825 Forest Road

A lot of couples worldwide dream about getting a house, where they can have family gatherings, enjoy summer days in the backyard and arrange barbecue days with friends. Another good reason to own a house is you can arrange a traditional family Christmas celebration with lots of food, and bake lots of Christmas cookies as well. My father built his own house in the late 90´s on the west coast of Sweden so if i want to sit on the porch with an ocean view having breakfast i can just sleep over at his house. I am more an apartment guy since i don´t like cutting grass ( im alllergic to pollen ) plus i don´t enjoy trimming bushes, unless a woman ask if i trim her bush, which i don´t mind doing at all. So i rather rent a cabin on vacation and just enjoy my holiday week without cutting any grass. Speaking of houses there are some really good horror films connected with a house. For example you have the 1979 supernatural horror film The Amityville Horror with actors Josh Brolin, Margot Kidder and Rod Steiger ( based on the 1974 mass murder case of Ronald DeFeo Jr ). My advice is that you should get the 4KUHD release of The Amityville Horror from distribution company Vinegar Syndrome, a wonderful release with lots of special features as well. Another film i highly recommend within horror films connected with houses is the 2007 Spanish supernatural horror film The Orphanage from director J.A. Bayona ( who directed the brilliat Netflix drama Society Of The Snow, a must watch ). The Orphanage tells the story of Laura Garcia Rodriguez ( Belén Rueda ) moves into a closed orphanage where she used to live as a little girl 30 years ago. She moves in here with her husband, Carlos Sanchez Rivera ( Fernando Cayo ), and their seven-year-old-son, Simón ( Roger Princep ). Simón claims to befriended a boy named Tomás ( Óscar Casas ), and draw pictures of him as a child wearing a sack mask. At first this seems like a child´s imagination until Laura see that Tómas actually does exist. The Orphanage is a very effective horror film with some very creepy scenes and definetely worth checking out. Late spring this year i noticed a house horror film that was released call 825 Forest Road. The trailer looked interesting so i decided to give this film a chance. Is this a solid horror film to enjoy in a summer evening or is this not as good as i hoped it would be?

After a family tragedy, Chuck Wilson ( Joe Falcone ) hopes to start a new life in Ashland Falls with his wife Maria ( Elizabeth Vermilyea ), and his little sister Isabelle ( Kathryn Miller ) moving  in to an old house. Chuck and Elizabeth´s mother died in a car acccident, and Elizabeth is struggling with depression and mental health issues. As they try to adjust into their new home they notice that strange things are happening. Objects move mysteriously when no one touched anything. Chuck finds out that this town have a dark past and is connected to a woman named Helen Foster ( Diomira Keane ).

In one way you could say that this is a traditional supernatural horror film, but what makes 825 Forest Road different from other films in this category is that this film is divided into different chapters, where we see the story being told from different characters and how they handle different situations. I really appreciate that they decided to go in this direction because not only does it make the storytelling more interesting, we also get to know the characters a little bit better this way. There are some other details that i appreciate as well with this film such as the creepy mannequin named Martha. I swear if i saw a mannequin doll in a house such as Martha i would burn her down immediately. The fact that this evil entity have damaged the whole town to the point where they have to have secret meetings to talk about everything, that they are all afraid the entity will find out. This is a interesting detail that makes the mystery of Helen Foster more fascinating, Some of the most scary scenes is where we only get to see different details of the evil entity such as the face. The acting in general is alright and i especially appreciate the performances from actors Elizabeth Vermilyea ( who you can see in Hell House LLC: Lineage as well ) and Kathryn Miller. It may be good to know that this is not a horror film where a lot happens, you have to have patience and let the chapters wrap up to the final conclusion. On the negative side i feel that they found Helen Foster´s home too easy. This was supposed to be a house no one could find and suddenly they figure out where it is. Director Stephen Cognetti ( director of the Hell House LLC franchise ) may not have made the most scary horror film but i appreciate the time he takes to build up tensions, as well as telling the story from different angles of the characters. Worth a watch for sure this summer, 825 Forest Road have enough quality to deliver if you enter this film with an open mind.

Rating: DDD