I only recently found out that the Adams family makes movies! Not that one. Gomez and Morticia are nowhere to be seen. John Adams and his wife Toby Poser along with their children Lulu and Zelda comprise the modern Adams Family. And they make movies that are often spooky in nature. The first I had heard of and seen is Hellbender.

This movie starts with a period piece setting from long ago when an apparent witch is being hung. Hanging isn’t quite enough though so one of the women pulls out a revolver and begins unloading into the hanging figure (of interest to me was that the revolver appears to be a 9 shot pistol!) While hanging wasn’t enough, and the shots weren’t either, a witness pulls out a dagger and approaches the victim. Just before reaching them, the victim ignites and launches into the sky like a bottle rocket.

Then the main aspect of the movie starts. We have a mother and daughter that live in a remote house in the mountains. The main character Izzy (Zelda Adams) is a 16 year old whose mother (Toby Poser) has kept her isolated from the world with the rationalization that she has a disease that means she can’t be around other people. There is a tight bond between mother and daughter. There has to be. Izzy has no other options for interpersonal interactions. Occasionally the mother has to go to town in order to get supplies, but Izzy remains home without question. 

Until one day that the two are out in the woods and a random guy wanders onto their property (played by John Adams, the family patriarch.) The mother keeps him at a distance, enforcing the “avoid others” rule for her daughter. But random stranger has tantalized Izzy just enough with his statement about his niece living nearby. We have seen interesting glimpses of the two women. From the pair playing their own version of alternative gothic metal to the mother engaging in what is clearly some form of witchcraft. (On a side note, outside the movie, the family does have a band named H6llb6nd6r.) Unfortunately for the stranger, the mother helps him leave the woods. As a pile of ashes to be blown about on the wind. Clearly a higher level of witchcraft is at play here.

There are a lot of intriguing social dynamics at play here. Between mother and daughter, and then when Izzy finds the “niece nearby.” Eventually Izzy begins to learn that she has some unusual abilities and begins to explore them. The nature of them is rooted in blood/death rituals and magic. Discovering what she can do is an awkward exploration for her. Until her mom discovers that she is learning. And mother realizes that she should help guide her. 

One of the things I loved most in this was the hidden room. On the door is a sigil. When the mother puts her hand over it, a rend in the flesh of her hand is created and a key emerges from it. This key opens the door to reveal a small room full of knick knacks. When she places her hand onto a book on the desk, her hand warps and she has a dark vision of her daughter.

At the core of this very slow burn movie, is the transformation of Izzy. She is learning and embracing the powers and abilities that she just discovered. From the mom, we see her teaching her daughter as any good mom does. But there is an underlying sadness in the mother even as we see an outwardly joyous sense of wonder from the daughter. There are also visions the mother is having. Visions that we aren’t fully understanding. That we aren’t given full context for. Yet.

And we get there. This movie is a very slow burn, but absolutely worth the time. I turned it on as I wrote this review and my rating for it just kept creeping up as I rewatched and wrote. I love watching the transformation of Izzy as she goes from an innocent teen to a Hellbender learning just how much power she has access to. And the consequences of that power are something that the mother made worse in my view. By keeping it from her, she created the situation of Izzy’s escalating power.

I say my rating went up. And it really did. A lot. I honestly came to the keyboard expecting to put a 6 or 7 on the line. But I’m waffling between a 9 and 10 now. Part of my thinking is that I really want to not only buy this on DVD, but also look into the other movies from the Adams Family. And I do believe that is pushing it to a 10!