There’s a special place in cinema for the super low-budget horror movie. After all, where would the genre be without Halloween, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, or Night of the Living Dead? Today’s efforts have a lot to live up to (especially given how excellent many big-budget horrors have been in the past few years), but what’s incredible is that there’s still so much room for experimentation from independent filmmakers. Hellbender, the excellent sixth effort from family-run production company Wonder Wheel, proves just that.
This is a film which wears its tiny budget proudly on its sleeve as it follows sixteen-year-old Izzy (Zelda Adams), who lives with her mother (Toby Poser) on an isolated hilltop, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Due to a rare illness, Izzy has no friends, sees no people apart from her mother, and never leaves the woods – until, that is, she befriends a young girl named Amber (Lulu Adams) and begins to question everything her mother has told her.
There’s undoubtedly a lot to like about Hellbender: taken as a whole it’s an incredibly unsettling piece of filmmaking, but broken down it’s even more admirable. Of particular note are Zelda Adams and Toby Poser in the two lead roles. The pair’s real-life chemistry undoubtedly aids their on-screen relationship (though one would hope their actual relationship is much less hostile than what they portray!), as both Poser and Adams force their audiences to understand both characters. At first the film puts us entirely on Izzy’s side as she longs to discover the outside world, but as more and more is revealed (particularly in the film’s final few minutes), we completely understand why Izzy’s mother wanted to keep her isolated.
It’s a well-balanced ambiguity that a lot of horror doesn’t manage to find, and the film is all the better for it: the conflict comes from the fact that, while both characters believe themselves to be in the right, the audience can see and understand each of them, which makes for an incredibly compelling viewing experience. The film also carries with it a remarkable sense of dread: there’s something innately disarming about much of the production, from certain aspects of the performances to some of the camerawork, which, when combined with its fantastic sound design, results in a seriously unsettling watch.
Though the film’s moments of horror are few and far between as it chooses to focus on the two main characters, they’re wonderful when they do arrive. Even the slightest things, like the key to a door being summoned through someone’s hand, feel almost dirty in how affecting they are. The incredible sound design helps with this, particularly in the film’s more daring and chaotic moments. It adds a whole other dimension of horror to the visual creativity, and is without doubt a highlight of the film.
Like much modern horror, Hellbender is packed with themes and ideas that add to its surface-level horror. Particular attention is paid to motherhood and growing up, as one might expect, but the film also grapples with heritage, power dynamics, and what happens when we start to outgrow our parents’ care. If there comes a point where we believe our parents cannot provide us with what we need, is there any “purpose” to them? Such are the questions that the film grapples with, but don’t expect any answers – because where’s the fun in that?. Hellbender’s beauty lies in its ambiguity, and as such this is one Shudder flick you won’t want to miss.
Verdict:
Mothers and daughters have always been a focus of horror cinema, and Hellbender proves there’s still plenty of life in the idea yet. Thanks to incredible performances, a wonderfully disarming production design, and a fantastic sense of dread, this is a real treat for genre fans.
Hellbender is streaming on Shudder from February 24.
Images courtesy of Shudder. All rights reserved.
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