Before You See the Movie, Learn the Truth about Japan’s “Suicide Forest”

Horror fans will be turning out in droves to see the first major horror film of 2016, The Forest, this weekend.  While tales of supernatural happenings in foreboding woodland settings will always find an audience, there’s extra hype surrounding this release due to the fact that The Forest is about a real place, with a complex and tragic history.

Official Synopsis: A young woman searches for her twin sister in a Japanese forest only to find herself surrounded by paranormal forces.

While it shouldn’t be considered obligatory, I decided to learn about the true history behind this film, hoping that it would enhance my appreciation of it.  I was especially impressed by a short documentary produced by Vice, released online in 2011.  Check out Suicide Forest in Japan.

From the accompanying article:

The Aokigahara Forest is the most popular site for suicides in Japan. After the novel Kuroi Jukai was published, in which a young lover commits suicide in the forest, people started taking their own lives there at a rate of 50 to 100 deaths a year. The site holds so many bodies that the Yakuza pays homeless people to sneak into the forest and rob the corpses.  The authorities sweep for bodies only on an annual basis, as the forest sits at the base of Mt. Fuji and is too dense to patrol more frequently.

As is often the case, truth is just as chilling as fiction!

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Are you planning on seeing The Forest this weekend?  Are you intrigued by the dark history surrounding Aokigahara?  Sound off in the Comments section!

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