Death Forest movie series #2: "Forbidden Forest" review

 

 Release Date: March 21, 2015  Length: 68 minutes  Director: Masataka Hitomi

Main Cast: These actresses aren't as unknown as the ones in the first film though none are close to being stars, they may never be as three of the five have gotten married since this film was released. The location was never mentioned but it has to be on the outskirts of the haunted Aokigahara forest. The school was never mentioned either so why don't we call it Aokigahara high school and it's soon about to be razed as a new school is opened nearby. 

Madoka Shimogaki as Shirakawa.... She has the main role and and Shirakawa is the leader of the school's drama club which has only four members. She's a nice young woman and perhaps too nice as others have taken advantage of her too often.

 Yuka Kuramochi as Kizuki.... Doesn't she look so similar to Aoi Morikawa? Kizuki is the 'bad girl' of the school and had been kicked out of her previous one due to stabbing a teacher, it was deserved as he was about to force himself on her. Kizuki often skips school and had wanted no part of the drama club but was forced into it by her teacher Minami.

 Chiharu Tomita as Gikyoku.... I thought she was the most attractive of the cast and never did any acting after 2015. Gokyoku is also in the drama club and has written a play which the girls rehearse a bit in the film, she's insanely jealous as she thinks Shirakawa likes Kizuki more!

 Ayuka Terada as Reina.... That's her on the right below and like the others is in the drama club, she was the first student to be eaten by a creature!

 Yukino Hashimoto as Tameiki.... She's on the left above and is also in the drama club. Except for Shirakawa and Kuzuki the other three student's names were never mentioned.

Kaori Suzuki as Minami.... A teacher who is also the drama club's advisor, she was the first victim in the movie.

Daijiro Kawaoka as Kazuki Uchida.... A photographer for a magazine who was also in the first film. Not a large role this time around but he once again was the hero at the end.

Kumiko Shimohigashi as Saito.... A mysterious older woman also in the first movie, she only had a few minutes of screen time and I think she's a Spirit in a human's body.

Trailer for the movie

 

 Second in this five part movie series and am I a glutton for punishment?! This was another film that won't be up for any awards but as mentioned a few times before for some reason I really enjoy these low budget films. Those mega popular blockbuster film are ones I never, ever view(!) and to me these kinds are so much more enjoyable. The question is will I review the next three films in the series? To that have no answer at the moment, did think this was a decent movie but what's not decent is the quality of the subs so let me mull my decision over for a while. These films are over seven years old so there's no rush but if I do decide to review them they would be done next month.

 This movie series was based upon a popular game but like the first film there wasn't much connection to the game and it was mainly a straight forward semi-horror flick. This movie started out soooo slowly or at least compared to the first film. But the last ~25 minutes was so action packed with many gory and creepy scenes so would say both movies ended up having the same grade but won't be rating these or at least not yet. But if you're someone like me who savors these kinds of extremely low budget horror flicks then would give it a high recommendation. Usually have two posts for movie reviews but like the first film will be able to squeeze all of the action into one.

 No location was ever given but have to presume it's like the first movie with it being set on the outskirts of Aokigahara forest. That is a real forest in Japan that's a little northwest of Mount Fuji. Would say over 95% of the movie takes place in a high school that's about to be demolished, that too was never named so why not call it Aokigahara high school?! The first two screenshots are of the magazine photographer Uchida who was in that first film, for a while he appeared to be a crazed man but was the hero at the end. Uchida will be in all the films though his role this time around was much smaller. After the terrifying ordeal in the first movie Uchida truly now has become a bit crazed, he did take some photos of the Yoshie monster which still haunt him and he's having a hard time convincing his editor the ordeal did happen. Mixed in with those photos were a few of the Aokigahara school, Uchida didn't take them so how did they end up in his pile? He makes a return for two minutes in the middle of the film and then once again will be the 'hero' at the end.

