Zelda Adams, Lula Adams, John Adams and Toby Poser -- known as the Adams Family -- have made several films: Rumblestrips, The Hatred, Halfway to Zen, Knuckle Jack, The Shoot, The Deeper You Dig and Hellbender. Together, the family has directed and written this tale, which is the story of a family of murderous sideshow performers.
The sideshow that travels the country is filled with strangeness. There's Mr. Tipps (Sam Rodd), who has made a deal with a demon for a heart that he uses in his act. And that act? He cuts off his own fingers and then Eve Axon (Zelda Adams) sews them back on. She never speaks, only sings, and is the near-silent witness to the madness of her parents, Seven (John Adams) and Maggie (Tobey Poser) who have war and childhood trauma-caused PTSD that fuels them as they murder their way across the gray backroads of an anachronistic Depression-era setting that still has modern tattoos and fashions.
As Maggie murders, Eve films the madness while Seven blindfolds himself. Shot in their neighborhood -- Lulu shows up as an axe girl -- this feels bleached out and fuzzy, with a soundtrack by the Adams' band H6LLB6END6R. The Axon Family is on their way to a Buffalo horror show and things get darker as they go.
Any movie that starts with a legless man nearly dragging himself across the stage to read a poem about the demon Abaddon is going to get your attention. I'm excited that this movie is on Tubi -- previous Adams Family films were on Shudder -- as it allows them to reach a big audience with this color-shifting road movie. While there are some similarities to what has come before, this feels new and strange. In their notes for the film, the family said, "Creating our own supernatural mythologies is important and joyful for us - here shifting the biblical story of the fallen angel, Abaddon, into a love story that devolves into a family story (always and also built on love, in all its frailties), but refracted through the muddy, bloodied, cracked lens of personal traumas, unfortunate compulsions, and bitter victories."
Some of the CGI is a bit off, the juxtaposition between soundtrack and film may put some off, but by the end of this, you'll be captivated by something truly different. I can't wait to see what this family does next.
The sideshow that travels the country is filled with strangeness. There's Mr. Tipps (Sam Rodd), who has made a deal with a demon for a heart that he uses in his act. And that act? He cuts off his own fingers and then Eve Axon (Zelda Adams) sews them back on. She never speaks, only sings, and is the near-silent witness to the madness of her parents, Seven (John Adams) and Maggie (Tobey Poser) who have war and childhood trauma-caused PTSD that fuels them as they murder their way across the gray backroads of an anachronistic Depression-era setting that still has modern tattoos and fashions.
As Maggie murders, Eve films the madness while Seven blindfolds himself. Shot in their neighborhood -- Lulu shows up as an axe girl -- this feels bleached out and fuzzy, with a soundtrack by the Adams' band H6LLB6END6R. The Axon Family is on their way to a Buffalo horror show and things get darker as they go.
Any movie that starts with a legless man nearly dragging himself across the stage to read a poem about the demon Abaddon is going to get your attention. I'm excited that this movie is on Tubi -- previous Adams Family films were on Shudder -- as it allows them to reach a big audience with this color-shifting road movie. While there are some similarities to what has come before, this feels new and strange. In their notes for the film, the family said, "Creating our own supernatural mythologies is important and joyful for us - here shifting the biblical story of the fallen angel, Abaddon, into a love story that devolves into a family story (always and also built on love, in all its frailties), but refracted through the muddy, bloodied, cracked lens of personal traumas, unfortunate compulsions, and bitter victories."
Some of the CGI is a bit off, the juxtaposition between soundtrack and film may put some off, but by the end of this, you'll be captivated by something truly different. I can't wait to see what this family does next.