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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Really bad slasher flick., 22 March 2004
6/10
Author: HumanoidOfFlesh from Chyby, Poland

Some happy campers are stalked and viciously butchered by a demented cannibalistic killer called Daddy."The Forest" is one of the strangest slasher flicks I have ever seen.It starts fairly competently,but quickly becomes boring and tedious.The opening murder scene of two backpackers in the California wilderness is quite suspenseful and gory.The acting is really bad and the script is not better.Still there is a lot of cheese for fans of slasher movies.Unfortunately the gore is kept to minimum,so gorehounds may be disappointed.The film features also the ghosts of two kids and their mother and I can safely say that this supernatural element adds some touches of originality to the plot.So if you are a fan of slasher films you can check this one out.However I prefer Donald M.Jones earlier horror film "Schoolgirls in Chains"(1973),which is way more demented than "The Forest".

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Entertaining horror movie, 21 April 2005
7/10
Author: hero_worship from St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador

No, this movie is not one of the best horror movies to come out of the eighties but it does have some great qualities. I found the storyline rather refreshing, it was different from any "in the forest" horror movie I've ever seen. And as cheesy as the soundtrack was, it still was interesting... but hey, I even like the cheese factor! I admit the beginning of the movie was pointless, but still, it was great to laugh at. I'd recommend this movie to any horror fan but you must also not expect too much from it, I mean, it's no Halloween or Friday the 13th, but it is enjoyable. There were times I felt spooked and times I just wanted to laugh. A great combination!

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Cool soundtrack, suspect quality and an amusing tools scene., 14 January 2006
2/10
Author: (sinewave@chello.se) from Sweden

A friend and I went through a phase some (alot of) years ago of selecting the crappest horror films in the video shop for an evening's entertainment. For some reason, I ended up buying this one (probably v. v. cheap).

The cheap synth soundtrack is a classic of its time and genre. There's also a few very amusing scenes. Among them is a scene where a man's being attacked and defends himself with a number of unlikely objects, it made me laugh at the time (doesn't seem quite so funny in retrospect but there you go).

Apart from that it's total crap, mind you. But probably worth a watch if you like films like "Chopping Mall". Yes, I've seen that too.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Have you seen my children?, 19 November 2005
5/10
Author: Tikkin from United Kingdom

I first saw this when I was 14. I remember I wanted to swap it with my mate but he wouldn't so I tried to borrow it very long term and hope he forgot about it! Haha. In the end he asked for it back (DAMN!)

Anyway this film is a classic slasher, it's "so bad but it's good". I really think it's just great in the way it's so cheap but cool at the same time. Love the location (forest) but could of been a bit more detailed on the "gore score" but if you like cheap bargain bin horror flicks then you should watch it.

It's a rare film and pretty hard to come by.

All in all it has something about it that I really like. Oh, and the music is great! Reminds me of the first ever casio keyboards and gives it that old slasher feel.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A rather amusing obscure slasher item., 11 February 2009
6/10
Author: Scott LeBrun from Winnipeg, Canada

"The Forest" features two grown-up couples: Steve (Dean Russell) & Sharon (Tomi Barrett) and Charlie (John Batis) & Teddi (Ann Wilkinson). Steve & Charlie decide that for some R & R they'll go on a camping trip and make the mistake of suggesting to Sharon & Teddi that they wouldn't be able to hack it on such an excursion. So Sharon & Teddi go off on their own camping trip, to be joined by Steve & Charlie later. But they'll all wish they had stayed at home. A demented man named John (Gary Kent) is living alone in the wilderness and prays on everyone he comes across. What's more, two children, Jennifer & John Jr. (Becki Burke & Corky Pigeon) appear to the victims to offer them assistance.

The bad news: slasher fans who crave extreme violence and ample sex & nudity will be disappointed with this one. There's *no* sex or nudity, and while there is gore, it's used sparingly. The film gets off to a fairly good start with a reasonably well handled stalk 'n' slash set piece, and delivers some creepy moments, as well as jump scares, but overall the film just isn't too spooky. The overbearing music score and songs also tend to distract from the effectiveness.

