Review: Forbidden Fruits (2026 SXSW Film Festival)

12 May, 2026 William Eguizabal 0 Comments 4 categories

Title: Forbidden Fruits
MPA Rating: R
Director: Meredith Alloway
Starring: Lili Reinhart, Alexandra Shipp, Lola Tung
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins

What It Is: It’s Texas and the mall is very busy, especially at Free Eden. Apple (Reinhart), Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) and Fig (Shipp) are the salespeople there and they are VERY good. There used to be four of them, and they need a new hire. When they discover an equally fruit named girl working elsewhere in the mall in Pumpkin (Tung) they immediately want her to be a part of their coven. Yes, they have a coven and as the darkness falls all around them the sins of the past are about to lead to consequences.

What We Think: This is such an interestingly weird film. It’s a witch film, and a gory horror film, and it’s also really funny. This film hinges on the main relationships between our quartet of fruit named females. Luckily for this film that chemistry is so spicy. Lili Reinhart is deliciously devilish and she’s so good at the good and evil balancing act. Each of the four lead characters has such a different character. It’s clear they all fit into some sort of stereotype but I have to say they make it work. It’s a fun script and the film itself is directed well enough by Meredith Alloway so as to keep interest for the audience. I think Victoria Pedretti as Cherry is the showstopper here. Her performance really is the most entertaining part of this entire film.

Our Grade: A-, Dude, this thing is delightfully violent. Its entire presentation is so curated and rightfully so. I walked away satisfied with the amount of movie I got here. It never overstays its welcome and with the slim 104 minute runtime tells an engaging and fun story. Meredith Alloway is going to be a really fun director to watch. This one is a recommend. I think it has its audience and those people are going to love this SO MUCH. For the lay person stumbling upon it there’s enough fun and witchery to enjoy.