31 Days of Halloween: Hellbender

2021, John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser (Knuckle Jack) -- download

This movie is more interesting as the project it is, than as a film proper. It grew during the pandemic, from their (the Adams Family) music project (H6LLB6ND6R), which is presented heavily in the movie, and was shot in and around the family home. The directors (and stars) are husband & wife and daughter; the other daughter also stars in the movie. At first, I assumed the music would be heavy metal, but its actually quite melodic soft experimental music, which I rather like. What they gave us is a witchy monster-y flick that is more concept than story.

Mom (Toby Poser, The Shoot) and daughter (Zelda Adams, The Hatred) live in a rural area, in a rather nice house, playing music shows for no one (in full metal style makeup) but themselves, taking long walks in the woods, and interacting with nobody. Mom goes to town to get things, while daughter avoids all contact, having been told all her life she has an immune disease that keeps her from meeting people. They eat twigs, and berries and leaves -- yes, seriously, just that, going far beyond veganism yet ... staying healthy.

Mom does witchy things to keep an eye on her daughter, involving blood and spit and fetishes of twisted foliage. She also has a locked room whose only key is generated every time she puts her hand over an arcane symbol, they key literally pushed out of her flesh. The room bears trinkets of Olden Times and a book (of spells?) from which just a touch gives Mom horrific visions. Then daughter bumps into a stranger in the woods, a hiker lost, who chats Daughter up. Mom intervenes, sends Daughter home and disintegrates the man. So yeah, not peaceful wiccans hiding in the woods from some legacy.

Daughter is pressing against the confines of her life. She didn't get sick from the chance encounter with the hiker, so does some further wandering, finding a house that the local teens break into to party. Uber Awkward Daughter tries to socialize with them, until she drinks a worm in tequila. And then things begin to get weird and derail. Mom gets wind of it, but instead of chastising daughter, she brings her into more knowledge of who and what they are -- beings who draw power from ingesting living creatures. The worm gave Daughter a taste of it, but Mom cautions it does not come without a cost, even if you ignore the cost of the life you are taking. They are Hellbenders, beings who turned away from God to find power from... Hell ? 

So, yeah pretty much Evil Witches, and yet, Mom doesn't seem so Evil, despite dusting the hiker. And she just wants to protect her daughter from the Evil that could flourish inside her, should she give in. Alas, Daughter has other plans.

As a build up, the artsy nature of the film was interesting, but it never really built towards anything... maybe, a sequel? The tension was always present, but in the horrific revelations, we are not presented with any conclusion of substance, more just a, "Wasn't it cool, how we got here?!!" The visuals were well constructed, always disturbing, always creative, and the music was great but... it was all lacking a semblance of cohesion. But knowing the Adams Family made it for themselves, and probably a small fanbase of the Family, makes it slightly alright.