At the least, writer Evan Jones and director Don Jones ("Girls in Chains") inject a supernatural angle into the plot to keep it somewhat original among slasher fare. The film certainly doesn't play out like the standard slasher film. The forest locations are all used well and the photography is pretty good (there's some especially good aerial shots). The acting is tolerable - for the most part - and some of the characters likable enough. There's one sequence involving the murder of a plumber that comes off as very comedic, but since it definitely feels like this was intentional, it's easy to enjoy. There's one brilliant moment of extreme dark humor wherein Charlie eats something that *isn't* a doe as John claims. And, finally, it's nice to see a slasher that doesn't revolve around horny, one-dimensional youngsters.

It's more notable, I feel, for what it attempts than what it accomplishes. It's not particularly good, but not too bad, either.

6/10

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Disposable entertainment, 7 December 2007
Author: slayrrr666 (slayrrr666@yahoo.com) from Los Angeles, Ca

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"The Forest" is a decent enough entry, if only for a few really interesting moments.

**SPOILERS**

Trying to relax, Steve, (Dean Russell) and Charlie, (John Batis) suggest a camping trip in the woods, which their wives Sharon, (Tomi Barrett) and Teddi, (Ann Wilkinson) want to get in on. When they get their first, they quickly begin to realize that something is wrong with the situation and try to leave. As the men arrive, they find the camping area completely abandoned and the women nowhere around. Stumbling upon loner John, (Gary Kent) who reveals that he has been living in the area for years after witnessing his wife cheating on him, it quickly dawns on them that he has been terrorizing the area and is responsible for their disappearance. Along with his two ghost children, he chases after them while they attempt to get out of the woods with the survivors of his attacks.

The Good News: This one does have a few pretty good moments in it to keep it afloat. One of the best is it's complete eschewing of slasher conventions to make something similar without really distancing itself from it's target. The victims, not the typical horny teenagers, are not relentlessly stalked by a remorseless killer whose reason for killing is a total mystery. Here, we have a murderer whose reasons are clearly laid out and understandable, even if it doesn't make sense to anyone else. Additionally, he only kills out of necessity, not because he's deriving some type of pleasure. Those are two really surprising features that are quite unexpected. There's even no spring-loaded cats or other false scares. In fact, there really are no sudden jump scares in the entire film. There are some fun segments to be had from the chasing, which do get somewhat fun. The chase by the river that soon includes a dip through the icy water. The later chase at the end isn't half bad, and it opens with a really nice one through the woods that includes a few really nice moments and ends with a big bang. The last big positive is that this one has an incredible story to it. This one has a very logical reason for staying in such a dangerous situation while most would've left the area long before being put into danger. First, the two women arrive in the woods long before the others on their own camping trip and manage to become lost as the men arrive, delayed with car problems. Finally making it to the campsite, they discover their wives are missing and thus must stick around to investigate. This splitting up allows them all to be menaced by the killer but still provide a reason why they don't all immediately take off back to civilization. The lack of a single teenager in here, especially from the time period, is also nice. That helps this one be more believable and terrifying. One would expect a group of inexperienced teens to get themselves in trouble by lacking the experience or wisdom to make the best decisions under the circumstances, whereas adults would be expected to extricate themselves from bad situations with little or no help. Seeing them at the mercy of the land, as well as the killer, reminds viewers that they might find themselves in just such a situation. These more believable reasons for the characters to willingly remain in a dangerous area is a welcome change of pace, and are part of the reason why this one is at worse watchable.

The Bad News: This one here does have a couple of really big flaws that are kinda hard to get over. The fact that this one really doesn't offer up much in the way of blood or gore is a big factor, especially once the cannibal overtones get thrown around. Seeing a victim strung up ready to be consumed doesn't do that, and some off-color blood splotches is little better. The gore here isn't convincing, when it gets around to showing it as nearly all of the kills are done more through implication rather than actively doing anything that might suggest a violent, brutal end. That very few are done on-screen is a big one, especially when it gets around to showing them. The very low body-count here is what really hurts that factor, since there isn't much of an opportunity to really let loose, even though the ones that are shown could've been much more brutal or even shown on-screen at the very least. There's also a problem with the back-story. A member mentions early on that the camping area to which they are going is so secluded that very few people even know about it, that they can expect to be all alone out there. If the area is that far off the beaten track and that few people frequent the area, how is the killer even staying alive? There shouldn't be enough passers-by to require sole sustenance on human flesh, yet there's enough kills each year to do so, requiring that others should know about it and meaning that there should've been more to keep visitors safe, since it's mentioned in passing about the disappearances yet nothing else is done. There's a couple of other weird little flaws in here, but none will matter as much as those.

