In Stephen Cognetti's newest horror movie, 825 Forest Road, we follow a man named Chuck who hopes to start a new life with his wife Maria and his younger sister Isabelle after a tragic family incident. But of course, everything takes a turn for the worse when they discover the town harbors a dark secret.
The premise itself sounds really stereotypical and dull, and since we see dozens of movies like this every year, I wasn't particularly excited. I really enjoyed the first Hell House LLC, and the rest of the franchise had some decent entries, which gave me a bit of hope that this film might at least take a tired trope and inject it with some unique and fun ideas.
Sadly, the story doesn't deliver at all. It relies on cardboard characters and overused tropes that most horror fans are more than familiar with. The movie's strength, and also Cognetti's is in its scary moments and the slow build-up of tension. There are a few instances where the atmosphere is gradually intensified until we're hit with a jump scare. The jump scares themselves aren't terrible, but they're not particularly well executed either. Most of them are decently built up, and the film does offer some creepy ideas for scaring the viewer.
The movie also features a mannequin, which seems to be Cognetti's thing, considering how prominent they were in the Hell House LLC franchise. Honestly, I don't even mind that, if the scare works, it works. But unfortunately, aside from a few tension-filled moments and decent scare concepts, the movie doesn't have much else to offer. The acting is rather poor, the characters are bland, and the story as a whole is uninspiring.
It's not a complete mess, but it definitely doesn't stand out among the sea of horror movies released each year. I can't explicitly recommend it, but if you're one of those horror fans who digs through the bottom of the barrel looking for something to watch (like me), this might still be enough to entertain you for a bit. [4,9/10]
The premise itself sounds really stereotypical and dull, and since we see dozens of movies like this every year, I wasn't particularly excited. I really enjoyed the first Hell House LLC, and the rest of the franchise had some decent entries, which gave me a bit of hope that this film might at least take a tired trope and inject it with some unique and fun ideas.
Sadly, the story doesn't deliver at all. It relies on cardboard characters and overused tropes that most horror fans are more than familiar with. The movie's strength, and also Cognetti's is in its scary moments and the slow build-up of tension. There are a few instances where the atmosphere is gradually intensified until we're hit with a jump scare. The jump scares themselves aren't terrible, but they're not particularly well executed either. Most of them are decently built up, and the film does offer some creepy ideas for scaring the viewer.
The movie also features a mannequin, which seems to be Cognetti's thing, considering how prominent they were in the Hell House LLC franchise. Honestly, I don't even mind that, if the scare works, it works. But unfortunately, aside from a few tension-filled moments and decent scare concepts, the movie doesn't have much else to offer. The acting is rather poor, the characters are bland, and the story as a whole is uninspiring.
It's not a complete mess, but it definitely doesn't stand out among the sea of horror movies released each year. I can't explicitly recommend it, but if you're one of those horror fans who digs through the bottom of the barrel looking for something to watch (like me), this might still be enough to entertain you for a bit. [4,9/10]