Forget Me Not

Now this was a pretty out of the Hollywood mold for teenage horror movies. It had everything you expect from a standard teenage horror movie.

The story isn't bad, don't get me wrong. In fact, the story was actually quite nice, and had a good constant flow to it, so you weren't left bored. Now, what makes the movie halt a bit is the predictability of every single scene. Everything here is by the Hollywood-book. You see everything coming a mile before it actually happens.

The acting in the movie was fairly good, though I am not really familiar with any of the cast. But still, they did a good job.

As for the apparitions, or whatever they are supposed to be, well they look pretty cool and move in a nice way as well. Now what ticked me off was whatever that was going on with their mouths. Every time I saw one of these apparitions I was laughing because of the mouth. So it was a bit hard to take them seriously.

Now, with the supernatural touch of the movie, this is a little bit more interesting than your average standard teenager horror movie. But it is dangerously close to being just another mediocre type.

Watch it if you like teenage horror movies, but don't expect to be scared out of your seat. There are some nice deaths and effects, but that is about the size of the fireworks.

Forget me not is an interesting attempt at making film that mixes traditional teenage American horror with a ghost story influenced by recent Asian cinema. You get a cast of teenage characters not unlike what you could find in a Final Destination sequel, mixed with a ghostly threat not unlike what you could find in a Grudge/Ring spin off.

The plot development pertaining to the Ghost is actually well done, and the flashbacks featuring our teenager crew when they were younger are interesting, in fact more so than they are in the present.

Unfortunately, what really kills this movie is crappy direction. There's really no attention to details, the actors (far from A-list) were obviously not guided very well either. Early in the movie, we see a girl throwing a necklace in a lake, moments later, she is seen clearly wearing it in a crappy edit that lasts but 2 seconds but leaves you wondering how stuff like this could be missed. From that point in the movie, you have to accept you're going to kill time watching an uninspired direct-to-video or turn it off.

I went with it and must say the basic premise and general plot could have made for an interesting movie. I don't regret watching this. I only regret seeing lots of high ratings by horror fans. As long as horror fans will be undemanding and accept to be short changed, producers will cut corners and deliver films which, like this one, needed a lot more work before being released.

In the end, do not expect much scares from this. But if you are a horror fan and want to see a mix of Asian and American horror, then maybe director Tyler Oliver's botched film will be enjoyable.

The movie was pretty good for it's genre and for me especially had some new ideas, not overused in other ghost story films.

There's not much gore or violence, but it keeps the suspense throughout the whole time.

I give it a 6/10 because there were certain things that I didn't like:

1. The first 15 minutes were a waste of time - I didn't find any of the characters likable (except maybe the brother) - and for me this whole drinking/f***ing added nothing to the story 2. Some of the dialogue was pretty out of place and felt like forced onto the characters, just to fill in running time

That being said - give it a try. It's fresh and if you're not looking for something worth an Oscar - you will like it.

Also, the ending is satisfying, not like in most horror movies these days.

There's something endearing about this film that I, to this point, haven't been quite able to put my finger on how to explain, but I shall endeavour to find an answer during the course of writing this review.

Forget Me Not is a bit of an odd and jumbled offering, with the story not making a great deal of sense to me, mixed with some passionate acting and engaging script, along with some pretty cool visuals. It starts out like countless teen horrors before it and I really thought it was going to be another disappointing one, but I don't know how they managed to keep me interested - but they did - and I was impressed with the kill scenes and the rather spooky ghost/zombies, with their effectively unsettling facial features and wild bodily movements.

The scenes are shot in familiar, everyday kinds of settings and it all looks very simple and perhaps even unexciting, but I actually think through its reachable characters and locations, it successfully finds its audience and engages on an intimate level, which I have to say, was a complete shock to me, that this movie could be able to achieve such.

So, I guess the answer to why it was able to keep me interested, is its earnestness, thoughtfulness and its creativity through simplicity. With decent acting to carry us along willingly, coupled with an efficient script, Forget Me Not is not as forgettable as one may suppose.

I saw the rating on this and wasn't sure I should bother, but I went ahead and watched it and I'm glad I did. The plot is interesting. I'm happy to see that there are some original ideas out there yet for horror, and it isn't all remakes. The acting wasn't bad, I really enjoyed the plot, and the effects of the creatures in it were awesome. I actually yelled once out of fear, and that rarely happens. Pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the film, having never heard of it or heard about it. It's not the greatest horror movie of all time or anything, but it's worth a watch as long as your expectations aren't too high.