I love it when a movie catches me off guard, and writer / director Brock Bodell’s “Hellcat” did just that. This seemingly straightforward abduction thriller is really something much stranger, darker, and far more unpredictable, and I was instantly captivated for the duration of the ride.
Lena (Dakota Gorman) wakes up inside a moving camper trailer with a horrifying wound and no memory of how she got there. The man driving is Clive (Todd Terry), who tells her they have one hour to reach a doctor before something unimaginably awful happens to her. Sounds simple enough, right? Not really.
As Lena tries to figure out what’s going on, the trailer starts to feel less like a means of getting her to safety and more like a moving prison. She finds disturbing clues that make Clive look less like her rescuer and more like a sadistic serial killer. The audience only learns what’s going on through Lena’s eyes, and it’s so effective. That’s where the movie really starts messing with you. Is Clive telling the truth? Is he completely insane? Or is Lena in even more danger than she realizes?
The script does a great job of keeping those questions alive. Lena’s worsening physical condition brings on hallucinations and fractured memories, so even she can’t trust what she’s seeing. Just when I thought I had the movie figured out, Bode would pull the rug out again. There are some genuinely great surprises here, including a few twists that knocked me off my chair.
A huge part of what makes the film work is the setting and atmosphere. Putting so much of the movie inside a confined camper trailer creates a wonderfully claustrophobic atmosphere. There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and the fact that the vehicle never stops moving makes the situation feel even more unsettling. Bodell makes good use of that limited space, mixing flashbacks, hallucinations, and some bold third act turns that keep the tension high.
Gorman is excellent as Lena. She gives the character a physicality that makes her pain and fear feel immediate, but there’s also a lot going on emotionally beneath the surface. As Lena slowly goes from helpless captive to someone fighting to take control of her own survival, the movie becomes about more than simply escaping Clive. It starts digging into trauma, memory, and the psychological wounds that can be just as difficult to survive as the physical ones. I also really liked how the relationship between Lena and Clive develops. It could have easily stayed in familiar kidnapping thriller territory, but the story keeps complicating their dynamic until you’re not entirely sure who you should be afraid of.
A solid horror thriller with a good script, strong performances, and enough twists to keep you guessing until the end, “Hellcat” is intense, weird, claustrophobic, and packed with surprises. It takes some big swings, and most of them land. If you like horror that keeps you guessing and doesn’t mind bending the rules a little, this is definitely worth checking out.
By: Louisa Moore
