Stararmour

It pains me to see someone who could be a bonafide action hero relegated to bad B movies. B movies have their place in cinema and especially horror - but Werewolves (wws) fails.

...At almost every turn :(. The premise and setup are ok, as the movie starts out - we hold on to hope. I crossed my fingers and hoped that there was someone on the writing team who could do some magic - but that wasn't to be.

The way the world and the wws 'disaster' is laid out - the supermoon night is very close to purge night. But where Purge succeeds in making the viewer root for the characters - wws characters made me grind my teeth. One of the main women is an annoying, bawling, perpetually whiny person who is NOT real. No mom would make the choices she makes. Frank Grillo didn't have much to do except fight his way from point A to B and it was boring - even with the way full of werewolves, nutty humans, and danger at every turn. Don't even get me started on wasted potential at the lab - the actors were short-changed out of some meaty storylines.

The backstory was also somewhere this movie could have excelled but chose not to. They have a cool theory about a supermoon turning people into wws but there's no dive into why or where from. Just a super cursory possible "treatment" that is yawn and eye-roll inducing. I am sad for the lost potential of what this movie could have been.

I was honestly expecting something way better. Even B grade horror films that sound like movies whose success they are counting are spades better than The Forest.

I have No idea why the two main actors - Natalie Dormer and Eoin Macken agreed to do this movie. There is no story worth mentioning. It starts very much like one of the grudges with the girl going off to find her sister and it goes downhill from there. The acting, of course, is fine, but they have nothing to do! There is no real plot, no concrete story or backstory except some random crypticism from a local, and nothing else at all. the only reason I can think of why the actors might have taken this on is quick and easy cash.

The ONLY saving grace is the absolutely beautiful location it is supposed to be set in, and the actual story behind this place. Seriously, reading about the Forest and looking at the eerie pictures people have posted was much, much more fun than the movie. But this bit of real life horror just adds to the incredible disappointment. Right up to the end you keep sitting/ waiting/ wishing for absolutely anything to happen.

I usually do not consider any movie to be a waste of time because no matter how bad, some fun can be squeezed from them. This does not even fall into that category.

Please don't watch this.

postscript - The movie does have a lovely poster!

I had watched Evil Dead as a kid and I still remember the skeleton tossing its head around as a 'move' of some sort. Things like that have an impact and Evil Dead made a good one.

I was as thrilled as everyone else at a return of the famous Bruce Campbell and the deadites, and season one did not disappoint. So, in typical Ash fashion he mucks it up again and lo and behold they're back! Cue the comic gore fest and quest to retrieve lost object and vanquish evil. All in a day's work. He's joined by two trusty sidekicks who keep him (or try to) on the straight and narrow.

So far so good. However, the question really arises at the start of season 2. How far can you go with the same basic plot and same deadites and same gore? The answer, for me, is not very far at all. Despite Xena and her entourage (see what i did there :P), the show fails to keep my attention. After about 4 episodes of the second season, I just don't feel like watching anymore. I might end up reading a review of the finale and that is all I will need to know everything.

Don't get me wrong, the actors are fine, the stories are fine and the gore is undoubtedly fun, but there is nothing new here.

Maybe they should have created a limited series. Maybe it will get cancelled. I would not be surprised if it did.