What happens when you take two 90s cult classics, Clueless and The Craft, and put them together? Forbidden Fruits is the charming lovechild of these films, and it kind of surprises me that this film has gone under the radar for so long, especially when I’d consider it one of the better horror films to come out this year, and definitely the best film Shudder has released on streaming in 2026. I went into this one with low expectations, and by the time it hit the midway point, I have to admit I was enjoying the heck out of this film. Considering the new Practical Magic 2 just opened this past weekend to a lackluster box office haul, it makes me wonder if basically Hollywood, and more importantly audiences, just don’t want to see witches on screen anymore? Heck, online over the past few years it seems every woman has latched onto the notion that liking Halloween, buying pumpkin spice lattes, and having your own garden is all that’s needed to join a coven … Gone are the days when it was the outcasts, the goth kids that listened to The Cure and Marilyn Manson were the ones that embraced being weird and were into Wicca and other forms of witchcraft. This is a film that holds a mirror up to the new generation of those that practice witchcraft and exposes the absurdity of it all.
When we meet Pumpkin (Lola Tung), she is working at the food court of a mall, and she gets the attention of a trio of girls led by Apple (Lili Reinhart). Apple and her friends, Fig (Alexandra Shipp) and Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) work at one of the higher-end shops in the mall, and they decide Pumpkin would be a good fit to work at the store. They give her a makeover, and after a brief ritual, Pumpkin is officially a new employee of the store. It doesn’t take long for us to se that the girls are just part of a coven of witches. There are no heavy eyeshadow or black clothes here; these are witches for the pumpkin-spice generation. Even their spells are riddled with pop-culture slang. I think one of the more amusing aspects is that the girls have a confessional in the store where they speak to their goddess, Marilyn Monroe. Honestly if you don’t appreciate the absurdity of it all in the first thirty minutes, this film just might not be for you, and that’s OK.
Now the film is labeled as comedy and horror, and to be honest, the horror element does take a bit to show itself. There’s a lot of drama that unfolds in this story, a lot of infighting with the girls, and we discover that each of the girls has their own secret they are keeping from the others. The dialog and the chemistry with the four girls is strong enough that even without the horror element I would have liked the film, but when the horror and gore do kick in with this, it sure did elevate my enjoyment of the film.
One issue I do have is with the look of the film. It’s very clean and looks like your average comedy from the 90s. The problem is it lacks anything that resembles atmosphere. When the horror elements hit, there’s just no impact. Despite the gore, it still looks too clean. Then there is the music and tone. It fits for the first half of the film, but there really is no attempt to build any suspense, and that’s a shame, because the story would benefit if there was a gradual tonal shift with the visuals and the sound. I wouldn’t say this changed my feelings about the film, but it’s certainly one thing that could have improved it.
Now, I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I I’ll say I was a bit surprised by the ending, and it did feel a bit rushed … and then comes the mid-credit scene that makes up for it. All I’ll say is that it opens the door for a fun sequel that takes the story in a whole new direction that I would love to see. Does it deserve a sequel? Heck yeah, this is the kind of film I see growing a cult following, and there is plenty of fun they can have with any follow-up films. Sure, I feel some ladies won’t appreciate the playful jabs it takes at women wanting to be modern witches, but I suppose it’s better than having the witches looking like hideous trolls that lurk under dimly lit bridges. Forbidden Fruits is a lot of fun and is perfect for spooky season viewing if you have friends who may not be ready for anything to scary or too artsy like Susperia (the Argento version, I just can’t bring myself to watch the remake).
Forbidden Fruits is now streaming on Shudder.
