A dirty (but constructive) part of girlhood is the careless appropriation of various trends, traditions, and cultural elements in an ill-conceived attempt to construct an identity. For some girls, this means trading from one band to another, or jumping from band geek to cheerleader. For some, it means running errands.
30 years ago, Art became an icon for a generation of ’90s girls who dreamed of power, beauty, and boys. A coven of four teenage girls who could cast spells and hexes, and the only threat to their power was each other. Now it appears Forbidden Fruits, twisted teenage comedy that sounds like Art with a girly-pop aesthetic.
Forget goth gear and messy eyeliner. These witches are “mall royalty” who proudly work in a chic clothing store, and when they’re not staring at customers, they’re performing strange rituals and swallowing sequins like they’re psychedelics. However, there Art it came of age and a warning about not being true to yourself, Forbidden Fruits he’s more interested in gnarly twists than any kind of PSA message.
Forbidden Fruits it’s a tale of rotten sisters.
Credit: Shudder
Helmer Meredith Alloway makes his feature film directorial debut with this screen adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton. From the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die. Together they wrote a modified screenplay, which turns the Free People store into “Free Eden.” There, three frighteningly cool girls – known as “Fruits” – wear daring fashions and form a tight, suffocating group.
Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) is a blonde who loves pink dresses and is constantly looking for external validation. A chill astrophysics nerd, saving up for grad school and wearing dark purple and black, is Fig (Alexandra Shipp). And the Queen bee of their covenant is the apple (American Sweatshop‘s Lili Reinhart), with a cold stare but a heart longing for her “mini-mini” to be her supporter.
Like this The girls said or i don’t know the girls see a diamond in the rough in the film’s main character, Pumpkin (Lola Tung). Sure, she hangs at the bottom of the social ladder, working as a free sample girl at a food court. But there is something about him that intrigues the three. Before you repeat the long title of Houghton’s play, Pumpkin begins with a routine that includes blood, dirty panties, a slap in the face, and fresh tears.
However, it is similar to the heroine of Good Girls, Pumpkin isn’t just looking to be cool with killer clothes. He has a hidden agenda, with his low-key Fig and Cherry, seeking dirt on Apple and gossiping about unnamed former bestie Pickle (Emma Chamberlain). In all this, Forbidden Fruits it goes from teen comedies to action-packed sorcery and then to horror film violence to create a film that’s wild, if not satisfying.
Forbidden Fruits chaotic and superficial in its influences.
Let’s start with the Bible. The title of Houghton’s play, From the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die. comes from a bible verse, Ecclesiastes 25:24which argues that a woman’s role is to be a good wife, otherwise she is bad and deserves only contempt. In the third act of the film, Apple will wear this quote in a children’s dress as he scolds his colleagues. But the episode’s deeper meanings are lost amid the clash of pop culture references and the girls’ manager’s shallow speech.
Apple has made a pact with a self-interested feminism program that requires them to promote other women, eliminate those who love the pain of others, and never talk to boys without emojis. Apple’s sermon is made up of words, while the coven’s icons range from discredited Barbie dolls to Taylor Swift, Marilyn Monroe, and Miranda Priestly. Instead of a rich tapestry, Apple’s brand of magic feels like a collage of complex ideas. Maybe that’s the intention, meant to show how teenage girls can try on a new identity like so many jeans at the mall. But it also makes it hard to get a sense of who these girls are underneath their constant posture.
Still, this bunch of confusing gags collide with the colorful landscape, and the high-quality acting styles push the horror comedy into surreal territory. In that setting, we, like Pumpkin, are encouraged to believe that Apple is little more than a terrifying Head Bitch in Charge. He may be a witch who knows how to use magic to curse those who mistreat him. The power of Forbidden Fruits – With all its style and unusualness, it is difficult to predict. However, its sudden change of genre makes for a wild climax that leads to an upsetting ending.
Forbidden Fruits you fall down, the main character first.
Alloway and Houghton make a curious choice to focus their story on Pumpkin. Suddenly it appeared that he was testing Fruits, but not why. Who do you report about their betrayals and insecurities? His own Janis Ian? His mother? Boy!?!
Because we don’t know, Pumpkin is introduced far away that won’t disappear until the third movie. While Reinhart is a compelling villain, Tung is a soft mirror who suffers under Pumpkin’s thin writing.
That makes Fig and Cherry, whose secrets are soon revealed, even more interesting than the heroine. Shipp, who shines in strange movies (Sorrow Girls) and more amazing (X-Men: Apocalypse), he is bewitched by the kindness and madness of Fig. Perretti, who went from happy to sad You, it is a strange pleasure like a needy Cherry. Yet the film’s third act ignores them with shocking brutality, leaving us to watch a spectacle that has lost much of its flavor. And then, spoilers aside, the mid-credits scene delivers a big reveal that blows a plot hole through everything we thought we knew about the Eden witches of Free.
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While there is a lot of style Forbidden Fruits, it is lacking. Instead of digging into the toxic female friendships that can define and debilitate us, Alloway uses this idea as the lure of a not-so-interesting mystery. Or maybe I’m missing something. That was the nagging feeling when I watched Forbidden Fruits. To his credit, Alloway’s film, however strewn across genres and directions, oozes great confidence. Whether it’s showing Apple’s unique brand of girl power, expressing Cherry’s love of cheap things in fashion, or tearing her dolls to pieces, there’s a guarantee in the idea, even if I can’t see it. In the end, I wasn’t satisfied, but I got the sense that this is an inside joke that I’m just not inside of.
Forbidden Fruits reviewed at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival; is now available to buy on Prime Video.