A new witchy camp horror? Oh, we're seated.
Forbidden Fruits premiered at SXSW on March 16 and has been described by reviewers as "a cross between Mean Girls Girls and The Craft," even with elements of horror such as Final Destination.
The film was directed by Meredith Alloway, who co-wrote the script with Lily Houghton, and features a star-studded lineup with Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, Alexandra Shipp, Victoria Pedretti, Gabrielle Union, plus influencer and model Emma Chamberlain makes her acting debut.
"Free Eden employee Apple ( secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of a mall store after hours. When a new hire challenges their performative sisterhood, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate," the plot synopsis reads.
What are critics saying?
Since its premiere, the film has received favourable reviews and currently has an 86 per cent critics score on film and TV review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, and 7.4/10 on iMDB.
Deadline's Glen Garner said the film is"A worthy entry to the comedy horror genre that explores toxic feminism through the female gaze, filled with elements that nod to Mean Girls, Jawbreaker, The Craft, The Shining, Psycho and even a bloody fun dash of Final Destination."
"This fashion-forward paradise serves looks, laughs, and lots of blood," said The Austin Chronicle's Jessi Cape. "The script is sharp and genuinely hilarious, and it aces the Bechdel Test so thoroughly because it barely notices men exist, which is sort of the point."
"Forbidden Fruits has the style and the look, but it lacks cohesion and focus; a film that doesn’t narratively hold together with a story that leaves far too much unanswered," Collider's Ross Bonaime said, giving the film a four out of ten.
Variety's Owen Gleiberman said, "'Forbidden Fruits' goes over-the-top into shock and violence (which is staged with great wit), but what drives the movie forward is how it tries to pull its characters out from under the influence of someone whose witchery has made men the enemy.
When does the film come out?
Forbidden Fruits is out in US cinemas on March 27.
Elsewhere from Indy100, What are critics saying about Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man? and Will The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives get cancelled?
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