Hellbender  ★★½

A COUPLE of years ago a low budget film called The Deeper You Dig attracted attention.

Despite being made on a micro-budget, by many accounts it transcended these limitations to result in a decent horror film.

But more interesting was the fact it was wholly made by a family known as Wonder Wheel Productions.

John Adams, partner Toby Poser and daughters Zelda and Lulu direct, write, edit, produce and star in their films, the latest being 2021’s Hellbender.

Apparently the idea for the story came from one of the daughters when she found out that she was donor-conceived and asked herself the question “what if my real father was Satan?”

Hellbender’s resulting story and script are a little more subtle, instead examining the relationship between a shy teenage girl, 16-year-old Izzy played by Zelda, and her mother, played by Toby Poser.

Izzy is a talented drummer and plays heavy metal music with her mother on the guitar. They live alone in a secluded forest area and Izzy never gets close to anyone because, according to her mother, she is sick.

Izzy is being slowly introduced to her mother’s abilities and the concept of her perhaps inheriting them.

But their relationship and her mother’s plans become complicated when Izzy is drawn to another teenage girl staying at a nearby property.

Izzy starts experiencing a range of emotions that bring the family’s secrets to the surface.

It’s an intelligent script and the crisp cinematography, vivid imagery and good performances ensure interest is maintained for most of the running time.

On the negative side, I’m not sure the heavy metal performance sections add a lot, some of the imagery is a little too abstract and the narrative control does start to waiver in the third act.

But overall, with some independent studio money behind them, the Adams family can only make better films.