August 24, 2025

Movie Review: Mabka 2: The Forest Song (2024)

After the cult success of the original, Mabka 2: The Forest Song (2024) expands the haunting mythology into something stranger, darker, and more folkloric. While the first film relied on urban dread and claustrophobic tension, the sequel relocates the horror to the wilderness — and the results are both mesmerizing and terrifying.

The story follows Lena (Sofia Boutella), the lone survivor of the first film, who travels deep into Eastern Europe after discovering that the entity known as Mabka is tied to an ancient forest legend. There, she uncovers a chilling folk tale about a song said to lure victims into the trees, never to return. When a group of researchers unwittingly disturbs the forest, Lena must confront the evil head-on, realizing that the melody itself may be the key to Mabka’s power.

Director Ana Rodríguez once again delivers a visually arresting film. The use of natural landscapes is stunning — fog-draped forests, firelit rituals, and haunting wide shots where something almost human lurks just beyond sight. Sound design plays a crucial role: whispers, broken melodies, and an eerie recurring lullaby give the film a uniquely unsettling texture.

Boutella shines again as Lena, her performance layered with trauma, resilience, and creeping paranoia. Newcomer Harris Dickinson impresses as a skeptical folklorist, while veteran actor Charlotte Rampling adds gravitas as a mysterious villager who knows far more than she reveals.

The pacing is slower than the original, with long stretches of quiet atmosphere punctuated by sudden bursts of violence. Some viewers may find it meandering, but fans of folk horror will appreciate the deliberate buildup. By the final act — an operatic, nightmarish confrontation staged around a burning forest — the payoff feels both shocking and strangely poetic.

Verdict:
Mabka 2: The Forest Song (2024) is a hauntingly atmospheric sequel that trades jump scares for folklore and ritualistic dread. Not as immediately accessible as the first film, but richer, bolder, and destined to linger in the imagination.

⭐ Rating: 8.3/10