Haunted Forest

The Indian descendant Sean comes to a forest with his friends Josh and Flipp trying to find the track to a mysterious cursed tree and a secret burial ground. His grandfather wrote a journal about the love of the Indian Satinka and the son of the medicine man of their tribe one hundred and twenty years ago, and how Satinka was trapped in a tree by an evil spirit. Meanwhile, the girlfriends Jennifer and Kiyomi are searching for flowers in the same woods. When Flipp and Kiyomi vanish, their friends meet each other and stay together while a deranged hunter chases new victims for the vengeful spirit of the tree.

"Haunted Tree" has a reasonable premise, but a very poor and flawed execution. There are many low budget horror movies that work, usually based on solid screenplays and great performances. Unfortunately this flick has a terrible and messed screenplay, and the story begins without any previous development of the characters, probably because of the restraint in the budget. Therefore, the viewer sees Sean, Josh, Flipp, Jennifer and Kiyomi, and even the forest, without any reference or explanations about their motives for being in the dark and distant place. When Josh shots his gun, surprisingly neither Jennifer nor Kiyomi listen to the noise. The girls lose their car (is it possible?) and there is no explanation why they have come to such a distant place without tent or appropriate outfits. Nobody eats in this film, and the day is extremely short. Satinka is a rip-off of typical ghosts of Asian movies, and recalls Sadako of "Ringu" franchise. There are so many flaws that I could extent my review, but I believe this is enough to give a hint about this film. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Haunted Forest is a very decent low budget indie programmer. It sure doesn't tell one a story that one hasn't heard before, nor does it have much of a point as you look back on it, but it has some very redeeming moments of horror, overall beautiful picture (something you don't usually expect from a cheapie), good music, decent FX and largely a likable cast. There are a few characters who don't contribute to the storyline much and leave the viewer wonder why they were added in the first place. But obviously the mission of such a film is to scare the viewer, and if some new visual scares are introduced to the sturdy row of old school horror handbook, I can only applaud. Yes, some moments were rather innovative and redeem the shortcomings of the film.

It's also the first indie film I've seen, which employs the Japanese invention, the "Ringu-Girl" - meaning the pale barefooted girl with long black hair combed in front of her face, something that all the viewers raved about some 6-7 years ago, who then crossed into the mainstream horror but the inclusion of whom nowadays has acquired something of a camp value. The idea of that creature in an American forest can seem bizarre, but the makers have actually put her to good use.

So have no hesitation to sit through this film. Instead of a usual gore fest and body count you get a rather poetic rendition of an old Indian legend with credible characters and moody atmosphere.

I recently got to see this movie and it had some potential, but turned out just average. I've seen much worse movies and I was able to watch the whole movie, but I was hoping for more. None of the actors really stood out and the story was pretty cliché filled, but it did have a few cheap scares. It looks like an imitation Japanese horror flick and you will probably agree if you watch it. The movie doesn't really introduce anything new, but if you scare easy it should make you jump a few times.

Overall I'd say the movie is watchable if you go in expecting a cheap B type movie, but if you expect a great movie you will be highly disappointed.

The beginning of this movie had me in tears of laughter the guy who opens who tries so hard to look scared just had me doubled over in fits of amusement I honestly thought "What The ?" this guy is confused maybe he got stuck in the wrong movie.

There are a few scares in this movie but all of which are of the cheap variety for example "ghostly shadow walks past in background" "deathly face in mirror" "hand coming out of the ground" the list really does go on and that is where all the scares come from seriously. The acting is very flawed and quite comical although I am sure that was not their intention.

You cant really take this movie seriously and it is quite unbelievable that movies such as this are made but even more weird they are unleashed on the unsuspecting public.

So unless you like the thought of a cheap chill and a laugh or too then you should most definitely stay away from this movie.

The reviews would make you think this is Ishtar or something. It is not a bad movie overall. The premise is a modification of classic ghost revenge stories. Like the plot, some of the shots and styles are heavily copied from your standard J-Horror yurie/onryo stories. The acting is so-so. It seems to come and go at various parts of the movie. The storyline requires you to somewhat pay attention and doesn't always resolve every plot point. This seems to be re-occurring reason for low ratings of many Asian horror films, which could explain some of the low ratings.

If you go in with an open mind, you will probably get a few jumps here and there, an original addition to classic stories, and a lot of pretty views of the forest where it was filmed. It's no Poltergeist, but it isn't Showgirls either!