Hellbender (2021)


I have to admire an entire family that gets together, hops in an RV, and goes out to make movies.  John Adams, a former model, his actress wife Toby Poser and their daughter Zelda Adams all wrote and directed this film, with their older daughter Lulu also helping and playing a role as well.  In addition, since most of the family are musicians, they composed the original songs and the score.  This also is not the first go-'round for them, being the sixth feature film they made and, though still having some rough edges, it is quite polished for a low-budget feature.

Izzy (Zelda Adams) is a teenager living in an isolated house with her mother (Poser).  She is not allowed to be around others due to an autoimmune disease, so she spends her time playing music with her mom when not out wandering the woods, taking in nature and drawing.  Things change when she begins to be curious about the nearby town and other people, briefly making friends with a girl named Amber (Lulu Adams) who she encounters while wandering. 

It soon becomes clear that Izzy is not sick and that her mother has other reasons for keeping her isolated and on a strict vegan diet.  It turns out that the two are creatures called Hellbenders.  Human in appearance, they have certain powers that are enhanced by taking in the blood of other creatures, with the larger the creature the more potent the power.  This also leads to more revelations of the Hellbenders' nature, many of them secrets that Izzy's mother desired to keep from her until she was older in the hope that she would be responsible with her powers.

The beginning concerned me, thinking I had stumbled into another feminist horror movie that was all agenda with little plot.  I was quite wrong.  Poser was responsible for a majority of the script, but it was based on thoughts she had when she found out that her biological dad, whomever he may be, was an anonymous doner.  She wondered if it could have been the DNA of a serial killer or even the devil himself, leading to a story about creatures that are half demon and the vain attempts to deny their nature. 

Poser and Adams both do a decent job in the acting department.  John Adams shows up in a bit part as a lost hiker and Amber's uncle, and his father shows up in a brief role.  John's acting is a bit on the rough side, as is Lulu's, but both of them are in the movie for a brief time before moving on.  It is also sufficiently gory, although the ending, despite some of the shocking visuals, may not be the strongest.  

Still, I admire what this family is doing, in this case with a couple microphones, one camera, a tripod and a drone.  Both John and Zelda have a photographic eye which helps create the right atmosphere for the film and Poser knows how to write a focused script, which is a rarity for many amateur horror filmmakers.  While influenced in some ways by The Witch this was almost all built from the ground up and makes me interested in seeing what else the Adams family can bring as they continue to produce new material. 

Hellbender (2021)
Time: 86 minutes
Starring: Toby Poser, Zelda Adams
Directors: John Adams, Toby Poser, Zelda Adams

 

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