Hellcat - Movie Review

The Movie: Hellcat

The Director: Brock Bodell

The Cast: Dakota Gorman, Todd Terry, James Austin Johnson, Liz Atwater, Jordan Mullins, Elise Gilbert, and Janey Ivey

The Story: A woman wakes in the back of a moving camper trailer with a badly infected wound. A voice from the truck towing it tells her they must reach a doctor within the hour or she'll suffer a horrific fate.

The Rating: 7 / 10

The Review:

I always love when I get to see what a director can do with the first feature film, knowing all of the hard work, logistics, funding, and all the other details that go into the production process. Managing all of that while still being able to focus on the creative process and the story that you are trying to tell seems like it would take a crazy amount of effort and energy, so I applaud anyone who is willing to take all of that on. With Hellcat, Brock Bodell has come up with a very interesting take on the world of horror movie monsters and in a way that kept me guessing and wanting to know more.

One of the best things a storyteller can do is to not answer all of the questions that are brought up and Bodell does a great job of introducing his world while really only tapping into the surface of what's possible and available. There are seeds planted and hints of a larger world that can be explored and Bodell also keeps the audience guessing on whether or not what is hinted at is even true or not. Of course, I won't go into the details of what I mean there because spoilers but yeah, this is a horror movie dealing with the potential of monsters, conspiracies, serial killers, and lots of other fun stuff.

Dakota Gorman, who has mostly done work on TV shows and in short films, takes the lead here as the woman trapped in the camper trailer and, for most of the film, is acting by herself which I would think might add a challenging element to the performance. Gorman is definitely the star of the show as she weaves her character through some pretty wild scenarios and transformations over the course of the movie. Todd Terry, who you may recognize from his starring role in the Vindication TV series as detective Travis, is also on board although in a much more mysterious role, one where you never quite know if his intentions are true or coming from a more sinister place.

With a solid cast in place that also includes Saturday Night Live alum James Austin Johnson, who I think plays a podcast/radio show host, and Liz Atwater, who has some experience in the horror genre, the story is set up pretty nicely. I also like that the movie is very much a psychological horror thriller so the focus is more on the characters and the acting than any sort of CGI or other types of effects work. The whole movie is just a well thought out and nicely balanced effort and I really wouldn't mind seeing this story continued in some form or another.

Thank you for reading this review, especially for all of my fellow horror fans out there. Hellcat will be an exclusive release on the Shudder streaming platform which has tons of great genre movies from classics to new releases. This isn't a paid promo for Shudder; I just really like the service and all the content they offer. Maybe I should look into some sort of sponsorship with them. lol