Skip to content

DVD Review: THE FORGOTTEN

Written By:

Paul Mount
the-forgotten-review

The Forgotten Review

REVIEW: THE FORGOTTEN / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: STEVEN BERRYESSA / SCREENPLAY STEVEN BERRYESSA / STARRING: DAVID EBY, LUKE HATMAKER, NOMALANGA ENIAFE,OLIVIA BISHOP, PHIL PERRY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Welcome to the end of the world – again. We’re not entirely sure exactly how the world ended this time but there seem to be a few zombies running around just for the hell of it. We don’t expect gag-a-minute comedy with party hats and silly string but does the apocalypse really have to be quite so grim, unpleasant and occasionally morally repugnant? The Forgotten (retitled from the original Falls the Shadow) is just another grimy, lo-fi, low-budget effort regurgitating tired old ideas and clichés and doing nothing especially interesting or entertaining with them.

The film’s clearly taking its cue from The Walking Dead, focussing on its characters and their predicament and with its token ‘zombies’ as the backdrop to the drama (and it even offers up familiar Walking Dead-style railway track/forest locations for some of its action); but the drama itself is flat and unengaging and the characters too cold and perfunctorily drawn to encourage us to really invest in their lives. The movie follows the fortunes of three disparate groups of survivors. Soldier Michael Colister (Eby) returns home to find his wife dead and his young daughter kidnapped by the vile, uncomfortably racist Reverend (Perry) and the gang of thugs and degenerates he’s enlisted to help him ‘reclaim’ the lost country. Elsewhere loner Noah (Hatmaker… brilliant, I’ll take two trilbies and a bowler) hooks up with feisty Elena (Bishop), and young mother Kina (Eniafe) is protecting her son Orlando (Jesse Warrick) who’s been bitten but hasn’t died and returned as a flesh-chewing zombie. The three groups eventually converge as the film trundles towards its predictable and inevitably violent climax.

The Forgotten compensates for its ‘seen-all-this-before’ status by at least looking quite good. Despite its bargain basement budget, it’s well-directed and its slightly bleached, burnished image manages to evoke a grimy world whose glory days are behind it and whose people have devolved into ruthless, desperate savages. But the insipid storyline, pedestrian script and half-hearted performances only serve to emphasise the amateur hour nature of the whole enterprise. The DVD cover suggests that The Forgotten is “set to be a cult classic” but we’re more inclined to suspect that the movie’s long-term fate lies hidden in plain sight in its own title.

Extras: ‘Making of’ documentary

Paul Mount

You May Also Like...

chinese remake of anaconda drops trailer

ANACONDA Trailer Grants First Look At Remake Of 1997 Horror Flick

Three sequels and a spinoff-crossover film wasn’t enough for the 1997 creature feature Anaconda, which not only has a new movie in development, but is getting a Chinese remake! From
Read More
black widow star scarlett johansson in talks to lead new universal jurassic world film

Scarlett Johansson In Talks To Join JURASSIC WORLD Film

Another MCU star appears to be taking up the reins for Universal’s new Jurassic World movie: two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson is reportedly in talks to lead the franchise that
Read More

Exclusive Reveal! Titan Comics to Deliver Prehistoric Hysterics in First 2 DUMB DINOS Collection

Titan Comics have exclusively revealed to STARBURST that they’re gearing up to publish the first-ever collection of the hilarious cult digital comic strip 2 Dumb Dinos, and we’re not the
Read More

New Dates For Lovecraftian Key of Dreams

Key of Dreams has announced new spaces for its titular immersive luxury horror event. The critically acclaimed company is known for its overnight experiences that dunk you into a strange
Read More

FAB Café to Host Free Film Screening of New Indie Comedy SECRETS OF A WALLABY BOY

We’re well known for our championing of truly independent filmmakers here at STARBURST, so it’s doubly exciting to be writing about one of our own! After joining the crew in
Read More
colin farrell returns as oswald cobblepot in the penguin series trailer

Colin Farrell Returns In THE PENGUIN Trailer

Colin Farrell returns as Gotham City’s answer to Tony Soprano in the first trailer for Max series The Penguin, which spins out of the world of the 2022 DC film
Read More