What would you do to save someone you love? This is the question in Cherry Tree, an Irish horror film about a teenage girl, her dying father, and a witch’s offer: have a baby for me, and I’ll heal your dad. The plot is decently executed and finely paced. The coven’s peculiar mythos is well-established, but the film relied on a few title cards of text at the start to do so. It’s a real shame since so much was done in-story that this felt unnecessary in hindsight. The gore and effects are mostly convincing, and ramp up right along with the plot making for some great work in the third act. However, there’s a few CG choices and at least one shot of what I’m 90% sure was deli meat that took me out of it a bit. In the end, Cherry Tree is an interesting take on the familiar premise of witches, the devil, and pregnancy.
