The Forest

Inside Japan's Aokigahara forest, a real place steeped in tragedy, Sara, a young American woman, enters the woods to locate her vanished twin sister. The search quickly drags her into a maze of whispering trails, shifting signs, and bone chilling quiet that seems almost alive. As the sister's last movements come into view, Sara uncovers fragments of a past she shared with Jess and unsettling leads that suggest more questions than answers. The forest presses in from every side, forcing Sara to confront memories she thought she buried and a fear that the truth may be darker than she can bear. The pursuit shifts from rescue to survival in the pitch black of night.

Directed by Jason Zada, the film presents a survival horror set in the real Aokigahara forest. Natalie Dormer stars as Sara, with a story developed by Ben Ketai, Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosca, and the production leans on practical effects and tense, atmospheric set pieces.

Worldwide gross reached 37.6 million dollars against a 10 million budget, marking The Forest as a profitable mid range horror title that found an audience seeking dark psychological scares and eerie, nature driven atmosphere.

Critical response was mixed, with praise for Dormer's performance and the film's moody atmosphere, though some reviewers called out familiar jump scares and uneven pacing. The story centers on grief and isolation, using the forest to probe memory, guilt, and how fear can distort reality. Viewers are invited to question what is real, what is spectral, and how far someone will push themselves when a missing loved one might still be alive.

Controversy arose around using a real life suicide site as the backdrop for horror, prompting discussions about ethical portrayal and sensationalism. The Forest contributed to debates about how modern thrillers depict places of trauma and whether performances can carry weight in genre cinema. It sparked conversations about myth and fear in natural landscapes and about where reverence ends and fear begins.