| Director | John Adams, Toby Poser, Zelda Adams |
|---|---|
| Box office | $67,474 |
Izzy and her mother (who is never named) live a quiet, remote existence in the woods, spending most of their time creating metal music. They eat a strictly vegan, foraged diet, and Izzy is home-schooled and forbidden to have any contact with others, her mother telling her that she has an autoimmune disease. Her mother visits the nearby town for art supplies, but Izzy is not allowed to go.
After a chance meeting with a teenaged neighbor, Izzy is invited to a party where she consumes a worm on a dare, and begins to hallucinate. Her mother is disturbed when she learns of it, but begins to tell Izzy about what they are and the powers that are awakening in her. She explains that they are Hellbenders, an all-female, matriarchal clan of supernatural beings. ("A cross between a witch, a demon, and an apex predator.") Their magic is based on fear, especially the fear of death, which the Hellbender absorbs when she eats a living thing; the bigger and more advanced the creature, the more power is drawn from eating it.
Izzy realizes that she was never ill, and that their isolated life has been her mother's plan to keep her from realizing her heritage. Izzy's mother stresses the importance of controlling their power by strictly limiting what they consume - she snacks on mealworms as a treat - but Izzy becomes power-hungry and begins killing animals in the forest.
Her mother grows alarmed as she realizes she is losing control of Izzy and her increasing power, and their relationship becomes strained. In an attempt to bond with Izzy and remain close to her, her mother shares her mealworm stash and they have a hallucinogenic experience together. Under the influence, she confesses to Izzy that she is over a hundred years old, and that Hellbenders reproduce by consuming their mothers.
Izzy constructs a tunnel under the house and traps her teenaged neighbor there, using her as a food source. When her mother discovers it, Izzy calmly tells her she's in no danger, because Izzy isn't yet ready to become a mother. She then says she's going to town and soars into the sky, appearing for the first time in her full, monstrous Hellbender form.