The Final Verdict: While not a complete waste, this one doesn't offer up much and really only has a couple of good points for it. This is really only for those who enjoy the backwoods slasher genre, while those who expect more high-brow horror or figure that the flaws are too much won't have a fun time with this one.

Rated R: Violence and Language

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Do not go into the woods.. And don't watch this either., 23 October 2007
1/10
Author: fanqarm from kngstn, washington

One of the most boring slashers ever.. If you can even call it that. I wouldn't watch this if it even ended up being some kind of porno movie, which it completely resembles. The fact that you're watching a small group of middle-aged people in the woods is really unbearable. They made these kinds of movies for teens, so who were they really aiming for when they made this sleep-fest? My favorite part of this movie is the cover art and it's the only reason I chose to seek out this movie, which happened to be part of a Suspense Classics 50 Movie Pack.. and after seeing the other movies in this 50 pack, you'll realize that it belongs nowhere else. So if you're in the mood for a decent slasher in the woods, I recommend Just Before Dawn and The Final Terror.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Running towards Nothing... Again and again and again and again and ..., 21 October 2007
4/10
Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls

The title of this obscure and (almost righteously) forgotten 80's slasher inevitably reminds me of The Cure's mega-smash-monster hit song with the same title, hence a piece of the lyrics in the title-section of this user comment. Also, I didn't have anything else to say that was useful, anyway. But hey, "The Forest" isn't totally hopeless and not even *that* bad, actually. If nothing else, at least it obeys the, admittedly unwritten, first rule of 80's slasher: kill someone within the first 10 minutes of playtime. Sure you've heard about the basic premise of this film a dozen times before, but don't let that discourage you from watching it, as "The Forest" has a couple of things more to offer than just an appealingly sinister cover image. It's actually a bit of an atypical 80's slasher! The main characters aren't ordinary brainless teenagers and the script has solid ambitions towards supernaturalism. The concept isn't always successful, let alone plausible, but it's more than interesting enough to hold your attention and there are even are a couple of surprisingly strong moments of tension and plot twists to enjoy. Two married couples decide to go camping in the most isolated woods of California, but due to a stupid bet the wives travel separately from their husbands. Barely set up for the night, they receive uncanny visits from a mother looking for her two children, the children themselves and finally the father who's out hunting for human flesh. The demented family may be real or imaginary, but the women are definitely in danger and by the time their husbands arrive, they have already vanished. The men too encounter the family, and they find out more about the slightly dysfunction background. "The Forest" is a weird and unusual film, to say the least. It's not exactly a masterpiece of plotting, but the thoroughly strange atmosphere will certainly appeal to open-minded fans of 80's horror. The murders are fairly gruesome and will-filmed, including a slit throat and a painful saw-massacre, and the filming locations are stunningly beautiful. The more you contemplate about the story and its abrupt twists, the less it makes any sense, so my advice would just be to enjoy this odd viewing experience for as long as it lasts and not a minute longer. The acting performances are just above average, the music is okay and at least director Donald Jones (also responsible for the 70's exploitation-sickie "Schoolgirls in Chains") tried to be a little more creative that the majority of 80's horror films. Too bad it ultimately fails.

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5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Maybe I've seen the film too many times., 31 March 1999
8/10
Author: anonymous from Helsinki, Finland

Quite stunning film, I really believe it has done something to my brains with its stupidity. An odd old cannibal man lives in the forest and kills youngsters. Great entertainment if you're "in the right mood". Watch it if you dare, yeah right...

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Donald Jones' worst film, 12 December 2008
1/10
Author: movieman_kev from United States

A cannibalistic backwoods killer is on the prowl and two bickering couples might be his next source of protein in this bargain basement Friday the 13th-clone cheapie. There s literally nothing of interest to see in this one, the killings are surprisingly sparse and when they do happen, completely amateurish. It also adds ghosts into the mix for no reason what so ever. I felt drained after watching it as if my brain was liquefying and draining out my nose. And it remains without a doubt Donald Jones' worst movie. If you're thinking of renting it because of Code Red's snazzy new DVD re-release Don't bother

My Grade: F

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