 Aokigahara high school is in the third screenshot above, there's a new school that opened so this one will be torn down very soon. All of the students have left for that new school save for five of them, four are in the drama club whose leader is Shirakawa who is in the fourth screenshot. She has the most screen time and also with a lot is the character in the bottom screenshot above. She's the 'bad girl' of the school whose name is Kizuki and as mentioned doesn't she look so similar to Aoi Morikawa? Kizuki is somewhat new at the school and rarely attends but was talked into coming for one final day at the old school by her teacher Minami, she too is above. The rumor around school is that Kizuki was expelled at her previous high school for stabbing a teacher, that screenshot above shows it did happen. However it was mainly in self defense as a male teacher was about to force himself upon Kizuki who stabbed him but no one would believe her story. At Aokigahara Kizuki is so withdrawn and has zero friends, the teacher Minami has persuaded her to become the fifth member of the drama club though save for the leader Shirakawa the others wished Kizuki would fall off the roof to her death as she's that hated!!!!

 May be hard to notice her but in the top screenshot above is an older woman named Saito. She was in the first film and in it had owned a restaurant but during that movie I had the strong inkling she was a Spirit and think my assumption was correct, we saw her briefly in this film three times and she never uttered a word. Kizuki had noticed Saito for she was outside having one of her endless smoke breaks which her teacher puts up with. Why the drama club is rehearsing in the old high school was never explained as the new school is open and all of the other students are there. In the second to last screenshot is the club's play writer Gikyoku and that's a new name for me! The drama club's leader Shirakawa is such a nice young woman and perhaps too nice, she's taken a bit of a liking towards Kizuki who she felt is so misunderstood, meanwhile the other three can't stand the sight of her.

 No title was mentioned but the new play Gikyoku has written seems to be a tragedy, there was a bit of rehearsing for it but not all that much. When Kizuki was introduced to the club by her teacher Minami it was about the fifteen minute mark, for the next ten or so minutes virtually nothing took place except for some bad talk about Kizuki who never did rehearse and was once again on one of her extended smoke breaks. So between the fifteen and 25 minute mark it was a bit of a snooze fest but the action did picked up at a snap of a finger and last forty minutes zoomed right by as there was so much action. During this time it was the afternoon so no lights were needed, but as you can see above Gikyoku said there was no power and of course the night was rapidly approaching, as I learned all bad things around the Aokigahara forest only occur at night.

 Sometimes you wonder how a person got a certain job, I did with Minami and a very dim lightbulb is brighter than she is! After the power had gone out she went searching for Kizuki who at this time was in the bathroom having her smoke break. Minami did enter the bathroom but to her and our surprise there was no Kizuki to be found, a few seconds later the door slammed shut and that was the last we saw of the teacher who became victim #1. Will be referring to two kinds of monsters, the one that floats with an oval head is named Yoshie. The other creatures who look like very thin humans painted in white are called Omiya(s). Before Minami had gone on her search for Kizuki she went around the building and locked all of the doors, hard to believe she was expecting intruders and of course there being locked doors added to the list of victims.

 In the second screenshot above is Gikyoku who was looking for the other students and teacher, also to find out if the power was out all around the building. She wears glasses and the other girl's name is Reina who you've seen in screenshots but hadn't mentioned her name, the other girl who you've seen a bit of is Tameiki. No luck for Gikyoku and Reina in finding anything useful but they did notice a shadow moving in a room.... or did they? That room too had no power so it appears the whole school is without electricity but least there are working flashlights which will be life savers. In that room which was the science lab the pair of girls did notice something extremely odd but we viewers never did see what frightened them so bad, they eventually crept out and who should they see holding a knife at the end of the hallway? None other than Kizuki who always carried a knife with her, the blade was smeared with blood and guess who was lying on the floor all bloody? Of course the teacher Minami but Kizuki swore up and down she didn't stab the teacher, the monster Yoshie had bitten her many times which led to her death and in defending herself Kizuki had stabbed the creature. To me that's very odd that a Spirit can be stabbed and bleed, guess it's better not to know the whys of everything.

 You can tell this was a very low budget film, didn't seem they had money for lights! But then again the darkness does tend to make the atmosphere a bit creepier. The trusting Shirakawa believed Kizuki's story about a monster killing their teacher Minami but with Kizuki's background the other girls were quite leery of this girl. Especially Reina who was such an annoying girl and she sort of got her just deserts but perhaps a killing was too extreme. The phones aren't working and they never do in horror movies, but that didn't prevent Reina from saying she's calling the police and hopes Kizuki gets the death penalty! She's the one who got the penalty, Reina was slowly backing towards the classroom, the girls had been hiding in one, and didn't notice what was behind her. That's in the third screenshot above and before the other girls could say anything this Yoshie creature went CHOMP CHOMP(!) as Reina became his dinner! 

