Customer Reviews

Forest of Death

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

WARNING MOVIE SPOILERS!

This movie was hard to follow.

A forest where people go to commit suicide whose plants can speak and show humans exactly how a girl was murdered and by whom (Patrick Wong). A forest where bodies show up 40 years after the person disappears and the bodies are as"youthful" as when they disappear and where a police woman sees what looks like "space aliens".

Mr Tin (Forest Park caretaker) says "THEY only want to experiment on those who want to comitt suicide and leave those who are strong willed along.

Mr Tin was accidentally shot by a policewoman while they and the plant man went into the forest to find the plant man's girlfriend, May, who wants to commit suicide when her boyfriend won't do a TV show with her and her producer wants to fire her.

While the plot was unique, the execution was weak/choppy. The ending could have been better also by having the plant guy dump his weak/pathetic May and marry the policewoman. A happier ending could have been for the alien being to return Mr. Tin's daughter alive just as youthful as she was when she disappeared years ago. Now THAT would have been a great ending.

Forest of Death (Danny Pang, 2007)

Danny is half of the Brothers Pang, two guys who have been at the forefront of the recent resurgence in Thai cinema on the world stage (Bangkok Dangerous, The Eye). Danny's brother Oxide branched out on his own relatively successfully with The Tesseract, so I guess Danny thought it was time to do his own thing as well. Danny's results have never been as successful as Oxide's, and Forest of Death continues this trend.

Forest of Death is a pretty standard southeast Asian supernatural flick that borrows a good deal from both Il-gon Song's 2004 flick Spider Forest and Pang's own supernatural thrillers (most notably The Eye), but gets some serious starpower on board. Megastar Shu Qi (The Transporter), who'd previously teamed up with Pang in The Eye 2, stars as detective C. C. Ha, head of a task force assigned to look into why so many people are drawn to a particular forest, known as the Forest of Death (one of seven, we are told, in the world), coming from thousands of miles away to commit suicide in the forest. Perhaps they're not all suicides? The equally gorgeous, though far more underrated, Rain Li (House of Mahjongg), co-stars as May, a perky television hostess who becomes obsessed with the idea of doing a story on the Forest and its sole permanent denizen, a forest ranger. Meanwhile, the detective has enlisted the help of the hostess' boyfriend, a botanist named Shu-hoi Shum (Ekin Cheng of Ab-Normal Beauty) who believes that he can really make plants talk; this would obviously be of a great use to the detective in her investigation. The two women each occupy a storyline, and occasionally overlap, but the movie never really makes much of an effort to integrate the two, despite Shu-hoi's presence in both.

While there can be no denying that the photography here is fantastic, and the leads are certainly easy enough on the eyes, the movie never really gels as a movie; the mystery angle is never as pronounced as it is in the films from which Pang and writer Cub Chin (who collaborated with the brothers on their previous collaborative film, Re-Cycle) drew so much of their influence, and that renders this somewhat impotent as anything other than a succession of pretty pictures. We never really get to know the characters as much as we should, which doesn't help matters either. It's not terrible, but there are certainly better Pang-related ways to spend your time. **

There are a lot of legends and myths that surround some forests in most Asian countries (most of these countries are a lot older than the U.S., if we talk Historical records). These legends are mostly from Thailand, the Philippines, China and of course, Japan. "FOREST OF DEATH" (2007) is an attempt by the Pang Bros. to try out something new, this time around it is Danny Pang who co-writes and directs alone (quite curious that Oxide did the directorial reins of "Diary" alone too). They've done ghosts, an action film, psychological thrillers and this is the first time one of the Pangs make an attempt for something very X-Files-like; this film combines scientific theories, the supernatural and legends and is quite a welcome change from the usual.

There is a notorious forest that attracts young heart-broken people to commit suicide and their bodies are never found. This fact have been sensationalized by the media specifically a young reporter named Mei (Rain Li). Those people actually come from all places, and walks of life. However, a rape and murder case is found in this unnamed forest.
The police finally arrest a suspect named Patrick Wong (Lawrence Chou) but unfortunately they lack the necessary evidence for a conviction. Detective Ha Chung Chi (played by lusciously-lipped Taiwanese actress Shu Qi, So Close) is the new detective in charge, and in her desperation, she invites a botanical scientist named Shum Shu-Hoi (Ekin Cheng) to conduct an experimental procedure which can theoretically disclose the truth. However, unbeknownst to both of them, they are about to uncover not just the truth behind the murder case but may be opening doors to the unknown. What's more Hoi's girlfriend-reporter Mei is also closing in....

The film blends elements from science fiction, the supernatural, CSI-like investigative elements, and it is quite refreshing to see the Pangs try something new. The legends of the forest are quite interesting enough, and as I've said I'm very familiar with this type of myth and the screenplay does give this concept good exposition. The experimental mumbo-jumbo about listening to plants actually require a large suspension of disbelief, but once you take in its links to the unexplained, you may buy into it. I rather thought that the forest is just a conduit for an unknown energy and this factor will remain unexplained and will be left to the viewer's interpretation much like an "X-File". This is the film's basic set up and premise and admittedly it is very interesting.

The cinematography is quite good as with any of the Pangs outings, and it has an ominous feel that also promotes claustrophobia. The visual effects by Fat Face Production is quite decent but truth be told it is the usual "smokey" apparitions we are used to in other Asian films. The film carries a very serious tone, and unfortunately, after the film's initial set ups, the screenplay takes a turn and some elements became a little laughable. I like Shu Qi, I do think she is a competent actress but she is just too pretty to be playing a detective and a little distracting. Her lead character is a little underdeveloped. Ekin Cheng and Lawrence Chou just overacts and their characters tend to become a nuisance after awhile, and what's worse, Mei's (played by Rain Li) media personality is so annoying and feels no more than a plot device to generate a perfunctory romantic complication.

