One of the most victorious movies at the last edition of the Fantasia Film Festival was, without a doubt, Hellbender (2021). The film not only had its world premiere at the popular Canadian genre festival, but it also achieved the Cheval Noir Award for Best Actress (Zelda Adams), and the Sandro Forte Award for Best Motion Picture Score (John Adams), but it was also nominated for the Cheval Noir Award for Best Movie. After a wide festivals run in 2021, the movie is scheduled to come out on Shudder this weekend.
Hellbender (2021) centers on a mother and her daughter living a life almost in seclusion in a mountainous area of the United States. The adolescent Izzy only has as a friend, her mother, a woman full of secrets with whom she shares a primitive rock band. The mother does not want people to come near her daughter, but Izzy manages to escape to the city several times. There she will discover that her family has a past related to witchcraft. You can read our review of the movie here.
This is the new movie by the Adams/Poser family, produced, written, and, directed by John Adams, Toby Poser, and their daughter Zelda Adams, also sharing most of the crew and post-production duties. They have also been behind the award-winner independent films Rumblestrips (2013), Knuckle Jack (2014), Halfway to Zen (2016), The Hatred (2018), and The Deeper You Dig (2019).
Besides the real-life daughter and mother Zelda Adams and Toby Poser being the main stars of the film, Lulu Adams, John Adams, Rinzin Thonden, Khenzom, Shawn Wilson, Tess McKeegan, and Rob Figueroa also star.
After its premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival on August 14, 2021, Hellbender (2021) was also part of Fantastic Fest, Sitges Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Razor Reel Flanders Film Festival, Stockholm International Film Festival, and Mar del Plata Film Festival. Shudder has bought the distribution rights of the film and will release it as part of its catalog on February 24, 2022.
Watch here the official trailer for Hellbender (2021).
