HELLBENDER (2021)
Label: Acorn Media International
Region Code: B
Rating: Cert. 15
Duration: 83 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) SD
Director: The Adams Family
Cast: Zelda Adams, Toby Poser, Lulu Adams, John Adams,
The Adams Family indie moviemaking collective follow-up to the excellent The Deeper You Dig (2019) is the bewitching
contemporary coming-of-age folk horror tale Hellbender (2021) about a 16-year-old girl named Izzy (Zelda Adams) who lives in forested isolation with her mother (Toby Poser) in the mountainous woodlands of Upstate New York State. Since the age of five Izzy has been cut-off from the outside world and forbidden close contact with anyone, because her mother has always told her that she suffers with a rare auto-immune disease. She spends her free-time alone hiking through the forests, swimming in lakes and streams, and playing some kick-ass alt. rock music with her mom in their attic space, but as with most teens Izzy is itching to break free of her mother's watchful eye, even though it seems they are close-knit and loving towards one another otherwise.
While wondering the woods one day Izzy encounters a teenager named Amber (Lulu Adams) and through their secret friendship Izzy begin to question the truth of her disease and forced isolation, the reasons for her vegetarian diet, and the reality of who or what she is. Iy's during a teenage drinking game tthat Izzy eats a worm - it's apparently her first taste of blood, and it seems to awaken a latent darker side of her that she was not previosky aware of, and struggles to make sense of as the new sensations overwhelming her. Her mother senses the emerging power manifesting within her daughter and chooses to tell her the truth about what they are. They are not normal folk, they're Hellbenders, an ancient hybrid of witch, demon, and predatory animal. She begins to teach daughter the ways of ways of their dark magic, blending forest plants, berries and mosses with their own saliva and blood to gain phenomenal otherworldly abilities. This brings mother and daughter closer together, but Izzy also secretly sets about honing her witchy skills away from her mother's prying eyes, digging deeper into the more sinister side of herself, culminating in a mother-daughter power struggle that threatens to be the end for one and a new start for the other.
The Adams Family have created such a wonderful niche for themselves with these small but ambitious indie genre films they produce that, they're shot in gorgeous wooded areas with home-grown soundtracks and striking cinematography that come together so darkly beautiful. There's a definite maturation in filmmaking here compared to The Deeper You Dig, the shot composition is considerably more assured and artful, the music is even better, and the special FX are more potent and intense, but for the most part not overdone. There's a witch hanging scene that starts the film with a fiery airborne witch that immediately sets a tone, and we also get these cool psychedelic apocalyptic visions throughout that are quite fantastic - each one looking liking a classic doom metal album cover brought to life. The only part I thought that felt overcooked as far as FX go was some iffy digital facework that comes late in the film, and it needn't be, it didn't feel necassary and to me felt inorganic to the story being told, but that's a rare misstep in a film that I thought was otherwise damn fine.
The mother-daughter relationship being portrayed by the actual mother-daughter leads really pulls you in with it's authenticity; we have the mother cloistering away her daughter to not only protect her herself but to protect others from her during her time of change. The mother realizes the darkness within her daughter, but attempting to keep in the light, but at the same time feeling the daughter slipping into darkness. It's the normal maternal fear of raising a kid, especially a teenager, but folded into a witchy coming of age story, and it's a pitch perfect amalgamation.
Audio/Video: Hellbender (2022) arrives on region 2 locked DVD from Acorn Media International in standard-definition anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) . The digitally shot film has no source issues to speak of and looks fantastic with vibrant, well-saturated colors that would translate well to HD. Sadly, there does not seem to be a Blu-ray edition in the US. or U.K. as of yet. Black levels are strong and fine detail and clarity are quite excellent for an SD release. Audio comes by way of English Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles. Everything sounds clean and resonant, the song performed by the mother/daughter duo in their attic space sounds terrific.
Extras include 9-minutes of music video from the Adams Family members that are featured on the soundtrack, plus 2-min of bloopers, 7-min of behind-the-scenes footage, and a 10-min video FX breakdown with Trey Adams who gets into how they creating the burning witch, disintegrations, levitation and plenty more.
Special Features:
- The Visual FX of Hellbender by Black Magic Tricks (10 min)
- Hellbender Music Videos: "Lovely" by Zelda Adams (3 min), "Drive" by Zelda and John Adams(2 min), "Black Sky" by John Adams (2 min), "Falling in Love" by John Adams (2 min)
- Bloopers (2 min)
- Zelda’s Alter Ego: Eville Adams (29 sec)
- Behind-the-Scenes Footage (7 min)
-Travelling with Wonder Wheel - www.wonderwheelproductions.com/wp
I absolutely loved Hellbender, a potent mix of a backwoods witchiness and a teenage coming-of-age story that is well-acted and well-crafted, this is a definite recommend for you lovers of low-budget folk-horror. I am anxiously awaiting what come next from the Adam Family collective, they've yet to disappoint!
