The Forest Hills is Duvall's final role before her death three months before the film's release, as well as her first acting role in over twenty years. The film was released in the United States on October 4, 2024.
Cory Cowley, Michael Krysiewicz, Jennifer Pearl, Robert Leckington, Tammy Mattox, Daniel Mione, Christopher Allen White, Savanna Carmichael, Brian Michael Finn, Alethea Maguire, J. Jones, Taylor Vigee, Ariel Elizabeth Acosta, and Joel Fontaine play victims.[2]
Production
Goldberg directed and wrote the short filmDanielle's Revenge in 2007, and later wrote The Forest Hills as an alternative take on the feature.[3] In October 2022, Shelley Duvall, Edward Furlong, Chiko Mendez and Dee Wallace were cast.[4] In December 2022, it was revealed that Felissa Rose, Stacey Nelkin and Marianne Hagan were cast.[5][6] The project was crowdfunded, with several rounds of fundraising.
Duvall, who had been retired from acting for 20 years,[7] was initially cast in a cameo similar to "a Friday the 13thPamela Voorhees type of flashback". Her role was expanded after she expressed interest in performing more scenes, and the project gained attention for her involvement. This included some reshoots after the initial cut of the film was first revealed. [8][9][10] It is her final acting role, as she died in 2024.[11] To Entertainment Weekly, Goldberg described Duvall as "an amazing actress to work with, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to direct her."[10]
Cody Hamman of JoBlo.com gave the film a rating of 6 out of 10. "I was impressed by Mendez, had fun spotting familiar faces in the supporting cast, and loved seeing Duvall again. I can’t say I found The Forest Hills to be an ideal viewing experience. Trippy, scattered, 'is this real or not?' movies just aren’t for me, so this isn’t the sort of movie I would turn to for entertainment. I’m glad I saw it once, but it’s not something I could watch multiple times."[16]
In his review on Bloody Disgusting, Paul Lê rated it with 1.5/5 skulls saying it is "a confusing psychological werewolf movie (...) This feels more like an endurance test than a movie, and not in a rewarding way either."[17]
