FOREST OF DEATH

A police officer in search of evidence, a botanist, and a reporter cross paths in the forest of death, famous as the chosen place for the final extreme act by aspiring suicides, but also a place of strange apparitions and unsettling presences. This film, along with the third chapter of «The eye», represents the lowest point reached by the production of the Pang factory. If «The eye 3 - Infinity» started with an intriguing idea like that of the «Book of Spirits» and lost itself in a demoralizing comedy that was over the top and out of place, this «Forest of Death» presents a confusing staging despite a remarkable production effort and a basic idea, that of the living forest, which could have been, if not original, at least interesting. This time there are too many ideas in the script that open the door to various narrative ramifications that all end up leading to nothing, many ideas hinted at and not realized; these changes of heart generate confusion and irritation in the viewer who witnesses the continuous struggle of the actors who fail to flesh out their characters, who are endowed with an embarrassing two-dimensionality. The botanist who discovers how to communicate with the forest, the latter «Witness» of a crime manages to make a rapist confess, the strange guardian who has lost his daughter, the assault reporter, the all-in-one police officer… all of it has been seen before, all of it has been told without verve or cinematic flair. The westernization of the brothers Pang's cinema here shows the strain, the suggestive location (the forest of suicides exists and is located in Japan, at the foot of Mount Fuji), a respectable cast, and a budget that combines the economic efforts of Thailand and Japan do not suffice to save the film, and to make matters worse, the impossible genre placement forces the distribution to label the film as horror/thriller/crime thus revealing the confusion of the brothers Pang's script: too much on the plate that ends up transforming into a double-edged sword. With the ending that does nothing but shuffle the cards and disorient the poor viewer already exhausted by the soporific dialogues, the Pangs dig their own grave and lose the last glimmer of coherence that remained. A film to avoid, despite the excellent packaging. Let's gloss over this misstep and hope for a new project for the talented Thai duo.