Under the Wonder Wheel Productions moniker, one family continuously redefines the idea of a home movie. Toby Poser, John Adams, and their daughters Zelda and Lulu release their sixth feature as a team this week. That film, Hellbender (2022), is a delicious slice of coming-of-age folk horror oozing with chills and flair.
Synopsis
Mother (Toby Poser) raises her daughter Izzy (Zelda Adams) in a remote mountain home. She insists that Izzy suffers from a rare disease that means she cannot interact with other people. Together, their days are filled with woodland strolls, foraged vegetarian meals, and rehearsal for their two-person rock band. Yet, Izzy begins to yearn for further connection.
She loves her mother but wonders if maybe she is alright to venture out. After a chance encounter with distant neighbor Amber (Lulu Adams), Izzy discovers that her situation may not be quite what her mother suggests. What follows is an increasingly psychedelic and unnerving journey through the family history of dark magic that Mother has hidden from Izzy all these years.
Family Matters
Family lineage is certainly nothing new in the world of filmmaking. From the Fonda and Carradine clans to the burgeoning Washington dynasty, talent runs thick in Hollywood bloodlines. Yet, none of those families have quite the interconnected creative teamwork that the Adams-Poser approach boasts.
On Hellbender, John, Toby, and Zelda share writing and directing credit. Lulu only acts in this picture, but she has worn many production caps over the clan’s previous output. Of course, a family tree does not automatically warrant cinematic skill.
Nonetheless, here it seems that the intimacy afforded tight-knit family members imbues their project with a level of artistic rapport that you simply cannot fake. You can view Hellbender without accounting for the family dynamic, but that would be to rob it of a layer that heightens objectively accomplished craft.
Folk Horror
Folk horror is enjoying something of a renaissance lately, especially over at Shudder, where Hellbender premieres later this week. This year, Kier-la Janisse’s mega-documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (2021) accompanies a service-wide curation of numerous folk horror titles. John notes in an interview that they:
“…didn’t necessarily think of [Hellbender] as folk horror…It’s kind of like when you’re cooking with these ingredients and you meant to make something else, but then you realize you actually made this other thing that’s even better…I think that’s what it was like with Hellbender. We realized we had steeped in folk horror, and pleasantly so…”
Intentional or otherwise, the aesthetics and narrative of Hellbender draw on the best of folk horror, all in service of a frightening tale. As they shot it, John also recognized the film’s dual focus on the primacy of nature and witchcraft that it’s seeped in.
Mother and Izzy’s home is a rather nondescript spot. There are no gothic arches, gargoyles, or witchy flourishes. If you came upon the house you would have no idea the dark power it hides within. In contrast, the trio of directors succeeds in making the woods as ethereal as the best of the genre.
Stands of trees, patches of moss, and ferns all transform themselves into a symphony of perilous possibilities just on your periphery. This is only heightened as Izzy discovers more about her and Mother’s powers.
All of their deadly crafts link to the lifeblood, both literal and metaphysical, running through their surroundings. There is tenderness in Mother’s approach to gradually teaching Izzy. In one scene, they sit peacefully by a waterfall and talk of spells. Yet, the darkness of their past and potential future actions permeates even the sweetest mother-daughter beats. We await the pointed shoe set to drop.
“Hellbenders”
Accompanying the folk horror tapestry is rich and original mythology. The title refers to the name given to what Mother and Izzy are, a variation on witches. Within that, their power stems from the fear present in blood.
That power increases exponentially dependent on the size of the creature pumping the blood. Ergo, a mouse gives you a rush, but a person, well that provides a feast. From there, Mother and Izzy both experiment with viciously original visions of magic.
One such iteration bears skill similarity to a scrying spell, but with a wholly enigmatic execution. The user must craft a symbol out of twigs, feathers, or whatever other natural items there are lying around. Then, with a little blood, they can look upon anyone they choose. A simple idea, but executed with an inventiveness that speaks to the depth of the filmmaker’s consideration of their lore.
At the center are a pair of performances from Toby and Zelda that patch it all together. Calling again on the real-life dynamic, their performances offer an easy closeness. In the same interview from above, Toby notes:
“it’s very easy to do those scenes because we are comfortable together. That comfort is an ambient perk from the fact that we do wake up and eat breakfast and take the dog for a walk together.”
Mother and Daughter
The narrative result is that you never question the extensive history that must exist between the characters. It has been Mother and Izzy in the woods for Izzy’s whole life. Each day only with each other for company and entertainment. Buying into the love there is easy. In turn, it is simple to accept the resentment Izzy gradually unlocks. Protection and suffocation are as narrowly divided as love and hate, as both women learn.
Thematically, that central relationship taps into an examination of feminine power blissfully exorcized from the eye-rolling, girl-bossification festering in so many genre pictures today. There are no half-baked monologues about feminism full of buzz words meant to glaze over the fact that the narrative has not actually thought about the issues at play. Instead. Mother and Izzy grapple with the fear historically associated with powerful women.
The film opens with a hanging, immediately invoking the Salem Witch Trials and the like. With that undercurrent firmly established, every scene crackles with thematic resonance. It grows easy to understand both Mother’s overprotection and Izzy’s anger. In a genre that has spent decades mining witchcraft for hamfisted tales, Hellbender is a salve of nuance that still accomplishes more active critique than most movies.
Conclusion
Hellbender delivers everything one can hope for when turning on an indie horror movie. John, Toby, and Zelda mine vibrant filmmaking from a bare-bones approach. If you happen not to have a Shudder subscription, this movie is an A+ reason to give the service a try. It also happens to be a fabulous excuse to dive down the lusciously twisted filmography of one exceptionally talented family of filmmakers.
Hellbender is available on Shudder and AMC+ starting February 24.
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