A couples camping trip goes awry when a quartet of painfully wooden actors find themselves imperilled by a family annihilator-turned-woodsman in a confusing, ultimately boring supernatural slasher that, despite some echoes of 1974's "Black Christmas", plays less like a Bob Clark horror than a really watered-down Fulci joint. "The Forest" has a weird atmosphere, aided by an imposing score and its scenic woodland setting, that's not entirely charmless, but it drops all its exposition early and isn't well-made or well-acted enough to hold your interest for its roughly 85 minutes. The sight of the antagonist, fresh from discovering his now-murdered wife's infidelities with a series of handymen, ominously brandishing a handsaw might be one of the funniest horror movie visuals I've seen in a while, however. If you're into bad proto-slashers from the early '80s then I guess "The Forest" is worth checking out. Otherwise, don't rush to it.
