{"id":566974,"date":"2026-03-27T03:32:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T03:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566974\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T03:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T03:32:15","slug":"forbidden-fruits-review-mall-based-witches-shop-slay-cast-spells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566974\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Forbidden Fruits’ review: Mall-based witches shop, slay, cast spells"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s clear that \u201cForbidden Fruits\u201d director and co-writer Meredith Alloway has marinated in plenty of \u201990s teen movies and the kitschy pop-culture ephemera of that era. Her directorial debut, written with Lily Houghton and based on Houghton\u2019s play \u201cOf the woman came the beginning of sin and through her we all die,\u201d is essentially a synthesis of \u201cThe Craft,\u201d \u201cMean Girls\u201d and \u201cClueless,\u201d<\/a> about a coven of catty witches who work at a boutique in a Texas mall.<\/p>\n

But in \u201cForbidden Fruits,\u201d it\u2019s hard to shake the feeling that Alloway\u2019s movie knowledge is just that \u2014 easily identifiable iconography without much innovation or depth.<\/p>\n

Our clique comes storming down the mall food court in that classic slow-motion strut, letting us know right away what we\u2019re in for. They\u2019re known as the Fruits because they all happen to be named after them. The leader, Apple (Lili Reinhart), operates in the controlling mode of Regina George or Cher Horowitz; her lackeys are alt queen Fig (Alexandra Shipp) and blond bimbo Cherry (Victoria Pedretti<\/a>). When they realize that a cute pretzel purveyor is named Pumpkin (Lola Tung<\/a>), they quickly bring her into their circle as a fourth, seemingly only because her name fits the theme.<\/p>\n

Apple runs her high-femme coven out of their store Free Eden with an emphasis on iconic women: The girls confess to their martyr Marilyn Monroe in a dressing room and practice dark magic with their panties and a silver cowboy boot. In the interest of helping each other \u201cshine,\u201d Apple also takes a page from Ann Lee and the Shakers<\/a> \u2014 sex and boys are banned and communication is highly controlled.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only when Pumpkin starts uncovering some of the coven\u2019s secrets, including the existence of a former member named Pickle (Emma Chamberlain), that their controversial personal histories involving hexes, poison, fires and hidden boyfriends come to light, and the situation spirals out of control (literally \u2014 the climax happens during a tornado).<\/p>\n

Alloway and cinematographer Karim Hussain craft a distinctive and unique aesthetic, a gauzy, highly artificial look that underlines the winky referential tone, but one that also lends \u201cForbidden Fruits\u201d a strangely dreamlike quality that doesn\u2019t always work for the genre.<\/p>\n

While the actors, particularly Reinhart and Pedretti, are locked in with the tone and Reinhart delivers the fierceness required of such a role, the pace of \u201cForbidden Fruits\u201d is at odds with the performers. The film is weirdly slow and sleepy and at least 20 minutes too long. The convoluted story, peppered with various twists, lacks momentum.<\/p>\n

A stronger hand in the edit could have resulted in something more dynamic and engaging, but the plotting is mushy and then rushed. For a witchy horror thriller, it\u2019s heavier on psychological violence than actual scares, and a third-act bloodbath and big reveal can\u2019t save it when we finally get there.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s theatrical provenance reveals itself in long monologues in the Marilyn confessional room and Pedretti delivers one that reveals the depth beyond Cherry\u2019s ditzy exterior. We can see Houghton\u2019s play in these moments, but then Alloway\u2019s cheeky pop sensibility intervenes, the arch artificiality and ironic tone draining the emotional impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cForbidden Fruits\u201d can\u2019t reconcile all of its influences and just ends up as a collection of references and high style without much staying power \u2014 it\u2019s essentially the fast fashion of girly pop horror.<\/p>\n

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.<\/p>\n

‘Forbidden Fruits’<\/p>\n

Rated: R, for strong violent content\/gore, sexual content, nudity, language and brief drug use<\/p>\n

Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes<\/p>\n

Playing: Opens Friday, March 27 in wide release<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s clear that \u201cForbidden Fruits\u201d director and co-writer Meredith Alloway has marinated in plenty of \u201990s teen movies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[278907,1337,64,63,278908,14012,134,1689,278911,278906,30336,278910,344,38633,63154,173827,278909,265210,16642],"class_list":["post-566974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-alloway","tag-apple","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-coven","tag-depth","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-forbidden-fruit","tag-forbidden-fruits","tag-lili-reinhart","tag-lily-houghton","tag-movies","tag-play","tag-pumpkin","tag-tone","tag-victoria-pedretti","tag-witch","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}