Movie review
March 26, 2026 · 104 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
The 2026 comedy horror film follows mall store workers Apple, Cherry, and Fig who secretly run a witchy femme cult in the basement after hours. New hire Pumpkin challenges their rules and bonds, leading to paranoia and violence as hidden poisons surface. The story uses campy horror to examine toxic sisterhood and power struggles among the women, with visible sapphic subtext including a kiss between Apple and Cherry.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Forbidden Fruits.
Woke representation / casting
Visible diversity appears in prominent ensemble roles with Black actresses as Fig (driven group member) and Sharon (authority figure) inside the all-female core coven and leadership; modern mall setting makes the mix plausible, though not heavily emphasized as a story point or quota-style mismatch.
Woke political dialogue
Limited to occasional pointed lines such as the opening scene confronting male entitlement and cult rules restricting relationships; most dialogue stays personal, sarcastic, and focused on group power plays rather than extended ideological speeches.
Identity-driven story themes
The narrative revolves around female group dynamics, performative sisterhood turning toxic, and betrayal in a witch coven, with noticeable sapphic subtext including an on-screen kiss between Apple and Cherry during a confrontation plus queer-coded details like vampire nails; these elements add layers to the exploration of female bonds and control but remain secondary to the horror of internal poisons and revenge.
Production
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film satirizes mall consumer culture and customer scams while critiquing male predatory behavior and entitlement; it presents the female-only coven as a protective but ultimately harmful response to external pressures on women and lightly challenges traditional relationship norms through the group's rules.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Little evidence of significant anti-woke or right-leaning backlash accusing the film of pushing DEI or identity politics; reception among genre viewers stayed mostly positive, with only scattered minor notes on feminist or sapphic aspects and no prominent controversy.
Creator track record context
Includes Diablo Cody's moderate feminist creative history and Trent Hubbard's advisory board role with a queer youth mentorship non-profit plus professional ties to queer artists; the director and co-writer emphasize artistic genre storytelling and female character studies without documented patterns of explicit activism or representation-first work.
