825 Forest Road(Review) - Gruesome Gazette

Director Stephen Cognetti made a name for himself with the very underrated and amazing Hell House LLC franchise. So I was curious to what direction he would take with his newest release 825 Forest Road. He ditched the found footage format to give us just your typical spook house affair. Though in some ways it’s not as typical as you might think.

The plot sees a family who just moved into town of Ashland Falls only to see them discovering a dark secret the town has been hiding.

First thing I liked is the movie is separated into chapters,the first 3 gives us each perspective of the family members as they experience unexplained paranormal events. The final chapter ties everything together except not quite.

Some carryover from Hell House that featured here was spooky piano pieces and instead of scary clown mannequins we instead get just a regular mannequin which will lead to some very nail biting moments.

The atmosphere i thought was amazing and it really can unnerved the audience. They also take the time to give you some lore. The haunting expands to more than just the house and it’s involves a sad history.

Some complaints is of course you have the trope of being warned to leave and no one listens. Then there is the ending which I felt deflated everything the movie set out to do. Compared to the rest of the movie,the ending might bewilder some. It might even piss you off. But maybe that means there will be continuation of the story. What I think would be cool if this crossed over with Hell House LLC, I would like to see that.

In all, so far I feel this has potential to be the scariest movie of 2025. It definitely is high up on my list of favorites of the year. I did not know what to expect, but I was impressed by what I saw. It just released this past Friday on Shudder, so definitely give it a watch. Watch in complete darkness for extra effect.

If you seen 825 Forest Road, what did you think of it? Feel free to leave your thoughts below!

Till next time, stay scared!
-Tha Thrilla-