I saw Forbidden Fruits at SXSW 2026 and walked out feeling genuinely disappointed. It sets itself up like it’s going to be bold, edgy, and maybe even a little subversive, especially with its all-female coven operating inside a suburban mall. Directed by Meredith Alloway and featuring a strong cast led by Lili Reinhart, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp, and Lola Tung, it feels like it should have something to say or at least deliver a fun, stylized ride. Instead, it quickly turns into something that feels hollow, scattered, and honestly kind of ridiculous. The Q&A that followed didn’t help matters either, as it failed to clarify the film’s choices or deepen my understanding of what it was trying to do.
The premise sounds like it could go somewhere interesting, but it never does. It leans into this strange mix of clique dynamics, witchcraft, and mall culture without ever grounding any of it in something meaningful or even entertaining. The rules of the group, the rituals, the power dynamics—none of it feels thought through, and none of it builds into anything satisfying. It just kind of sits there, repeating itself, as if the idea alone was enough to carry the entire film. The result is something that feels senseless more than anything else, like it’s trying to be provocative without actually earning it.
What makes it more frustrating is that the cast is clearly capable. Reinhart, in particular, has moments where you can see what the film could have been if it had sharper writing or a clearer direction. Pedretti also brings energy to her role, but even she can’t do much with material that feels so thin and repetitive. In fairness, the cast is decent across the board, but they simply can’t elevate what they’ve been given. The performances end up feeling wasted, stuck inside a story that doesn’t know what to do with them. You keep waiting for something to click, but it never really does.
Then there’s the violence, which feels completely pointless. It’s not shocking in a meaningful way or even particularly effective—it just feels like it’s there for the sake of it. Instead of adding intensity or raising the stakes, it comes across as lazy, like the film is trying to compensate for a lack of substance. By that point, it’s hard to stay invested because nothing feels like it has any real weight or consequence.
By the end, I was more annoyed than anything else. There’s no real payoff, no sense of direction, and no reason for the story to exist in the way it does. It borrows ideas and aesthetics from other places but never builds anything of its own. For me, it felt like a total waste of time—frustrating, shallow, and nowhere near as clever or daring as it seems to think it is.