Get High on Trim Season (2024) For Some Witchy Thrills and Chills
Title: Trim Season
First Non-Festival Release: June 7, 2024 (Limited Theatrical Release)
Director: Ariel Vida
Writer: David Blair, Sean E. DeMott, Cullen Poythress
Runtime: 100 Minutes
Starring: Bethlehem Million, Alexandra Essoe, Jane Badler, Bex Taylor-Klaus
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
Witches have long been used as a boogeyman to warn of what happens when women gain power and autonomy. Historically, society tends to fear a woman who has agency and exercises it. Trim Season takes this idea further to examine these power dynamics.
Strapped for cash, Emma (Bethlehem Million) and her best friend Julia (Alex Essoe) agree to work as trimmers for a friend of a friend. Trimmers prepare cannabis after the harvest so it can be sold more effectively. Traversing into the wilds of California’s untamed mountains, the duo is picked up and shuttled to a secluded mansion even further into the forest. Once there, they meet Mona (Jane Balder), the owner of the farm and their employer for the next two weeks. As the days go by, something feels off to Emma. The sinister energy she feels is soon validated when something terrible happens to one of her fellow trimmers.
Delightfully trippy and gory, Trim Season is a unique supernatural horror film that capitalizes on its unfamiliar setting.
The prospect of easy money makes the journey seem worth it to all of the young trimmers, despite the risks. Guarded with armed mercenaries patrolling the sides of the compound on mountain bikes hundreds of miles from civilization, it dawns on Emma quickly that she and the other trimmers are truly isolated. This makes for a wonderful premise that capitalizes on the gravity of their situation while giving an understandable reason for why they would make the perilous journey. Left only with their jobs to do, and all the weed they can smoke, the trimmers gradually find themselves subjected to a series of bizarre slights and increasingly hostile working conditions. The way in which the trimmers are isolated potentiates the commentary Trim Season delivers on the ways in which women are exploited.
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The mystery behind the mountains of Trim Season makes for a compelling story on power. What could easily be a stoner horror comedy turns out to be a thoughtful meditation on women’s autonomy. Chosen for their perceived lack of threat, trimmers are typically women as they are seen as less likely to steal, cause fights, or otherwise harm the operation. While this makes it easier for women to get these jobs, this places them at risk too. When it is revealed that Mona is a witch who requires the blood of the trimmers to maintain her youth and power, the film veers into the traditional tropes that make witches reviled. This juxtaposes the initial introduction of Mona as this badass girlboss who shattered the glass ceiling in her male dominated field while still acting motherly and kind to her charges. It’s the intertwining of these ideas that showcase the toxicity of white feminism, and how the sole pursuit of power by already privileged women does nothing to liberate vulnerable women. By attacking Mona’s powers and using it against her, the final survivors take back the agency stolen from them. Trim Season leaves audiences with the question of what does power look like when it is in the hands of someone who wants to lift others up rather than lift oneself.
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Jane Balder delivers a positively electric performance as the matriarchal witch in charge of the mountain and the cannabis operations. Initially charming and accommodating, Mona gradually reveals herself to be a menacing presence for the trimmers even before the killing starts. Once it does, Balder flips a switch unveiling an icy venom beneath the motherly persona she dons. Balder goes further as Mona when the third act hits, reveling in Mona’s manipulation, spite, and fury. It’s an electrifying performance that is surely assisted by the rest of the cast’s commitment, but Balder securely positions herself as the villain with aplomb all the same.
Trim Season succeeds in painting the forest red with a strong commitment to disturbing and bloody imagery. Playing with the tropes typically reserved for witch films, Trim Season wades into the terrifying possibilities of their powers. Distinct voodoo dolls paired with violent physical manifestations, devastating rituals, and cursed cannabis; Director Ariel Vida doesn’t mess around with Mona’s powers. While the violence is terrifying, there’s a certain intimacy that Mona crafts through her powers to make the moments beautiful and disturbing all the same. Wrapped in the haze of smoke and murder, Trim Season artfully captures the madness with provocative imagery that unsettles long after the picture fades.
An acquired taste for sure, Trim Season is an excellent indie horror film that balances fright with powerful messages. Its intimate setting, striking visuals, and strong cast elevate this indie feature to great heights making it a standout of 2024’s slate of films. Straightforward, weird, and altogether harrowing, Trim Season isn’t a treat that only cannabis users can appreciate.
Overall Score? 8/10
