Fantasia Review: ‘Hellbender’ There’s a Hunger for Something More in this Coming-of-Age Folktale

The Adams Family of musicians and filmmakers have been creating together for years. With The Deeper You Dig, they established themselves as a fresh new voice within the genre. Now with Hellbender, making its world premiere during Fantasia’s 25th International Film Festival, their DIY version of filmmaking has grown bolder. The result is nothing less than extraordinary as we head deep into the woods in this twist on the coming-of-age tale. 

Izzy (Zelda Adams) and her mother (Toby Poser) live an isolated life deep in the wilderness due to an auto-immune disease she has. Even though she can’t go into town or get too close to people, she lives a comfortable life. She draws, hikes, swims in the river, forages their food from the land, and occasionally get made up and rocks out as their band H6LLB6ND6R. Their relationship is, at times, that of close friends more so than mother-daughter.

When a lost hiker (John Adams) wanders too far into their property and startles Izzy. He asks about a mysterious symbol he found and explains his niece lives right over a nearby mountain. Mother intervenes, quickly leading him away from Izzy, and it’s clear she doesn’t take kindly to strangers on her land.

Curiosity gets the better of Izzy, and she takes the chance to venture a little further than she normally would. Here she meets Amber (Lulu Adams) who is carefree, abrasive, and quick with a beer, lounging on a poolside deck. This chance encounter emboldens Izzy to suggest that she and her mother share their music with the public and start allowing friends into their inner circle. Mother quickly shuts it down which only pushes Izzy into craving it more, and a rift begins to form.

When a few new friends cast doubt on her Illness, she begins to wonder if mother is being as forthright with everything as she claims. When a toast to new friends involves tequila with a live worm, it ends up triggering an awakening that had long been dormant. Not for her protection, but for those around her. 

When her Mother realizes the situation, she begins to teach her daughter of the old ways which she was taught by her mother. Their magic is derived from a combination of fear and nature, making the setting that much more vital to the story. Izzy’s powers are growing stronger by the day and she’s beginning to keep secrets of her own. “I love you so much, I could just eat you up. If you break my heart, I’ll devour you,” says Mother in one of the more intimate scenes of Hellbender.

Through spell casting, to nightmarish imagery, psychedelic visions and dream jumping, the paths are being laid out, and the one chosen will determine their fate. When those secrets are discovered, however, it may be too late for mother to stop just what Izzy has become. One must break off from their parent to soar free.

Toby Poser and Zelda Adams are incredible together in Hellbender, the nuances in their looks and mannerisms added to the layers of their character evolution are mesmerizing. Adams’s transformation from a meek, sickly teenager to what she ultimately becomes is a complex inner journey and she pulls it off like a seasoned pro. Poser is once again pulling from depths within herself to add layers to a mother trying to save her daughter from becoming the thing she fears most, while fighting her own urges as well. Both their performances are heartbreaking in their sincerity and love for one another threatened by darkness.

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Visually, Hellbender is beautiful, shot deep within the Catskill Mountain area, the scope of this project is mind-bending. Utilizing crane shots and drones gives viewers a bird’s eye view, making us a part of the story as well. We’re casting our vision spell and keeping tabs along with Mother. The use of wide-angle lenses, particularly in the forest scenes, gives a scope and endlessness that at times feels like a fairy tale landscape. Where The Deeper You Dig felt cold and void of life in its color pallet, Hellbender feels like a rebirth of nature, lush and blossoming in its greenery. 

The score is a combination of the atmospheric ambient sounds that John Adams creates to pull just the right emotion or mood from a scene.  Coupled with the grunge/ punk influenced soundtrack by the onscreen band, H6LLB6ND6R, neither feels out of place or overshadows the other. Hellbender is a tale about heritage, coming of age, female empowerment. But it’s also about the impact all of that has on someone who’s not been prepared for those changes. Masterfully told through the performances of a mother and a daughter, the fearlessness to go to such dark places speaks volumes to the trust and vulnerability these two place within the hands of one other. 

The Adams Family have shown such growth and innovation in their personal story-telling that one can’t help but anticipate where this family of musicians, story tellers and filmmakers will guide us next. One thing is sure, they’ll continue to surprise us and bring their own magic to the screen. 4/5

★★★★

Hellbender is now a part of the 25th Fantasia International Film Festival and will be coming to Shudder sometime in early 2022. Be sure to follow ScaryNerd for more of all thing horror, sci-fi and more.

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