My words and the screenshots may not be doing this film justice as the last 25 or so minutes were so action packed with much intensity and gore!!!!

 So had been wondering about this Yoshie monster and the other creatures, was unsure if they were 'solid and they have to be in order to eat a human! Needless to say the others now believe Kizuki about not killing their teacher, her dead body may be the only way out(?)! That's because Minami has the school's keys in her pocket and her body is lying in the science lab. The quartet headed there and Kizuki does show some guts as she went in the lab alone and was able to retrieve the keys, are the girls now safe? Not by a long shot and you have to remember the power is still out in the school. LIGHTS both attract the creatures but also repel them, if you shine a flashlight at them they'll keep their distance which Shirakawa quickly figured out. That foursome is about to become a trio as when they were inching down the hallway a door opened, who should be behind it but Yoshie! That's the second to last screenshot above and what a huge mouth he has as the creature began to gobble up Tameiki, Shirakawa tried to pull her back to no avail. The girls naturally fled away and were able to keep the other monsters named Omiya(s) away thanks to their flashlights. Kizuki went off by herself while heading to a classroom were Shirakawa and her best friend Gikyoku who I noticed in this scene may have had a huge crush on her!

 Shirakawa was so worried about Kizuki, she felt that Gikyoku would be safe in the room and left to find the other girl against Gikyoku's wishes. Safe was not what the classroom was as soon a Omiya monster appeared at the window of the room, we didn't see it but the creature ate half of Gikyoku's left arm! She fled the room in search of Shirakawa who she found but with her arm half eaten it was only a matter of time until the girl died. But at first Gikyoku really wanted Shirakawa to stay behind instead of escaping wth Kizuki, don't know if Shirakawa realized it but we viewers did. Which was of the huge crush Gikyoku had on her friend and was so jealous of Kizuki who she thinks Shirakawa likes better. That probably wasn't true but in the condition Gikyoku was in it was only a matter of time until she died from her injury, Shirakawa didn't want to leave but if she didn't it would also be the end of her!

 Before meeting up again with the badly injured Gikyoku Shirakawa had found Kizuki who was about to be eaten by a Omiya! But Shirakawa had known of the weakness these creatures have towards lights so had grabbed a big spotlight from the drama room, she shined it on the creature who was about to have his second dinner of ala Kizuki which made him flee. So the original six in the school are now down to Kizuki and Shirakawa who headed to the school's front door which they can now open thanks to getting the keys from their dead teacher's pocket. Don't know why Shirakawa left the spotlight behind as it was their best defense but she did, however the pair did reach the font doors and fled the building. Right behind them was a still hungry Yoshie and it looked like the two girls were doomed. But in the nick of time who should arrive but the 'hero' Uchida who had the photo of the school and knew where the next disaster would be. Uchida began to flash his camera at the Yoshie monster which kept him at a safe distance, the trio jumped into Uchida's vehicle and fled the school safely.

 So it was a semi happy ending, four are dead but Kizuki and Shirakawa made it out alive and are in a hospital. Meanwhile Uchida had some photos of the monsters which he wants his editor to publish in their magazine. Not sure if it'll happen but when Uchida was talking on the phone that mysterious older woman Saito passed unnoticed twenty feet behind him and who is this woman? Uchida was looking through his pile of photos and stumbled across one that he had taken from the restaurant we saw in the first film. That's the photo above, it's a very old one of Saito and doesn't her face look so similar to the Yoshie monster?! So that scene ended this 68 minute movie and I wish more were this length, why do movies have to be two or more hours long? So all in all this was a film I enjoyed, bit of a sluggish stretch after the opening but the last 30-35 minutes makes me recommend this movie. Mentioned in the opening how I was unsure whether to view the other three film in the series. Am now leaning towards YES on that but wouldn't review any until next month.