Really interesting micro-budget practically homemade horror. Shot during lockdown by a family in the Appalachian mountains, it is a pared down coming-of-age horror focused on a mother-daughter relationship.
Izzy and her mum live alone in the hills. It’s a peaceful and happy existence, surrounded by nature, a warm friendship between the two of them. They play in their own band in the garage, and forage nuts and berries to eat. The only quiet seed of discontent is that Izzy is not allowed to go into town when her mum drives down for supplies. Her mum has told Izzy that she has a precarious health condition that means she can only have limited contact with others, keeping her isolated at home. Izzy longs for friends and a life of her own, beyond just her mother’s company.
One day she stumbles upon a girl her own age, whom she desperately tries to befriend. At a party the girl throws, she and her mates trick Izzy into swallowing a worm. The result is an unravelling of the lies her mother has taught her all her life.
Izzy is not sick. She is like her mother, a hellbender. She feeds off the fear of the living.
Izzy’s mum has rejected her nature, giving up the cruelty and killing which imbues them with power, magic and ecstatics. She’s tried to ensure Izzy never knows the temptations of that way of life. But now she knows the truth, Izzy stands at a crossroads. Which path will she choose?
Liked this film, simple story, keeps a consistent focus on the relationship at its centre. It uses its limitations – the pandemic, the small budget – to its advantage, leaning into the sense of isolation and domestic claustrophobia. It’s also a great play on the classic pull and tear at mother-daughter relationships during adolescence.