825 FOREST ROAD (2025)

New streaming on Shudder!
Directed/Written by Stephen Cognetti.
Check out the trailer here!!

Joe Falcone plays Chuck, who gets a huge bargain for a new home in a small town called Ashland Falls. But immediately after moving in with his wife Maria (played by Elizabeth Vermilyea) and little sister Isabelle (played by Kathryn Miller), the trio begin experiencing paranormal phenomena with ties to the town’s dark past.

Stephen Cognetti made his name in horror with the HELL HOUSE LLC series, but this time around the haunting is cinematically filmed instead of going the found footage route. One might think it would be difficult to shift POV’s from first person to omniscient in the world of film and sometimes it is, but Cognetti switches gears and instead of dealing with the first-person point of view, he tells the same story three times from shifting points of view a la the classic film ROSHOMON. From these three perspectives, we experience scenes multiple times, but as seen separately by Chuck, Maria, and Isabelle. Cognetti seems to like messing with personal perspectives utilizing both the found footage motif as well as the shifting perspectives in 825 FOREST ROAD, but as with found footage, there are specific things that have to happen in order to make this shifting perspective work.

The key to most storytelling is to make each second count. And if you’re using the ROSHOMON technique, there should be a reason for it. With 825 FOREST ROAD, it seems the only reason the film shifts these perspectives is for more opportunities for jump scares. And while 825 FOREST ROAD does have an abundance of jumps, scares, and startling moments, it just doesn’t justify this type of storytelling as much of the film is simply seeing the same scene from a different perspective. The problem is that when these perspectives shift and one of the two people interacting sees a ghost, the witness to the ghosting chooses not to mention it to the other person. This happens over and over again and there really is no reason for things to be kept so secret other than the fact that we need to keep the other person in the dark while the other knows the place is haunted. So sure, having each person experience their own haunting may make for more frights per minute, it doesn’t contribute anything to the story itself and feels rather hollow.

It doesn’t help that lead Joe Falcone is not a strong actor or at least, doesn’t give a strong performance as Chuck. He lacks passion and life in this film, as if he really doesn’t understand what it is that drives the character. The other two leads, Elizabeth Vermilyea and Kathryn Miller, fare better, but because the three of these characters are so separated both by plot and by the specific family dynamic filled with distance and defensiveness, no one comes out as particularly likable.

We know Cognetti is able to set up a potent scene filled with terror. We’ve seen it tons of times in the HELL HOUSE series. And I’ll admit it. I jumped a time or two from some of 825 FOREST ROAD’s jump scares. Not only are they well timed, but once you see the monster leaping from around the corner or in the background, they are damn scary looking as well. Cognetti also has a thing about mannequins coming to life. Like HELL HOUSE LLC, 825 FOREST ROAD, there are a few highly effective scenes with a mannequin Maria uses as a model for her dressmaking. These are some of the most unnerving scares of the movie.

So if you’re looking for a parade of one jump scare after another, this is the ghost movie for you. Unfortunately, I feel the story itself is padded with boring scenes and switches perspectives for no real reason at all. That may work for found footage, which lives in the moment and relies on more superficial thrills. But for a theatrically filmed movie, there needs to be more beef on the burger. Like likable characters, reasons for story decisions, and a narrative that can be shaped in many different ways, but there has to be a valid excuse to do so. 825 FOREST ROAD was a noble effort by Cognetti and given that the next HELL HOUSE LLC installment has dropped the found footage format, I’m hoping he learns his lesson from the former and applies it to the latter.