Hellcat Movie Review by Matt Boiselle
Hellcat – directed & written by Brock Bodell, and starring Dakota Gorman, Todd Terry & James Austin Johnson
Released on Shudder August 14th, Hellcat is a nasty little horror/thriller that takes a pretty simple setup and manages to squeeze a surprising amount of tension out of it.
The movie opens with a woman waking up in the back of a moving camper trailer, confused, injured and dealing with a badly infected wound. She’s quickly told by the mysterious voice coming from the truck towing the trailer that she has less than an hour to get to a doctor — otherwise, something horrific is going to happen to her, and from there, the movie wastes very little time putting you right alongside her. I really liked the basic premise here. There’s something inherently unsettling about being trapped in the back of a moving trailer with no idea where you’re going, who you can trust or exactly what is happening to your body. The ticking-clock element also works well because you know there’s a limited amount of time to figure everything out.
Hellcat isn’t trying to reinvent horror, but I don’t think it needs to. It takes a contained concept and focuses on keeping things tense, uncomfortable and unpredictable. There are definitely moments where I found myself wondering exactly where the story was going to take the characters, and that’s always a good thing. The performances from Dakota Gorman, Todd Terry and James Austin Johnson help keep the story moving, particularly as more information begins to come to light. I also appreciated that the movie doesn’t feel like it’s trying to overcomplicate its premise. It knows what kind of movie it wants to be and sticks with it. There are a few places where I thought the movie could have gone a little deeper, and there were moments where I wanted more explanation surrounding some of what was happening. But even with those minor complaints, I had a pretty good time with it.
What I enjoyed most about Hellcat is that it takes a very confined situation and makes it feel increasingly dangerous. You’re basically stuck in that trailer right along with the main character, and that claustrophobic feeling works in the movie’s favor. Is it going to completely blow you away? Probably not. But if you’re looking for a quick, tense horror movie with a creepy premise, some nasty moments and enough mystery to keep you watching, Hellcat is worth giving a shot. A solid little Shudder horror that caught me by surprise. Definitely not perfect, but I enjoyed this one more than I expected to.
