When I was in high school (cue all the “When Dinosaurs ruled the Earth” and “In the Beginning…” jokes) I was friends with two girls who dabbled in the Wiccan religion. Though they always insisted I keep that hush hush, including never mentioning their late night “spell-jamming sessions”, they routinely decked out in goth outfits and wore jewelry with so much Wiccan symbolism that it was hard to tell where the jewelry ended and they began. They would have been more subtle had they walked the school halls with megaphones screaming “I’m a witch! I’m a witch!” Yep, they were obnoxious but I loved the heck out of them.
The women in Forbidden Fruits (directed by Meredith Alloway and written by Meredith Alloway and Lily Houghton) seem very much like those two. Even though they insist they’re a coven and love frequently steeping themselves in witchcraft lore, you wonder if they really believe in half the stuff they’re doing or if they’re just doing it because it feels cool.
In one scene, the four aspiring witches, including new member Pumpkin (Lola Tung), chant “Goat’s milk, thigh gaps, rose petals, bone cast, truffle oil, bitch slap, blood clots, juice prep” as part of their ritual, sounding more like they’re reciting some meta Gen-Z poetry than casting a spell.
Despite all this pretense, I really had fun with most of Forbidden Fruits. Admittedly, the first few minutes of it were a chore and I resigned myself to watching a film that was destined to be a tepid mix of Mean Girls and The Craft. Thankfully, the film gets more interesting about 20 minutes in, unfolding plot twists and reveals that give it far more depth than expected.
As great as the entire cast is, Victoria Pedretti runs away with Forbidden Fruits as Cherry, one of the four women in the coven. In any other film, Cherry would be nothing more than comic relief. She’s cute, adorable and goofy. At times, Ms. Pedretti’s performance rivals prime Tina Fey and Judy Holliday.
Sure, she’s hilarious, but as Forbidden Fruits progresses she transcends that, imbuing the character with such deep pathos that your heart breaks for her. She desperately seeks attention and approval from various men, as well as from Apple (Lili Reinhart), the leader of the coven.
The coven practically worships Marilyn Monroe and what’s so ironic about Cherry is that she has Marilyn’s essence. Cherry’s blonde, has the same honey-dripping voice of Marilyn and that same aura of despair that Marilyn carried her whole life. So despite the fact the coven thinks Marilyn is a goddess and Cherry strongly resembles her, Cherry is ultimately the weakest and most tread-on member of the group.
Apple is tyrannical towards Cherry and the fourth member of the coven Fig (Alexandra Shipp), giving them rules they must abide by to stay in the group. Watching the ever-horny Cherry and the studious Fig sneak around in order to live their lives to the fullest is frustrating because you wish they’d just tell Apple to go to hell.
Memories of a terrifying past incident (which we don’t learn about until the film’s third act) keeps them at bay.
The dynamic between Apple and Pumpkin is far more interesting because Pumpkin resists, she doesn’t go all-in on Apple’s draconian rules and Apple is grudgingly respectful towards her because of it, letting her get away with more than the other two women.
In the third act, everyone’s secrets are revealed and for the gore lovers out there, the last 15 minutes doesn’t hold back.
As with many movies these days, there’s a mid-credits sequence during the end credits. This one, unlike many of the ones tagged onto the end of Marvel films, actually moves the story forward, possibly setting up a sequel, and I hope we get one.
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