Streaming Service: Shudder
Shudder Blurb: 16-year-old Izzy leads an isolated life on a lonely mountaintop. All she's learned is from her protective mom and the wilderness that swallows them. Izzy dreams of a live gig, but her mother thinks she's too sick and mustn't be around others. Questioning her illness and starved for companionship, Izzy sneaks down the mountain where she befriends brazen Amber. Izzy is in heaven until a cruel drinking game with a live worm unleashes a new kind of hunger.
I was intrigued by the trailer for Hellbender leading up to our Top 20 list for February. Unfortunately, it had stiff competition and there were a few red flags that allowed other productions to edge this one out of my final list.
Even so, I was excited that we would get a chance to screen Hellbender and, perhaps, see for ourselves whether or not our concern was warranted.
I wish I could say that I had a definitive answer for you. Alas, I do not.
Hellbender struck me as one of those indie films that filled a niche. If you could find a way to relate to the characters, you might take away much more from the experience. Though, in hindsight, it’s possible that many of us can relate all too well with the isolation of the main character – considering the pandemic.
This coming-of-age tale struck another chord with me. In addition to the general physical isolation of the mother and daughter duo, the emotional toll of their hermit-like lifestyle was fairly palpable. I couldn’t really blame the daughter for her curiosity that sparked the pivotal events of the plot. Even if it’s a bit hard to stomach her methods. It felt like fate played its hand to inevitability.
The Hellbender mythos created within this production’s world was interesting. While some aspects of the supernatural within the story were a little strange and disjointed, it felt like I was given a decent understanding of ‘how things work’ without anyone having to monologue about it. Information dropped through organic revelations.
There was a bonus that Hellbender was stacked with some pretty interesting music. I was really digging the groove.
The little disjointed bits aside, I rather enjoyed Hellbender. It was a great example of indie horror and just showed how far it’s possible to take a family passion project.
Hellbender premiers on Shudder Thursday, February 24th.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 100%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 6.3/10
Trust the Dice: Parental Advisory Rating – R
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3/5
Movie Trailer:
No comments:
Post a Comment