Genre: HorrorYear: 2009
Director: Tyler Oliver
I watched Forget Me Not because someone said it was one of the best 2009 horror flicks.
Horror movies that rouse genuine fear connect to the audience in some way. It can be visually shocking (Juon) or contain enough reality to be convincing (The Eye). Even if the plot follows twisted logic and crazy premises, as long as it actually adheres to its own propositions, I am OK. This movie, however, sorely lacks that kind of "credibility."
The main character Sandy Channing and her friends are just some typical high school seniors in a small town. The place is mundane. The people are mundane. Save for the ghost, everything is very normal. Then this spirit comes on the scene, and voila, she not only physically attacks Sandy and clique but also alters the entire reality, i.e. the house where a party was held few nights prior now looks totally run down or parents who forget they have another child. Suddenly I feel like I am watching Butterfly Effect except Forget Me Not is much worse because it made no make provisions for god-like power. Never thought I would say this for a horror movie, but, yes, the director was really stretching his story.
I had high hopes for Forget Me Not and even like its seed idea. But the execution totally flopped.
I watched Forget Me Not because someone said it was one of the best 2009 horror flicks.
It really wasn't.
Horror movies that rouse genuine fear connect to the audience in some way. It can be visually shocking (Juon) or contain enough reality to be convincing (The Eye). Even if the plot follows twisted logic and crazy premises, as long as it actually adheres to its own propositions, I am OK. This movie, however, sorely lacks that kind of "credibility."
The main character Sandy Channing and her friends are just some typical high school seniors in a small town. The place is mundane. The people are mundane. Save for the ghost, everything is very normal. Then this spirit comes on the scene, and voila, she not only physically attacks Sandy and clique but also alters the entire reality, i.e. the house where a party was held few nights prior now looks totally run down or parents who forget they have another child. Suddenly I feel like I am watching Butterfly Effect except Forget Me Not is much worse because it made no make provisions for god-like power. Never thought I would say this for a horror movie, but, yes, the director was really stretching his story.
The ghosts' appearance did not improve matters either. Obvious influence from Asian horror films aside, she and her entourage looked rather like teenagers dressing up goth and dancing at some Halloween party.
The movie also progressively got worse. In particular, Cody Linley as Sandy's brother Eli was unconvincing. The eagerness with which he latched onto Sandy's story was incredible. She told it in such a terse nonsensical way that I had a hard time believing her even after watching the film from the very beginning! At this point, I really started to wonder if the director madly wants to wrap his film up, and this was the first idea (bad one at that) to cross his mind.
I briefly entertained the idea that Sandy's other friends are fabricated, but if this were the case, why would the director show extended sequences about their deaths or their bed activities? Sandy apparently didn't have the pleasure to "witness" these developments, so the fictional sex and gore were just put in for the audience's sake? Somehow this sounds more lame to me than a ghost creating alternate realities.
I had high hopes for Forget Me Not and even like its seed idea. But the execution totally flopped.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
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