Anticipation (Before Trailer): 20/100
Anticipation (After Trailer): 40/100
The Forest warns “stay on the path.” For movie goers, staying on the path includes tempering any excitement for a January release.
So, even though The Forest is the feature-length directorial début of Jason Zada who launched a highly successful viral marketing campaign for OfficeMax (“Elf Yourself”) and the acting talents of Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) and Taylor Kinney (Zero Dark Thirty), don’t get your hopes up.
Also, for what it’s worth, horror trailers that have a habit of revealing too much often fall short. The Forest does boast a solid trailer, a “true” back story (Aokigahara Forest is a real place in Japan where people go to commit suicide) and the backing of a re-tooled Gramercy Pictures. Maybe, just maybe, The Forest can break the “dump month” mold.