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The Devil's Forest
R0 - America - ITN Distribution / MVD Visual Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (25th September 2016). |
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The Film
 In November 2012, graduate student Rachael (Maria Simona Arsu), cameraman Joe (Marius Dan Munteanu), and soundman Tom (Patrick Sebastian Negrean) entered the Hoia Baciu forest and were never seen again. Rachael's thesis sponsor Professor Howard Redman (Tom Bonington) traveled to Romania, entered the forest, and discovered Joe's camera in the snow. What was filmed remained a mystery until February 2014, three days after Redman committed suicide. Obsessed with the legends of the Hoia Baciu forest, the sight of much rumored paranormal phenomena (including UFO sightings), Rachael is ambiguous as to whether she actually believes the local legends that the forest sees into your soul and judges you, but she her offputtingly serious demeanor quickly puts her at odds with jobbing tech Tom. Guided by local woodsman Mr. Dogaru (Bill Hutchens) – who is rumored to have beaten his wife so badly that she entered the forest and disappeared – the trio enter the forest and are soon experiencing its noted phenomena, from drastically changing weather conditions to a persistent red rash on the skin. Disturbing findings include a teddy bear with its stuffing ripped out, a child's shoe, and a diary that Rachael insists is her own. When Mr. Dogaru suddenly runs off, the stranded trio are left walking in the blindingly white snowy landscape until they come across his body. As dark sets in, the trio begin to turn on each other, with Joe and Tom wondering whether Rachael knows more than she is letting on and Rachael suspicious and increasingly paranoid about their huddled whispers. As Dogaru's body repeatedly turns up along the trail in different positions, and all three become increasingly unnerved by signs indicating the spectral presence of a little girl, they each separately come to realize that the forest has indeed looked into the darkness of their hearts and is judging them. Originally titled The Devil Complex after the theory of the film's Romanian academic (Adrian Carlugeo) who surmises that the effect on the forest on its victims is psychological and provoked by feelings of guilt and persecution, The Devil's Forest does nothing with the premise that we have not seen in countless Blair Witch Project-esque "found footage" flicks other than tossing in a conceit from As Above, So Below. We get much walking, unlikable characters doing nothing to gain our sympathy, and plenty of cursing in place of character development. Presumably the roles were written for American actors given the names and the dialogue… either that or nineties American-isms like "You're such a drama queen, dude," and "Don't be a pussy," have infected the Eastern Bloc; as such, it is difficult to assess the performances of the Romanian leads who may actually be decent actors when either speaking Romanian or at least decent English dialogue. The bright and snowy setting is novel, with some of the distant out-of-focus black trees evocative of human figures. Once the night sets in, however, we get our leads terrorized in a tent by distant noises with music stings seemingly the motivation for them to run screaming into the night rather than anything more distinct. By the time the last character drops the camera and is seen being dragged screaming into the darkness, the viewer is left wondering not so much of the evil's corporeal form but of when in genre cinema did the "final girl" become even more unlikable than jerk-ass character.
Video
MVD's progressive, anamorphic encode is serviceable when taking into account the film's "found footage" aesthetic. The daytime scenes are clean but detail is subject to the contrasts of the snowy backgrounds and night scenes evince the usual video grain (intended here). 
Audio
The sole Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio track gets the job done. It's a talky film with music stings and other noises that are meant to be indistinct. English Closed Captions are included for the heavily-accented dialogue. 
Extras
There are no extras apart from the film's trailer (1:46). 
Overall
The Devil's Forest does nothing with the premise that we have not seen in countless Blair Witch Project-esque "found footage" flicks. 
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