Film Review: FORGET ME NOT (2009)

Now I will say that it is rare when a completely unknown film actually manages to entertain me and show me something that I haven’t seen before and when it happens I’m reminded that there is still good indie horror films being made out there.  Director Tyler Oliver’s Forget Me Not (2009) is one of these films. 

I wasn’t expecting much when this film came across my desk.  The poster was nothing special and the story just from reading the quick synopsis was pretty pedestrian.  A popular girl by the name of Sandy (Carly Schroeder) and her friends are celebrating graduation weekend in their small town but each of her friends start to disappear and as each of them disappear all traces of their existence is erased from everyone’s memory except Sandy.  As Sandy tries to discover what is happening to her friends she is increasing haunted by a nightmarish vision of a woman whom she seems to recognize but not remember how or why.  It seems that Sandy and her friends are being haunted by their past that threatens to erase them all from existence.

The cleverest aspect of the film is the suspense created from Sandy trying to figure out how her past is connected to her present and thus her future.  This is partially because of the better than average script by Oliver and Jamison Stern and by Oliver’s expert direction.  In less capable hands this film could have been very derivative.    The cast is filled with your typical teen slasher cannon fodder but the film does allow the audience to get to know each of the characters (not common in most indie low budget horror films) before they are dispatched and it is a testament to both Oliver and Stern that they take time with each of the kill sequences by building character and suspense (also not an easy feat with low budget indie horror films).

Another great aspect of the film is clever ending which is not predictable and a satisfying (which means not a carbon copy and by-the-numbers cliché) ending, so, I must commend Oliver and Stern for delivering an entertaining and unexpectedly good low budget indie horror film.