Beneath the towering Mt. Fuji lies the legendary Aokigahara. Famous for all the wrong reasons, the sprawling stretch of woodland – so fetchingly referred to as the Suicide Forest or Sea of Trees – has deep ties to Japanese mythology after the country’s government witnessed a spike in suicides in both 2003 and 2010. Reportedly the most popular spot for the act in the entire country, such a spine-chilling environment is simply begging to be featured in a Hollywood movie.
And sure enough, Gramercy Pictures is prepping The Forest with Natalie Dormer, and today summons a new trailer for the horror feature. Based on a pitch dreamed up by David S. Goyer, the studio’s low-key picture was filmed on location in Tokyo, Japan, which has Dormer’s Sara defying just about every warning in The Land of the Rising Sun to find her missing sister.
What follows is a by the numbers thriller, with shots of ghostly figures haunting Dormer’s lead protagonist throughout the course of her fateful night. The Forest may hew closely to the familiar tropes of the horror genre, though we’re willing to lend it the benefit of the doubt based on its historic location.
Against every fibre in her being, Natalie Dormer will venture into Aokigahara when The Forest looms into theaters on January 8, 2016. Taylor Kinney co-stars in the deathly thriller, which was scripted by Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosca.
A supernatural thriller set in the legendary Aokigahara Forest. A young American woman, Sara (Natalie Dormer of “Game of Thrones” and “The Hunger Games”), goes in search of her twin sister, who has mysteriously disappeared. Despite everyone’s warnings to “stay on the path,” Sara enters the forest determined to discover the truth about her sister’s fate.
