# Hellbender

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/folknhell-7405500/hellbender
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/folknhell-7405500/hellbender.md
Podcast: [FolknHell](https://stenobird.com/podcast/folknhell-7405500)
Published: 2025-10-09T08:36:26+00:00
Episode link: https://folknhell.com
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/686d2a6a37e3cb9d349cb1d7/e/68e77195d53d85ec479b4b52/media.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/folknhell-7405500/episodes/hellbender
Duration seconds: 2779

## Resource

A mother and daughter rock band film themselves into witchcraft legend. Hellbender (2021) is the Adams family’s lockdown-born tale of spells, riffs, and rebellion, brewed in the forests of upstate New York. FolknHell dives into its homemade horror, punk-fuelled ambition, and questionable folk credentials, asking what really happens when cabin fever meets black magic. Shot at the family home during the pandemic, Hellbender is a curious mix of family therapy, DIY filmmaking, and teenage witch fantasy. Mum Toby Poser, dad John Adams, and daughters Zelda and Lulu share writing, directing, editing, and acting duties, creating a home-spun brew of coming-of-age angst and occult awakening. The result is part music video, part family art project, and part fanged parable about isolation, appetite, and inherited power. The story follows Izzy, a teenage girl kept away from civilisation by her mother, who insists she is ill. In reality, both are witches, members of a near-extinct line called Hellbenders who feed on fear to grow stronger. When Izzy meets a local girl and tastes her first worm, the magic takes hold, triggering a gory self-discovery that sets her against her protective, equally dangerous mother. What begins as a bond between two outsiders becomes a slow collision of maternal control and adolescent rebellion, shot through with buzzing guitars and pine-forest mysticism. As always, the trio pull the film apart to test whether it truly belongs in the folk horror coven. Andy admires the ambition and momentum despite rough edges. Dave Houghton recognises the charm but points out the uneven tone that comes from four directors working on alternate days. David Hall argues that while witchcraft lies at the genre’s heart, Hellbender lacks the rural community and ancestral dread…

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## Transcript

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