Most horror movies over the past four or five years have been awful and studios are pushing them out as quick cash grabs.

Despite knowing this, my friends and I set out to see The Forest with minimal expectation of being scared but hopes of still enjoying the experience.

I was disappointed.

I was very disengaged, because the story from the start was dull and all around boring. It was awful because it was another invasion of western society into Japanese culture. There are twin sisters who are separated from each other via growing up. Sara, played by Natalie Dormer is getting a weird twin spidey-sense that something is wrong with her twin, Jesse, also played by Dormer, who lives in Japan. Sara flies out and starts her investigation. Just like The Grudge this film was filled with subtle racism, including broken English among the Japanese characters. Being that Japanese people are required to learn English in their curriculum, it doesn’t make sense that they would all speak in just broken English. To top it all off, the white characters were the center of attention while the Asian actors were given very little screen time.

The acting was poor and, in a sense, B movie quality. I’ve heard that Natalie Dormer is a good actress, but in this it seemed like she was just phoning it in. She looks and feels like she’s just there to get paid, not actually doing her craft. The Director, Jason Zada, is used to directing short films. Being that this is his first feature length film, I’ll give him that. But Natalie, you’ve been acting for years. No excuse!

Near the end it was annoying and I just wanted it to end. When it ended it was heavenly and I left the theater with a sense of deeper sadness than I already had.

This movie was really a worse version of Blair Witch Project without the point of view shots. This movie defiled my body, robbed me of dignity and money, and left me to die.