Meredith Alloway made her directorial debut on March 27 with “Forbidden Fruit,” featuring a star studded cast with big names Lili Reinhart and Lola Tung as the two main leads.
The horror comedy is set in a Texas mall and follows four women, all named after fruits and part of a coven. Of the four, Pumpkin (Tung) is reserved and skeptical of the goings on of the other three — Fig (Alexandra Shipp), Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) and Apple (Reinhart).
They all work in a boutique in the mall named Free Eden — a clear play on the Biblical garden — that acts as their sanctuary under the protection of Apple, the group’s leader who is willing to do anything to protect their paradise.
In this protection of paradise Apple loses control of her coven, making for a dramatic resolution
The film brings a “Mean Girls”-esque hierarchy, with Fig acting as Lacey Chabert’s character Gretchen Wieners — she tends to stray from Apple’s purview and wishes to be more and find more in her forbidden relationship. Cherry mirrors Amanda Seyfield’s ditzy Karen Smith, who holds the same need to be wanted but has some of that airheaded quality to her, wishing for nothing more than to make Apple happy.
Many have said the film is if “The Craft” met “Mean Girls” and I’d have to agree. It holds that early 2000s camp energy that just makes you want to laugh and cringe at the absurdity of it all but still manages to retain an air of its own, so don’t worry that it will feel repetitive.
Twist and turns line this movie making it anything but boring. With an appearance by Emma Chamberlin as Pickle, a former member of the Free Eden coven, you will never be left bored.
What I will say is that this movie is a girls night must — it offers the perspective of a Girl’s Girl but also shows the toxic dynamic between unhealthy friendships with a witchy spin that makes you roll back in laughter. It’s a message that can be lost in the hilarity, but the girlies get it.
The campy dialogue offers that perspective in some ways but also builds upon its characters through costuming showing their development through a well-curated, fun wardrobe.
At the beginning Pumpkin is in her drab pretzel shop polo and slacks, but following her initiation she metamorphosizes as she dons more vibrant colors, lower cut tops and dresses that allow her to not fade as she did before.
Power is conveyed in all the coven members’ outfits, power in what is inherently feminine.
Countering Cherry’s outfits tend to lose that bit of pizazz they held at the beginning of the film with her vibrant colors and trendy outfits but, once Eden has been poisoned by what Apple refers to as a snake in the garden she is in sweats and a tank.
With references to Biblical aspects as well as astrological texts, the film gives so much in only an hour and forty minutes, never leaving you unsatisfied.
It’s a must-watch for the group who has a horror lover and the friends who are adverse to horror but who love a good early 2000s teen flick. Get dressed up and get ready to laugh because this film is pure unadulterated fun.
