10 Horror Movies That Squandered HUGE Potential
2. The Forest
A brilliant setting can elevate even a mediocre horror film, and 2016's The Forest certainly had an immediately attention-grabbing locale.
The movie takes place primarily in Aokigahara aka Japan's "Suicide Forest," which is known for its high rate of suicides, and follows a woman (Natalie Dormer) who heads into the forest in search of her missing twin sister.
The innate eeriness of the forest and its history immediately lend the film an ominous atmosphere, yet the bulk of The Forest is otherwise a totally generic supernatural horror film that does little memorable with its fantastic location.
The order of the day here is garden variety jump scares ahead of a twist you'll likely see coming a mile away. The setting and Natalie Dormer's solid dual performance keep this out of abject trainwreck territory, but given the potential it falls way short of the mark.
It'd certainly be great to see a Japanese filmmaker offer a more inspired take on the same core idea.