Forest (2026): Cast, Story and Release Details

Prepared by Movies Dock Editorial

Forest is a Russian drama-thriller set in the dense wilderness of Karelia. After two Muscovites vanish during a trip, attempts to escape bring escalating danger, while a mysterious family arrives at an abandoned village house and appears connected to the forest’s unsettling rules.

Forest places two travelers in the vast wilderness of Karelia, where a short trip becomes a fight for survival. As the surrounding woods grow more threatening, another storyline begins in an abandoned village house nearby.

Directed by Hamlet Dulyan, this 2026 Russian production combines drama and thriller elements in a compact 1-hour-40-minute format. Its premise centers on isolation, danger and a forest that seems to operate according to rules of its own.

Forest movie details

Story without spoilers

Two women from Moscow travel to Karelia and disappear into an immense, dense forest. Every effort to find a way out leads to another threat, while the lack of food and water makes their situation increasingly urgent.

At the same time, a strange family settles into a house in an abandoned village. Their arrival is not welcomed, and their connection to the forest adds a second layer of mystery to the women’s disappearance. The story presents the wilderness as more than a setting: it is an opposing force with its own laws, though those rules are difficult to understand in time.

What to expect

Forest is positioned as a drama-thriller built around wilderness survival, disappearance and an unsettling supernatural or folkloric premise. Viewers can expect the story to move between the missing travelers and the family in the abandoned village, with danger arising from both the environment and the people connected to it.

The supplied premise emphasizes isolation, scarce resources and an atmosphere of threat rather than specific plot reveals. The film’s 1-hour-40-minute runtime suggests a focused feature-length narrative, while its Russian setting and language give the story a clear regional context.

Cast and creative team

Hamlet Dulyan directs Forest and co-wrote the screenplay with Irina Kam. The cast includes Karina Razumovskaya, Lyanka Gryu, Nikita Kologrivyy as Venya, Nikita Rodionov, Yekaterina Vasilyeva, Roza Khairullina, Alexey Anikin, Svetlana Smirnova-Katsagadzhieva, Vasilisa Chervova and Maxim Pavlovich.

• Karina Razumovskaya
• Lyanka Gryu
• Nikita Kologrivyy as Venya
• Nikita Rodionov
• Yekaterina Vasilyeva
• Roza Khairullina
• Alexey Anikin
• Svetlana Smirnova-Katsagadzhieva
• Vasilisa Chervova
• Maxim Pavlovich

Release and production context

Forest is a Russian film in Russian, produced by Nemesis Films. It has a listed release date of November 12, 2026, and a runtime of 1 hour and 40 minutes. The film is classified as a drama and thriller.

Production companies: Nemesis Films

Movies Dock view

With its Karelia setting, missing travelers and enigmatic family, Forest builds its story around an isolated environment that appears to resist understanding. Its combination of survival pressure and a mysterious local connection gives the film a distinct premise without revealing how the situation unfolds.

Film data:
TMDB · IMDb