Forbidden Fruits’ Victoria Pedretti is an under-appreciated horror movie star
- Carla Davis
- 16 hours ago
- 3 min read
Even fans of horror movies may not recognize the name Victoria Pedretti…but you definitely should. Pedretti’s most recent horror film is Forbidden Fruits, now streaming on Shudder, but she has plenty of other high quality horror under her belt.
Her first big role was in Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, and prior to that, she had only appeared in a couple of short films. But her portrayal of the sad, grieving Nell made people sit up and take notice.
Nell was the youngest of the five Crain children, and though we learn that she is dead at the end of the first episode, thanks to Hill House’s back and forth in time format, we still got to learn her story from childhood until her tragic end.
Nell was haunted her entire life by a vision she called “the bent-neck lady”, and the final reveal of who that lady was is one of the very best shock twists in horror. On the off chance some of you haven’t yet watched The Haunting of Hill House, I won’t give that twist away, but trust me when I say Pedretti’s acting performance will break your heart and make you cry. She also is the cause of a GREAT jump scare. Also, just watch the series!
Next up was the Netflix series You, in which she played Love Quinn in the second and third seasons. At first we think Love is just a sweet, normal young woman who falls in love with the obsessive Joe. But when he returns the feelings, we start to learn more about Love – and she may just be his equal when it comes to obsession.
Ultimately, Love turned out to be an entirely different type of character than that of Nell, and it allowed Pedretti to show her range.
Victoria Pedretti made a return appearance to the Netflix "Haunting of" series in 2020
Pedretti acted in a few non-horror projects before she again worked for Mike Flanagan, this time in The Haunting of Bly Manor. While it was not nearly as popular as Hill House, it was still a good series, and her performance as au pair Dani was brilliant. Traumatized by the death of her fiancée immediately after she broke up with him, Dani continued to relive the event, even while falling for Bly manor’s gardener Jamie. The trauma was only increased by the ghosts that haunted Bly Manor.
It’s worth noting that even critics who panned Bly Manor tended to praise Pedretti’s acting performance, and that recognition was well-deserved.
After a few non-horror films and appearances on and off-Broadway, Pedretti took on her next horror role, that of Cherry in Shudder’s Forbidden Fruits. It’s sort of a Heathers if the all-girl clique were witches, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
Apple, Cherry, and Fig are three young women who work at a trendy mall clothing boutique called Free Eden. The three are witches, and they recruit a new girl, Pumpkin, to join them. But Pumpkin is keeping a secret, and starts to gather dirt on the other three.
While Apple is the lead character, Pedretti’s portrayal of Cherry is pretty much a scene-stealer. With bouncy blond hair and a squeaky “dumb blonde” voice, she is almost unrecognizable.
During her eight years acting in horror movies, Victoria Pedretti has shown a remarkable range, and I always look forward to watching any film or series that she is part of.
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