The Forest starts off in standard backwoods horror fashion, with the murder of a couple hiking in the mountains, stabbed with a hunter's knife by an unseen assailant. The action then cuts to two friends, Steve (Dean Russell) and Charlie (John Batis), as they discuss getting away from the daily grind -- including their wives Sharon (Tomi Barrett) and Teddi (Ann Wilkinson) -- by going on a lad's camping trip. When their spouses hear of the men's plans and also decide to go camping, the men scoff, making the women even more determined to assert their independence. The wives head out first, hiking to a remote spot, although they fully expect to be joined by their concerned husbands before nightfall - but will either of the women live that long with a crazed killer on the prowl?

While this all looks set to be a whole lot of brutal fun, the men and women fighting for their lives against the killer cannibal (as he is later revealed to be), writer/director Don Jones soon pulls the rug from under his viewer's feet with the introduction of three rather unconventional characters: a ghost woman and her two spectral children. The woman is the cannibal man's dead wife, who he murdered for her philandering ways, while his kids killed themselves after falling ill. All three spirits now wander the woods, the children helping the living to escape their flesh-eating father.

With corny echoing voices, pasty faces and twee outfits, the ghostly kids really detract from the horror, making the whole movie a rather laughable experience, even as the hikers are killed and cooked by the cannibal. The film is also lacking in gore, with only a fairly decent compound fracture and a slit throat looking as though any effort was made in this department. Light on scares, light on splatter, and heavy on the cheesy schmaltz (the ghostly moppets finding peace with their father after he is finally killed), The Forest is a disappointing oddity that, rather unsurprisingly, now wallows in obscurity.

No, this movie is not one of the best horror movies to come out of the eighties but it does have some great qualities. I found the storyline rather refreshing, it was different from any "in the forest" horror movie I've ever seen. And as cheesy as the soundtrack was, it still was interesting... but hey, I even like the cheese factor! I admit the beginning of the movie was pointless, but still, it was great to laugh at. I'd recommend this movie to any horror fan but you must also not expect too much from it, I mean, it's no Halloween or Friday the 13th, but it is enjoyable. There were times I felt spooked and times I just wanted to laugh. A great combination!

Some happy campers are stalked and viciously butchered by a demented cannibalistic killer called Daddy."The Forest" is one of the strangest slasher flicks I have ever seen.It starts fairly competently,but quickly becomes boring and tedious.The opening murder scene of two backpackers in the California wilderness is quite suspenseful and gory.The acting is really bad and the script is not better.Still there is a lot of cheese for fans of slasher movies.Unfortunately the gore is kept to minimum,so gorehounds may be disappointed.The film features also the ghosts of two kids and their mother and I can safely say that this supernatural element adds some touches of originality to the plot.So if you are a fan of slasher films you can check this one out.However I prefer Donald M.Jones earlier horror film "Schoolgirls in Chains"(1973),which is way more demented than "The Forest".