Appendage – Hulu Movie Review (4/5)

APPENDAGE on Hulu is a new horror movie with elements of comedy, fantasy, drama, and mystery. The plot deals with self-doubt and very dark inner thoughts that physically manifest on a person’s body. Hadley Robinson stars in the all-important lead role. Read our full Appendage movie review here!

APPENDAGE is a new Hulu horror movie that’s kicking off this year’s “Huluween” – Hulu’s own Halloween theme. This particular horror movie also uses lots of other genres. Including comedy, drama, fantasy, and mystery. The whole mystery element becomes apparent as the main character has no idea what’s happening and needs to desperately find answers.

Many fans of classic horror will undoubtedly love the fact that practical effects are used in this horror movie. It’s kitsch, quirky, and absolutely amazing. It does also lend an extra element to the comedy of this movie as the “appendage” turns out to be an actual creature. The runtime is only 1 hour and 34 minutes, but the story evolves in many curious ways before it’s all over.

Continue reading our Appendage movie review below. Find the movie on Hulu from October 2, 2023.

Embrace your inner demons

The tagline for Appendage is actually “Embrace your inner demons”, which makes perfect sense as soon as the movie begins. You won’t have to watch much of this movie before seeing how the life of Hannah, a young fashion designer, is spiraling into a very dark place. She is extremely hard on herself.

So much so that her darkest inner thoughts physically manifest into something gruesome. And it will not stop growing!

Overall, Hannah is constantly doing her very best to make everyone happy, while being quite sad and depressed herself. As soon as she gets a positive experience – and she does actually – it takes so very little for her to get knocked down again. Unlike that Chumbawamba song, Hannah does not get back up again.

Instead, she beats up on herself. I found it brutal to watch, and the fact that this self-doubt (and even hate) manifests into a physical appendage made perfect sense. But what can Hannah do? Obviously, she can’t just have a weird appendage thing. This is where the story of Appendage turns into a mystery.

It turns out, Hannah isn’t alone with her experience!

A tour de force from Hadley Robinson

Hadley Robinson plays the all-important lead role in Appendage, but she’s supported by a very strong cast of supporting actors. The supporting actors are extremely important for this story to work as well as it does, but (of course!) Hadley Robinson is the one who has to carry the brunt of the work.

Fortunately, Hadley Robinson is absolutely mesmerizing here. You probably know her already as she has had several intriguing roles these past few years. She was in The Pale Blue Eye (2022) with Christian Bale and played the roles of twins in the Utopia (2020) series.

The supporting cast includes Emily Hampshire (The Rig) who plays a very important role, as another person who is dealing with an appendage situation of her own. As the two most important people in Hannah’s life, we see Brandon Mychal Smith (Horror Noire) and Kausar Mohammed (Lucky). The two portray her boyfriend, Kaelin, and her very best friend and colleague, Esther.

Watch Appendage on Hulu!

Anna Zlokovic is the writer and director of Appendage. This is her feature film debut and I loved it. Interestingly, Anna Zlokovic directed a season 2 episode of the Bite Size Halloween horror anthology. In fact, that episode was titled “Appendage” and was the short story that this new feature film was adapted from.

WATCH THE SHORT FILM VERSION FOR FREE

On YouTube, Hulu added the short film version of Appendage last year for Huluween – find it here >

As mentioned initially, I absolutely loved that Appendage used practical effects. This is a Huluween Original Movie and using practical effects somehow just feels perfect for the Halloween season.

One of my go-to movies for Halloween is always the Halloween Horror anthology Trick ‘r Treat which also uses practical effects much more than CGI. For the record, this new Hulu movie isn’t a Halloween-themed movie, but that just means you can get to know it now and then rewatch it whenever.

Appendage is on Hulu from October 2, 2023. 

Details

Director: Anna Zlokovic
Writer: Anna Zlokovic
Stars: Hadley Robinson, Deborah Rennard, Emily Hampshire, Brandon Mychal Smith, Kausar Mohammed, Desmin Borges, Pat Dortch, Annie Pisapia, Craig Kolkebeck