Brian's Review - Haunted Forest

It'd be a cool place to hike. If it wasn't for, you know, the killer ghost and stuff.

Released: 2007
Genre(s): Horror, Thriller

Although I've said it many times before, I'll say it again: the idea of an evil/misunderstood female spirit seeking bloody vengeance on those who wronged her/accidentally crossed her path is not a new one - nor is it normally an effectively scary one. While movies like "Ju-on: The Grudge" undeniably cemented the "creepy ghost girl" sub-genre into mainstream horror, finding a fresh, new spin on this approach has proven fairly difficult for most filmmakers - there is an abundance of copycat attempts that flood the market almost every year, all which manage to fall disappointingly flat. With this in mind, it shouldn't come as any surprise that I wasn't expecting a lot - if anything - from "Haunted Forest," which initially sounded like an uninspired mash-up of "The Ring" and "Pocahontas." However, after actually giving it a chance, I'm glad to say that this particular entry colored outside the lines just enough to pleasantly exceed all my expectations.

The Native American mythology infused into the plot here is done surprisingly well, never straying into blindly-offensive or stereotyped clichés, and not overdoing what effectively becomes the focal point of the movie - instead, "Haunted Forest" very organically allows the backstory to flow into the events unfolding on screen. And said events are pretty creepy.

While the dark-haired, gnarled, ghostly antagonist that stalks the main characters may seem like a ripoff of Samara, the way this one slinks up for the jolts (and the kills) is truly unsettling. There's a lot of dark energy and imagery here that really crawls under your skin, and most of the frights aren't cheap jump-scares, but rather set up with atmosphere in mind. Gore is limited, never dominating the movie's focus or sapping it away from what's truly important in a horror film - the horror - so gorehounds can stop getting all hot and bothered, and go back to making out with their "The Human Centipede" posters and loneliness. The effects are fairly decent for something that is clearly low-budget fare, and the bang you get for your buck scare-wise is well worth the price of admission (admission in my case being my Netflix subscription fee). My final verdict: if you're sick of following the same path most ghost flicks try leading you down, then go get lost in the woods. You may end up pleasantly surprised with what you find.

Rating (out of 5): 3.5