Horror Movie Review: 825 Forest Road (2025)

Offering up very little fresh elements, especially within the paranormal world of horror, 825 Forest Road isn’t a film you will long term. That being said, as far as modern paranormal horror goes, it delivers a tight and interesting story, ok characters, and some really great scares. Which is more than enough to make it a recommendation, even if what it does has been done before.

Written and directed by Stephen Cognetti, it stars Elizabeth Vermilyea, Kathryn Miller, Joe Bandelli, Joe Falcone, Madeleine Garcia and Brian Anthony Wilson.

Chuck and Maria Wilson are married and have uprooted their city life to go live in a quiet town with his younger sister, Isabelle. The family have suffered a significant tragedy recently, and it’s got Chuck and Maria very concerned about Isabelle. So, not only is this move a way to help them all deal with the tragedy, but it’s a chance for the brother and sister to reconnect, even if it has put a strain on Chuck and Maria’s marriage, with the latter dealing with her own mental health issues.

Putting it bluntly, they’re a family in crisis, but they’ve arrived in a town that has its own share of tragedy. Tragedies that few will speak of openly, not out of respect, but out of fear. This town has a very dark past and it’s one that constantly returns to haunt them.

It’s all pretty basic stuff, and even the supernatural threat’s backstory is fairly humdrum, but the story is told in chapter form, so we follow each of our three leads and see how the supernatural events that play out affects them. That’s pretty clever, and makes for a fairly compelling watch as we see some of the same events but through different eyes. In some cases, something fairly banal as far as scares go, becomes something much more frightening.

This, coupled with an interesting mystery around the supernatural being and their ‘lost to time’ home (hence the title) makes the film thoroughly enjoyable. Except when it comes to characters. If there is one area of 825 Forest Road that doesn’t spark, it’s the characters. While they are given some life thanks to good actors, the main thing we know about them is the trauma they’ve had to deal with recently. This is portrayed well enough, but the dynamic of the trio before this event isn’t explored well enough, rather it’s hinted at and used to throw in a face or two.

The film needed a couple of conversations between the brother/sister characters, where they delve into their childhoods, discuss growing up, and look to air some grievances. Instead, the supernatural aspects of the film takeover and dominate, even the trauma side of things which the evil is using to attack them, feels less important as the story goes on.

That is a problem, but it does result in some brilliant scares. Scares that will send a chill down the spine, make the hairs stand up on the body, and certainly make you jump. I’m not one to really feel the effect of paranormal horror, but the story got me invested enough that I found myself watching every background and feeling a little bit tense when it became clear we were building to something scary.

That alone makes the film a winner in my eyes, but I must reiterate that it’s not a unique or fresh film. It’s just one that happens to be done very well.