Camp cinema returns in Meredith Alloway’s “Forbidden Fruits,” released on March 27. The film follows four employees of a mall store called Free Eden. 

Our main girls, Apple [Lili Reinhart], Fig [Alexandra Shipp], Cherry [Victoria Pedretti] and Pumpkin [Lola Tung] are fiercely their own. 

Pumpkin is a bright-eyed, eager new employee of the pretzel kiosk, and was quickly taken under the wing of Fig. She introduced Pumpkin to the others, and is easily connected to Cherry, but the leader, Apple, was skeptical. 

Pumpkin is quick to prove herself to Apple, showing her that she is capable of being conniving to their customers without them knowing, and she was officially initiated into the group,

As they are all named after a fruit from a specific season, she completed the cycle of the sales year– and the coven of Free Eden.

This witchy-clique is very well known around the mall, the “it-girls” throughout the retail stores. 

Along with a mix of witchcraft and slashings, this movie explores the concept of being a “girl’s girl” and toxic female friendships. 

With Apple creating rules like “you can only text boys in emojis,” she truly believes that she is protecting her “sisters” and being the ultimate feminist, when in reality all she craves is control over Fig, Cherry and Pumpkin. 

A story is spread to Pumpkin about the downfall of the group that happened before Pumpkin joined because of a previous employee, Pickle, [Emma Chamberlain]. 

When word gets back to Apple about Pumpkin knowing this, her true colors start shining through. 

There are allusions to the bible all throughout the film, with the characters holding seances to hex anyone who wrongs them.  To “get the snake out of the garden.”

Although the women of Free Eden, while all extremely close with one another, are all being “snakey” to each other.

Pumpkin, on a mission to reveal the true Apple — Fig, secretly in a relationship and Cherry, who is going against all of Apple’s rules for her to improve her “ugly qualities,” all build up tensions until it will all falls down. 

Having drawn inspiration from “Mean Girls” and “Jennifer’s Body,” “Forbidden Fruits” gives just the camp that cinema has been missing in the past years. 

The exploration of sisterhood and toxicity in female friendships is one that isn’t often explored, especially with the witchy, cult-classic vibe that “Forbidden Fruits” gives.

While it’s an interesting story and an impressive bottle movie, all being filmed at the mall, the dialogue sometimes feels like a Millennial who is trying too hard to appeal to Gen Z audiences. The excessive use of social media slang leaves the impression of a bad Netflix original.

Out of all the performances, Reinhart’s stands out the most. 

Being the toxic, literal witch that she is, watching her as Apple genuinely felt like watching a poisonous “queen” of a friend group manipulate right in front of you. 

Overall, it is a messy, exaggerated take on what it means to be manipulated by a person you think is your friend, and the over-the-top slasher vibe is just enough to feel camp. 

As “Forbidden Fruits” is Alloway’s first director credit, it will be interesting to see where she goes next.  

“Forbidden Fruits” is playing in select theaters now.