THE FOREST HILLS (2023)

Streaming on Tubi!
Directed/Written by Scott Goldberg.
Check out the trailer here!!

Rico (Chiko Mendez) has suffered from severe mental illness for a long time, but when his mother (Shelley Duvall) is diagnosed with stage four cancer and dies, what little sanity Rico had slid right off the cracker. Alternating between believing werewolves exist and that he himself is a werewolf, Rico reaches out for help but ends up lashing out and savagely murdering everyone he comes into contact with. Or at least, that’s what he believes.

THE FOREST HILLS is one messy little movie. It reminds me a bit of such stream of consciousness films as SAINT BERNARD, BRAIN DEAD, and THE EVIL WITHIN, where the filmmaker is able to capture that ethereal madness through image and sound and somehow edit it all together to make a slightly nonsensical, yet still poignant little movie. Writer/Director Scott Goldberg seems to know a thing or two about the struggles of the mentally ill and is able to make this movie watchable because he never forgets to highlight the humanity of Rico, no matter what horrors he may do to others. Rico reaches out for help over and over, attempting to find someone to listen to him. And yes, the film is a little bit overly sensitive towards him as he does some very vile and evil things, but at the same time, the film also shows Rico as a selfish and irresponsible man who fails to take his medications, relies on others instead of looks to himself for strength and support and simply takes what he wants, only stopping to reflect on that after the damage is done. It’s great that Rico feels bad for the horrors he causes, but it’s a little too little and a little too late. Therein lays the depth of THE FOREST HILLS as it doesn’t simply label Rico as a good or bad man, but a flawed one attempting to make it through an equally flawed society. In that sense, it shares a lot of the same themes as the first JOKER movie.

What makes THE FOREST HILLS so unnerving is not only Chiko Mendez portrayal of this mentally ill man, but that we are let into his brain-pan and made privy to the sights, sounds, colors, and nightmares he experiences. Told in a somewhat non-linear format, we are shown snippets of future events along with flashbacks, all rapidly edited in a strobe-like staccato that is going to mess with the viewer’s mind as the imagery, sound, and context is not always made completely clear. You are with Rico in what seems to be a quiet intimate moment, and then he is screaming and covered in blood. This is a movie that doesn’t let the viewer settle for more than a few seconds before it upends reality and throws more madness in your face.

THE FOREST HILLS hosts a whole murderer’s row of C to Z list talent—basically the folks you’re going to see at horror movie conventions like T2’s Edward Furlong, HALLOWEEN III’s Stacey Nelkin, horror queen Dee Wallace, and SLEEPAWAY CAMP’s Felissa Rose. All of them are given meatier roles than they usually play. But the real treat is to see Shelley Duvall in her very last role. This is a role that is not very flattering as Duvall was definitely not well during the filming of this movie. Her character is quite repulsive playing a reclusive and abusive mother, Duvall still manages to deliver a lively and heartfelt performance that reminds you of the acting powerhouse she once was.

One of the things that got old fast and unfortunately lasts for most of the movie is that everyone went to the Shouty School of Acting. Everyone in this film is amped up and psychotic, screaming every line and over-performing for the cheap seats. This is no subtle movie, but it does convey the point that mental illness is a constant and terrible struggle that can wear at one’s soul and sanity. It makes you think that if it is grating on your nerves for just an hour and a half, you can imagine how devastating living that loud and chaotic life all of the time would be.

Now, all of this doesn’t make for the most pleasant of watches. THE FOREST HILLS is choppy and while it does tell a straight forward story, it doesn’t always take the shortest route to get there. The stream of consciousness style is going to turn off literal minded folks, but if you are able to withstand the inundation of violence, gore, and madness, there’s a pretty poignant movie in there somewhere. THE FOREST HILLS may not be a fun watch, but I think it is a strong representation of sheer insanity. If that type of trip into an unwell mind interests you, then THE FOREST HILLS is going to be your type of descent into madness.