforms into...well, whatever the hell she was supposed to be.
Final Rating: 5.5/10
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