The film's biggest flaw is its lack of compelling characters, it is just so hard to care about what happens to them. The best one I think is the old man, Tin (played by Lau Siu Ming) and he does have a potentially interesting back story but this fact is abandoned early on, so it's direct weight and its links to the forest is left hanging. However, much to Danny Pang's credit, while his characters feel very one-dimensional, he manages to generate some suspense when he focuses on the mysteries of the forest itself. I rather hoped that the developing jealousy between Ha and Mei was abandoned; the script would have done better with a more emotional ending than resorting to a perfunctory one. The unraveling of the mystery does answer a lot of questions, but it also opens more questions. I suppose this was an attempt to keep the viewer guessing, but I didn't find myself asking for more.

Ultimately, "Forest of Death" is a lot better than the abysmal "the Messengers" but totally inferior to "Re-Cycle" and "the Eye". Unfortunately, the plot just wasn't well connected to its characters and the film felt a little dry and undercooked. Still, the film is very competently made with good production values and a decent premise. But it is another exercise of style that made the Pangs popular in Hong Kong and it does offer nothing new--it doesn`t reinvent the supernatural genre, but thankfully it doesn`t damage it either. If this film and if "Diary" is any indication, one wouldn't be hard-pressed to think that brothers Oxide and Danny Pang are better working together than apart.

Recommended with caution, Rent it first [3+ Stars]

Great movie. Although I think it's more about aliens than the supernatural. The ending gave it away to me at least. It starts as a ghost story about mysterious deaths then goes into a scientific explanation... that just turns right back around on you and ends up being that the forest are the hiding spot/experimental grounds for extra terrestrials to observe humans. Just as the botanists in the beginning of the movie was studying the emotions of the plants it turns out that aliens are using the forest to study the emotions of humans. Very interesting, and if you watch the film I don't think anyone ever got or understood what was going on. At least it doesn't seem so from all the reviews.

I first saw beautiful Taiwanese actress, Shu Qi, a few years ago in one of the most entertaining action films I've seen in a very long time. The name of that movie was, "Closer", and it was unabashedly released to compete with the "Charlie's Angels" films that Hollywood was shamelessly grinding out at the time. Shu Qi is the star in "Forest of Death", this time portraying police detective Ha Chun-Chi. She is asked to investigate a brutal rape and murder that took place in a mysterious forest that has a strange reputation of having a high number of suicides. The main suspect in the murder case is Patrick Wong (Lawrence Chou), but he denies committing the crime. Ha's investigation leads to botanist Shum Shu-Hoi (Ekin Cheng), who has been experimenting with plants from the forest. Shum's girlfriend, May (Rain Li), feigns interest in the forest to gain information for a tabloid television show she works for. Shum's experiments reveal that the plants in this particular forest can act as witnesses in the murder case. They can't communicate in word, but they appear to have a sort of spirit that can tell the difference between right and wrong; good and evil. The botanist believes that if the main suspect can be brought to the murder scene, the plants there may somehow be able to remember him, and communicate his guilt or innocence during a re-enactment of the crime. He hopes that the plants there will act as lie detectors. The friction in the story involves this botanist convincing the detective that 1) he isn't crazy, 2) there is something unusual about the forest due to the suicide data everyone already agrees with, and 3) there is much more to this forest than the special plant-life and it is this that makes this movie both a visual feast (think Anime in real-life) and a well-written story that is full of surprises leading up to a very memorable ending.

This movie was quite bad the first time I saw it. Since I had to watch it for my Japanese cinema class I decided I should watch it again. On the second viewing I was still disappointed.

This movie should come with a pillow.

Without ruining the ending, let's just say it came out of nowhere and left you wanting to bang your head against the wall asking yourself why? why? why? why?

Also, the scene of the "Night of the forest" earlier on in the ending of the film should have been edited more, it was a little too long and a little too inconsequential for my tastes.

Despite its title "Forest of Death" is not exactly a horror film. It is more like a supernatural suspense, something like an extended episode from American TV shows like "X-Files." The film stars beautiful Shu Qi ("The Transporter" "So Close") as a tough and strong-willed Detective Ha investigating a rape and murder case committed in a deep forest. Detective Ha has detained a suspect, a rich and spoiled boy, but though she does her best, she cannot find eveidence that would prove he is guilty.

The film also follows the story of a young botanist Shum (Ekin Cheng) who believes humans can receive "messages" from plants and trees by using special devices. He is given a chance to prove his eccentric theories when he meets Detective Ha who needs a help.

The local forest happens to be a notorious place because the spooky site, it seems, attracts many would-be suicides. (Part of the film is inspired the real forest "jukai," meaning "tree sea" in Japanese, near Mt. Fuji in Japan, a place favored by suicides.) The story is being covered by a local TV station where the young botanist's ambitious girlfriend works as a reporter. She needs a scoop to be promoted, so why not this one?

Danny Pang (like his twin brother Oxide Pang) has a strong visual sense and he again shows it here. Shu Qi is also impressive as a detective determined to prove she is right. But the film, especially the second half, is muddled at best and though the actors show strong performances, the characters themselves are rather shallow. There are so many things going on at the same time, so many sub-plots, some of which should have been more developed.

I am a Shu Qi fan and that is why I was interested in this film. Fans like me would not be disappointed with her and her acting, but those who are not should stay away from "Forest of Death."

don't you dare laugh at cc HA. she's the baddest, most beautifullest homicide detective since angelina jolie disgraced the police force by getting knocked up by the serial killer she was investigating in "taking lives". spooks of the forest, serial killers or jealous girlfriends don't stand a chance against detective cc HA. and when the case is finally solved, you better believe HA is gonna have the last laugh!