The Forest Hills

I had high hopes for this one. I've been looking forward to it for months. Unfortunately, it didn't deliver as much as I wanted it to. The movie stars Rico, and is basically a solo performance. Not saying the actor is bad or anything, just saying I had hoped for more screen time of Eddie Furlong- I'm hoping he makes a full comeback one day. Shelley Duvall is barely in it. Actually paid to rent it off Amazon prime. It wasn't the worst five dollars I've ever spent. If you're an Eddie Furlong or Shelley Duvall fan and you go in with low expectations, you'll have a decent time. Just don't hope for too much.

The Forest Hills is little more than another forgettable, incredibly amateurishly-made horror film that does nothing to separate itself apart from countless other microbudget horror movies you'll find on Plex or Roku.

Admittedly, the only reason you've heard of this one is because it features Edward Furlong, Dee Wallace, Felissa Rose and Shelley Duvall in the final role of her career (and her first role in twenty years). Duvall is honestly the highlight, portraying a sympathetic character with natural charisma during very brief time on screen. But as for the rest of the movie, it was such a scattershot vision with no clear direction.

This movie was lost on whether it wanted to be a genuine horror movie or some kind of Lovecraftian fan fiction and it failed to ever stay on any of the paths it tried to set itself upon. The result was scattered, unfocused, talkative, slow and worst of all boring. And even at a brief 79 minutes it felt all too long, so I couldn't even make it to the end.

Shelley Duvall (rest her soul) and Edward Furlong. Yes they're in it and they add very little. One of the worst movies I've seen in my life. They're a few scenes of dialog that make me laugh and I'm not sure it's intentional. Other than that there's not much to offer and I can't believe I watched this in theatres. The fact that there were 4 people in the theatre including me says something. It's not worth a watch and in my humble opinion it's a disgrace to Edward Furlong career and the memory of Duvall. It's not even campy good it's just a waste of space. I think they used Duvall and Furlong's names to increase the popularity of this movie. Trash.

Okay, It's Shelley Duvall's last performance. She played Mama whose son, Rico, is a mess of a human being. He is either a monster or damaged beyond repair. The film especially the writing doesn't make anything clear for the viewers. I would have only seen it for Shelley's final performance. It's a shame that she didn't do more. The script and the storylines don't make sense to me as a viewer. I truly have no idea what is really going on with the main character, Rico. The actor who played Rico does an admirable job. I just wished he cleaned up a little bit. Dee Wallace has a tiny role as his boss. The other characters just don't make any sense. I see this film is dedicated to horror film directors. It's an independent so you can't be too harsh on it. Independent films don't have the budget. The film made me realize how much we missed Shelley Duvall after all these years.

I feel like a lot of the people will misunderstand this movie on the first viewing. The poster would lead you to believe that it's a supernatural werewolf film, when really it's a look into someone's rapid mental deterioration into madness. There are solid performances from the cast, especially Shelly Duval in what would be her last film role. But also a surprisingly nuanced performance from Edward Furlong. The narrative is possibly the biggest dealbreaker for people and it's uneven and confusing, but it's told from an unreliable narrator. Go in it with an open mind and solve the puzzle yourself.