Forest of Death (2023) Film Review
Considering the horror industry’s evolution for the last couple of decades, it would be safe to say lessons should have been learned up to this point. Classics are already classics with some modern ones taking a few spots. Rules have been designed and redesigned for the sake of new audiences. And even subgenres have been born out of technical resources that have been proven effective for the genre. Making a horror film today could seem like an easy feat, considering the genre’s backstory and its ups and downs.
In Brendan Rudnicki’s Forest of Death, there’s zero intention of rewriting the genre’s rules or making a huge film. This is the proof of the importance of the genre’s newcomers when it comes to experimentation and trials and errors being good for a final product. Rudnicki isn’t new to the industry, as in the last few years he’s made a fair amount of films, but this doesn’t mean he can’t keep learning. His latest, a skinwalker joint, is proof of two things: 1) there are still lessons to be considered and 2) when you become aware of skills, it’s no use leaving them in your drawer.
It’s all about pace and respecting your audience beyond any commercial-related take you and your producers may have. Forest of Death is an indie horror flick and it’s executed inside that frame of production value and dramatic performances. But at least, it’s not a cheap montage of scares and special effects like many of its peers, both in indie circles or big studio release schedules.
Forest of Death tells the story of 4 friends who decide to rent a house in the woods. There aren’t trust issues in the group, they’re good looking and they just want to have fun. This is your regular ensemble of boys and girls set out to be killed by a threat.
Encounters with locals that include tales when sitting by the fire, random behavior changes, and things lurking in the dark, are in the recipe for Rudnicki’s venture into the world of skinwalkers AKA shape-shifters. When they start disappearing and appearing again, they realize those legends may be true after all, and they should have listened.
With a running time of roughly 75 minutes, one would say Rudnicki tries to consolidate every item in the agenda for a full-blown horror film. However, the young director doesn’t quite do it. He prefers to experiment with performances and restricted spaces to make the audience feel part of something much more mysterious than what you’d see in your regular X-files episode. Threats in Forest of Death come from all sides, but Rudnicki doesn’t overdo it with an excessive display of information or disturbing imagery. Even the “monster” lays low whenever he must, for the sake of having a more effective film.
Again, lessons to be learned. But Rudnicki trusts himself enough to make a horror film without attempting to repeat everything that’s been done before and in the same way everybody’s expected to do it. In his script, things take time and fear is born out of subtle behavior, or the menacing dark that surrounds four random youngsters.
But when it’s time to deliver, he does. There’s confidence in the young director, and perhaps it’s all we need of him to make us excited for his next feature. With horror takes this solid, it won’t take long for him to find another project to execute. All we hope is he stays in horror. We need more warriors of this kind to show why the genre keeps growing in success and passion from strangers in the audience.
You can stream Forest of Death in Prime Video.
