2021 • United States of America
A mother, a daughter, a mountain house, a locked room and the kind of diet that makes pine cones look like a gateway drug. In this episode of Folk ’n’ Hell, Andy Davidson, Dave Houghton and David Hall head into the woods for Hellbender (2021), a low-budget American witch film made by the Adams family during lockdown, complete with music, blood sigils, a punk band and a very particular approach to family succession.
The film follows Izzy, a sheltered teenager living in isolation with her mother. She has been told she is ill, kept away from other people and fed a suspiciously bark-heavy menu, but the truth is stranger and considerably toothier. Her mother is a witch, Izzy is becoming one too, and this particular breed of witch feeds on the fear of living things to unlock its power. Which is all very well until your child discovers worms, blood magic and the fact that the outside world contains friends, beer and poor decisions.
The hosts are intrigued by the set-up and by the sheer family-made audacity of the thing, but nobody is pretending this is a hidden masterpiece. Dave finds it homemade in a way that shows. David enjoys some individual images and ideas, but thinks too many moments arrive softer than they should. Andy is the most generous, giving credit to a film that kept him interested, even if it never quite sang.
“I don't think this film was more a coming of age story than a folk horror.” FolknHell host, Andy Davidson
The central Folk ’n’ Hell question proves awkward. Hellbender has witchcraft, woods, isolation, blood, old powers and a mother-daughter inheritance that would make most family therapists gently close the door and move away. But does that make it folk horror? The consensus is: not quite. It wears some of the costume, but underneath it feels more like a coming-of-age witch story than something rooted in community, landscape and old belief.
Hellbender opens with a witch hanging that does not go entirely to plan, before crashing forward into the modern day with mother and daughter playing in a two-piece punk band. Izzy lives with her mother in a remote mountain house and is kept away from other people, supposedly because she is ill. When she discovers another girl nearby, she begins stepping outside her mother’s rules and into a world of beer, friendship and alarming appetites.
A worm-eating dare unlocks something in Izzy, leading her towards her mother’s hidden magic, the truth of what a hellbender is and the terrible logic of inheritance. The more she feeds on fear and living things, the more powerful she becomes, while her mother tries to guide, restrain and survive the next generation.
The hosts wrestle with this one, partly because Hellbender seems to tick a few obvious boxes. It has witches, woods, blood, strange rituals, sigils made from sticks and a family line stretching back into the past. There is isolation too, although the isolation is self-imposed rather than built around a wider village, cult or community. That matters.
For Dave, the film simply does not feel like folk horror. It is too linear, too plainly a witchy coming-of-age tale and not strange or threatening enough. Andy agrees that witchcraft is a huge folk horror trope, but argues that not every witch film automatically qualifies. David points out that the film has the trappings, but not the deeper pull of old community pressure or ancient landscape working on people.
“It had the trappings of a folk horror.” FolknHell host, Andy Davidson
The strongest reading is Andy’s suggestion that it might be folk horror told from the point of view of the horror itself. Even then, the group lands on “folk horror adjacent” at best: a film with sticks, blood and old powers, but without enough dread in the soil.
- Witchcraft as inheritance Hellbender treats power as something passed down through the body, the bloodline and a very dangerous mother-daughter relationship. The horror is not just that Izzy becomes powerful, but that her mother knows what that power might demand.
- Coming of age, with fangs The hosts keep returning to the idea that this is more a coming-of-age story than a folk horror film. Izzy’s awakening involves curiosity, rebellion, appetite and a refusal to stay locked in the childhood her mother built for her.
- Isolation without community The mountain house gives the film plenty of distance and woodland atmosphere, but the hosts feel the absence of a real community. It is not villagers, cultists or old customs closing in, just two people keeping everyone else at arm’s length.
- Homemade ambition The family-made nature of the film is both its charm and its limitation. The hosts admire the effort, but the low-budget look, improvised feel, uneven effects, sound and production design often stop the film from building tension.
- Romanticised witchiness Andy argues that the witchcraft feels less like something terrifying and more like a romanticised vision of power and identity. The film is drawn to the glamour of becoming a witch, but the hosts wanted more danger, discomfort and consequence.
- Good ideas, soft impact Several moments catch the hosts’ attention: the hanging, the punk-band transition, the key through the hand, the figure on the lamppost. Again and again, though, they feel the film could have pushed harder.
The Folk ’n’ Hell verdict on Hellbender is cautious, appreciative and fairly bruised. David gives it 3.5, finding it neither scary nor especially folk horror, with too many missed opportunities. Dave edges to 3, acknowledging a coherent film and genuine effort, but not one he particularly enjoyed. Andy is kinder with a 5, mostly because it held his attention and he could see the work behind it, even if the result did not quite come alive.
“Folk horror film fans should watch this because it has some interesting moments, but in reality, there's a whole load more out there.” FolknHell host, David Hall
That makes 11.5 out of 30 overall: not a disaster, not unwatchable, but not a field worth getting trapped in unless you are already curious. Folk horror fans may find interesting moments here, but the hosts agree there is a whole load more out there.
How each host rated this film