825 Forest Road – Movie Review | Shudder (3/5)

825 FOREST ROAD on Shudder is a new horror movie from the creator of the HELL HOUSE LLC franchise. This could be his next franchise because, once again, it manages to hit a lot of horror sweet spots. Read our full 825 Forest Road movie review here!

825 FOREST ROAD is a new Shudder horror movie released as part of their “Halfway to Halloween” celebration. A concept I wish more streaming services would get behind. Then again, when isn’t it the perfect time for a good horror movie?!

This new horror movie is made with a fairly low budget but manages to accomplish more than movies with ten times the budget. It’s all about the passion and love of the genre – and without (too much) CGI. The runtime is right around 100 minutes, which worked for the plot.

Continue reading our 825 Forest Road movie review below. Find it on Shudder from April 4, 2025.

Welcome to Ashland Falls – cute and creepy

The story of 825 Forest Road is centered on Chuck (Joe Falcone), his wife Maria (Elizabeth Vermilyea), and little sister Isabelle (Kathryn Miller). The three are starting a new life in the wake of the death of Chuck and Isabelle’s mom.

It was a tragic car accident, but Isabelle was driving, so she blames herself.

To move into a home together as three young adults, they need a fairly big house. With a limited budget, an opportunity suddenly arises in classic horror movie fashion: A house is cheaper than it should be and has been empty and on the market for several years?!

Obviously, this is the wrong choice, but everything checks out on paper, so the three move to the quaint town of Ashland Falls. All too quickly, they will discover this cute town has a dark secret.

Apparently, the ghost of Helen Foster has been terrorizing the town residents for decades. It’s believed that the hauntings will end if someone can find 825 Forest Road, but it doesn’t seem to exist in the town any longer.

Also, anyone who tries to get to the bottom of things seems to die. By their own hand, it would appear. Chuck decides he needs to find 825 Forest Road… and so does Isabelle, but the two don’t work together. At first, anyway.

A story told from three points of view

In 825 Forest Road, the story is divided into four chapters. The first three chapters cover the events happening as a family moves into a new home. Strange things occur, and each of them experiences it differently and hears various rumors.

This could make for a quite repetitive movie-watching experience – not unlike time loop movies – but 825 Forest Road avoids this. Mostly by only having a few moments repeated in each of the three chapters.

The fourth chapter is when we move beyond this opening and get to the bottom of everything. Though it does, of course, still end with enough mystery that more movies could be made. And yes, I do hope we’ll get more movies about the town of Ashland Falls. Or spin-offs, maybe?!

Watch 825 Forest Road on Shudder

This new horror movie on Shudder comes from writer and director Stephen Cognetti. He also wrote and directed the Hell House LLC franchise. While that one was a found-footage franchise, 825 Forest Road is not, so it marks Stephen Cognetti’s first movie outside that niche in years.

I didn’t love all the Hell House LLC movies equally, but when does that ever happen anyway?! I always appreciated the focus on building suspense and horror without the overt use of special effects.

Instead, it’s things moving in the background or after you turn your back for a split second.

This is exactly what works so well for this new horror movie. I mean, this is the stuff of nightmares. The kind that you can’t wake up from but desperately want to escape. Well, except when it’s a movie, and you want to see how it all ends.

The more accurate rating for 825 Forest Road is closer to 3½ out of 5. We just don’t do half ratings, and the main reason we’re ending on 3 instead of 4 is the use of CGI. It’s not necessary. For me, it even takes away from the intense and extremely efficient horror that works so well.

825 Forest Road is exclusively streaming on Shudder from Friday, April 4, 2025.

Details

Writer & Director: Stephen Cognetti
Cast: Joe Bandelli, Brian Anthony Wilson, Mike Sutton, Monica Fleurette