Spider Forest DVD Review:

From the very beginning of Spider Forest there is confusion, chaos, and violence. While the violence manages to taper off until the conclusion, the rest of the film relies of the other two elements. The uncertainty of the human mind, especially one which has been injured greatly, is the driving force of the film. What makes it interesting is that the injury could be considered both physical and mental, and it can be seen in more than one character. Despite all of these extremely intriguing elements I am speaking of, I can’t say that all of Spider Forest is fun to watch. Much of it is rather confusing, but not entertaining or satisfying enough to make me want to watch it numerous times in order to figure it all out.

Spider Forest begins as Kang enters a forest for no explained reason, entering a small cabin, where a man and woman have been brutally attacked and left to die. As he discovers the bodies, Kang catches a glimpse of the killer in the woods and takes off in pursuit. The chase is reversed and a scuffle leaves Kang is disoriented as he continues pursuit in a tunnel, subsequently causing him to get hit by a car. When Kang awakes, he finds himself the prime suspect of the murders, and his only chance of escaping the charges is to remember what happened. As he explores his memory, the audience takes the journey with him.

After the shocking beginning that the film relishes in, Spider Forest takes a creepy and foreboding approach to unnerve the audience. This is only somewhat effective because of the extreme opening. The slow journey towards the memories in question are somewhat confusing, mostly because they take place in the mind of a man who has just undergone brain surgery, but there is something still fascinating about each scene. Even when I felt as though I was not sure where the film had gone, or what was going to happen, I was interested in the scene at hand. It creeps over like the spiders within the film, and you never know whether the fear is real or irrational.

I wouldn’t go so far as to proclaim the ending unsatisfying, but it definitely seems to rely somewhat heavily on the same shocking footage which is seen in the beginning of the film. It also goes a long way to answer a very simple question. These faults aside, however, Spider Forest is still a tightly wound thriller.

The special features include deleted scenes, a photo gallery, theatrical trailers, interviews and behind the scenes footage. The behind the scenes footage is raw and doesn’t flow too well, but it may interest those who want to see what making films looks like. The interviews are probably the best feature, interviewing cast and crew on set of the making of the film.



Ryan Izay