Eoin Macken

Right from the start, filmmaker Jason Zada begins filling scenes in this horror movie with insinuating elements involving eerie noises, deep shadows and sudden jolts. And it succeeds in freaking the audience out entertainingly. Then Zada seems to get tired of sustaining the psychological terror, letting the final act become swamped by a flood of gimmicky cliches.

The story centres on Sara (Natalie Dormer), a young woman suffering from unnerving nightmares about her identical twin Jess (also Dormer), who was last seen entering Japan's notorious Aokigahara Forest, the "sea of trees" where people traditionally go to commit suicide. So Sara leaves her husband (Eoin Macken) at home in America and heads to the foot of Mt Fuji to get some answers, ignoring warnings about angry spirits and impending doom. There she meets friendly journalist Aidan (Taylor Kinney), who wants to tag along and write a story about her. But once they enter the forest, their phones and compasses stop working, then even creepier things start happening in the gloomy darkness.

The director gleefully piles on suggestive imagery, hinting at all kinds of things that might be going on here. Sara and Jess are like opposite sides of a coin: blonde and sensible versus brunette and free-spirited. And they have a tragic back-story that reveals itself in a series of dreamy flashbacks. Cleverly, their childhood snapshots make them resemble the sinister twins from The Shining. So Sara's continuous premonitions add layers of uncertainty, especially as she indulges in illicit flirtation with the handsome Aidan. Dormer is solid in the central role, nicely balancing Sara's scepticism with a haunting sense of dread. And Kinney is terrific as the helpful stranger who seems too nice to be trusted. Meanwhile, the forest itself makes the entire film feel like a fairy tale that's threatening to turn seriously nasty at any moment.

Continue reading: The Forest Review

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) continues to explore experimental styles of cinema (see Timecode or Hotel) with this playful in-joke about the act of artistic creation. It's an ambitious idea that never quite overcomes the indulgent approach, but the gimmicky touches and mysterious noir vibe hold our interest even if the characters are never very clearly developed.

At the centre is screenwriter Martin (Koch), who lectures at a London film school as his long-awaited new script is finally going into production. His daughter Sarah (Night) has landed a lead role in the film, and Martin celebrates this with her at her 25th birthday. He also becomes fascinated by her friend Angelique (Verbeek), who turns up dead in a canal the next morning, leaving him as the prime suspect. A police inspector (Cranham) is especially suspicious since Martin's wife (Fox in flashback) went missing 15 years ago. Then Angelique's twin Therese (also Verbeek) turns up to twist things further.

Figgis continually throws us out of the story by referring to the film within the film. For example, characters are continually picking up movie scripts that describe them picking up movie scripts. And Figgis further tweaks us with on-screen captions, split-screen angles and movie-set camera gags, plus of course the fact that a central character is an identical twin. But because of all of this self-referential trickery, we can never engage with the story or characters at all.

Continue reading: Suspension Of Disbelief Review