STEPHEN Cognetti, the man behind Hell House LLC — one of the best ever found-footage horror series — is back with a more traditional supernatural film which should appeal to fans of Sinister and The Conjuring.
825 Forest Road, which is now streaming on Shudder, doesn’t break any new ground, and certainly lacks the intensity of Cognetti’s well-received Blair Witch-style franchise. But while the plot is aimless, the dialogue half-baked, and the acting dire, there was enough moments of dread and psychological torment to keep my attention.
This convoluted haunted house tale follows Maria Wilson (Elizabeth Vermilyea), her husband Chuck (Joe Falcone), and his sister Isabelle (Kathryn Miller), as they start a new life in a new town after a family tragedy. The story, is far from original, and Cognetti doesn’t have any new tricks up his sleeve, so the mix of soap opera banality and startling jump-scares, is a discombobulating one.
After moving to the sleepy suburb of Ashland Falls, the sorrowful arrivals to this City of the Dead-esque hamlet, soon discover that the town hides a dark history, which locals daren’t speak about. Things quickly take on a Scooby Doo turn when they find out that their new house wasn’t the steal they believed it to be. Their prime piece of real estate just happens to sit, slap bang, in the middle of a stretch haunted by an embittered ghostly woman who drives locals to their grisly demise.
Helen Foster (Diomira Keane) has terrorised the pesky kids of Ashland Falls for decades, so when the Wilson family realise they might be under serious threat, they take it upon themselves to solve this highfalutin mystery before it’s too late.
825 Forest Road is a particularly disappointing watch for anyone that has eaten up the Hell House LLC films. There’s plenty of creepy effects, but we’ve seen them all before, and the script could well use a going over, as well. Still, for all its flaws, and lack of surprises, at least I didn’t fall asleep.
(2/5)
