Forget 'The Forgotten'

The DVD of "The Forgotten" is tragic in the same way the movie is tragic -- tragically, mythically and painfully terrible.\nFirst, the movie. It wants desperately to be the next "The Sixth Sense." The problem, of course, is that "Sixth Sense"-esque movies are really only good the first time you see them. On the second watch, they're still kind of cool. If you keep watching them after that, you're probably already in a support group for this type of thing. So, "The Forgotten" wants to be "The Sixth Sense" and it fails, but it's particularly upsetting because it didn't really have to. It had all the right elements: a solid cast (Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise), a good director (Joseph Ruben) and cool special effects (that person-yanked-into-the-sky thing that was featured prominently in the trailers). But something, that indefinable "it" that makes all the elements of a movie come together, was missing in a very obvious way. It just tried to do too many things -- be a suspense film, be a horror flick, be a psychological drama -- and didn't really accomplish any of them.\nNow for the DVD. To be fair, extra features, no matter how slick or enlightening, are always going to stink when coupled with a rotten movie. The problem is that these features are exactly like the rotten movie with which they're coupled. A featurette on the making of the movie is comprised of short interviews with the stars intercut with clips of the film. The problem is that the interviews don't lend anything to the movie or the characters the actors are portraying. Julianne Moore muses momentarily that perhaps the best part about film is that it explores the bond between mother and child. "The Forgotten," clearly then, is on wildly new territory. Who would've thought? Exploring the bond between mother and child? I don't think we're ready for this kind of depth. The secondary problem with the featurette is that the clips of the movie don't align, even in the slightest, with the interviews. It all just feels rather slapdash. The DVD also includes three deleted scenes and an alternate ending. Don't get excited. The alternate ending is essentially the theatrical ending, smushed around a little to make it feel new. \nBasically, if you liked the movie, you're probably going to like the DVD. If you were going to wait for the DVD to see the movie, don't be tempted by the extra features. It's a rotten movie and a rotten DVD. Rent something else.