Famed director Meredith Alloway, who returned to the big screen with the release of ‘Forbidden Fruits’, had a certain vision in mind for the movie. In a recent interview, she opened up about how she came up with the camp tale of witches, magic, and cult, and how it all came to fruition.
Meredith Alloway talks about her latest project, ‘Forbidden Fruits’
Alloway recently opened up about her inspiration behind the film, and cited to The Hollywood Reporter that when she was working on the film, she did a lot of research on female murderers and serial killers. “Women do this for such different reasons than men. I’m continually upset when another male serial killer thing comes out, which is fine as long as there’s also women that we’re exploring,” she quipped, adding that she fell in love with Lily Houghton’s play at the time as well.She further added that she wanted to show women at their most unhinged. Alloway and Houghton worked on the script together, and from the get go, were on the same page about the story. The director recalls asking the play’s author about doing a slasher film and making people understand all aspects of a woman. “What if we use genre as a tool to help people understand how these people feel, how violent and chaotic and messy and beautiful and joyful female relationships can be?” she recalled. The director also described that she was grateful for finding a cast that could respect the genre and take things seriously. She further added on about how some of the scenes in the film defined the characters altogether, adding, “The confessionals were the heart of who the characters were. Lily and I, from the beginning, described the movie as a razor blade in a Jolly Rancher.”
Plot of ‘Forbidden Fruits’
The film centers on a trendy mall and three of its workers who are part of a witchy cult. The story, which is loosely based on Lily Houghton’s play, then continues with the arrival of a mysterious new worker, Pumpkin. As things unravel, and the trio inducts her into their cult after work hours are over, more and more things come to light. The film is led by Lola Tung (‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’), Victoria Pedretti (‘You’), Alexandra Shipp (‘Love, Simon’), and Lili Reinhart (‘Riverdale’).
