Suicide Forest Village

This is about a cursed box that is linked to Japan's suicide forest.

This was more slow burning than I expected it to be. It took a while for things to get going and it made things feel a bit disjointed at first. To be honest though, there were webpages that were displayed and may have provided more context to the story had I been able to read them. The subtitles I had were decent but didn't cover webpage dialogue and I may have missed a few things.

The overall story wasn't bad and the acting was good. The horror aspects were sparse throughout most of the film but when we finally got there, there were some unnerving and creepy moments that were well done.

I'll probably watch it again just to see if I can pick up on what I may have missed but I don't have a problem recommending it for a creepy watch.

When I stumbled upon the 2021 Japanese horror mystery titled "Jukai Mura" (aka "Suicide Forest Village") of course I had to watch it. Sure, I hadn't ever heard about the movie, but I am familiar with the phenomena of the 'suicide forest' in Japan and have seen other movies dealing with it. And given my love of both Asian cinema and horror cinema, of course I had to watch what director Takashi Shimizu had to deliver here.

The movie wasn't off to a good start with the video blogger style of footage. I can't take those self-absorbed people serious, and nor is that style of shooting a movie something that entertains me in any way. And not even 10 minutes into the movie I was good and ready to get up and turn off this laughable footage. But luckily the movie switched back to ordinary movie style around 10 minutes in.

But while the movie returned to normal movie style of shooting, then the narrative just was insanely slow paced and uneventful. I grew more and more bored and distant as the narrative progressed, because there simply wasn't anything interesting happening on the screen. It felt like I was watching a tirade of random scenes shot independently of one another and then pieced together to make a movie.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was only familiar with actor Jun Kunimura. The acting performances in the movie were a bit bland, because the actors and actresses didn't really have anything solid to work with in terms of character gallery, dialogue or contents of the storyline.

For a Japanese horror movie then director Takashi Shimizu failed to deliver anything worthwhile or watchable with "Jukai Mura". And it most definitely is not a horror movie that I would recommend fans of the Japanese horror scene to rush out and get to watch. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of "Jukai Mura" lands on a generous three out of ten stars, and that is primarily because of the production value of the movie.

I thought this film had excellent acting, really amazing high quality CGI effects, and the scary parts were actually terrifying. It's by the director of "Ju-On", or "The Grudge" which the Japanese version will always haunt me. It even had HBO's "The Last of Us" vibes and the overall storyline was excellent. It is slow in some parts but like I said, when the scary scenes happen they make the movie. I actually cringed in fear a couple times which it takes a lot for me to do! Not sure why it got some negative reviews, maybe they wanted more action, but to be a truly scary film, it has to have subtle fear that really digs into your soul. I've watched countless horror films and this was something definitely different and refreshing.

I'm a huge fan of director Shimizu, but this is one of his most least interesting and engaging films since he retreads elements he's done better in previous films. This being said, the film still looks amazing and is atmospheric but it will appeal more for those who haven't seen a ton of his films or a lot of haunted location films. It was an inspired choice to do something slightly different with the subject of the suicide forest but not enough to make it stand out. The cinematography and editing are very good and overall, it is a serviceable film.

All the performances are also decent but nothing really stands out or shines.

After teen friends find a mysterious box under the house of one of them, strange events lead Hibiki to believe they are all cursed. Seeing her sister's downfall, Mei must discover the truth before the curse gets to all of them.

Suicide Forest Village (2021), by the director of Ju-on, is one of those Japanese lore-intensive stories, heavy on folk elements and the basic ghost haunting premisse that we see on most Japanese stories - not a bad thing at all. This movie is good enough to keep us hooked, though, Western audience might feel the heavy hit of drama-related Eastern acting; they do tend to repeat each others name often, apparently.

One a few occasions, I felt as if I was missing bits of the plot. At one point, one of the characters gets hurt, but that apparently happens offscreen, or editors removed the scene, and the result is a confusing setup, regardless of it being linear.

The horror elements are light on this movie. Don't wait for the sinister haunting of crawling-shoked Kayako; in Suicide Forest Village, the ghost presence is subtle, but effective.

The finale is heavy on folklore, which could diminish its effectiveness. The story does not explain any rules, leaving us with a heavy drama scene that feels Ex-Machina. It kinda works, but I'd want more explanations as to WTH is going on.

There is one post-credit scene that was nice. Hopefully, Suicide Forest Village enables a sequel.

I'd recommend this movie for fans of East-oriented horror. If you are too mainstrem, skip this entry.