Hellcat Review
Hellcat (2025) Film Review from the 29th Annual Fantasia Film Festival, a movie directed by Brock Bodell, written by Brock Bodell, and starring Dakota Gorman, Todd Terry, Liz Atwater, Elise Horn, and Jordan Mullins.
Ever since Rod Serling confounded families in front of their television sets in the early 1960s with his Twilight Zone episode, ‘Five Characters in Search of an Exit,’ filmmakers and artists alike have been using his blueprint to create puzzles out of films. Classics like the low-budget sci-fi thriller Cube and, more recently, James Wan’s culturally defining directorial debut, Saw, have reworked the basic premise from that 1961 episode and created something new. This is the framework that Brock Bodell used to craft his feature-length debut, Hellcat; unfortunately, it is never able to find that enigmatic exit that the character is in search of.
Hellcat begins in the back of a moving camper trailer. We are thrust awake alongside our lead character, Lena (a very strong Dakota Gorman), without knowledge of how or why she was put there. The sound design does much of the heavy lifting in these early scenes and throughout most of the film. The rickety metal and jostling wheels keep the already tight interior space even tighter. After a quick assessment it becomes clear that Lena has been injured, and this is when we meet the voice of her captor, Clive (Toddy Terry).
In a very clever move, Bodell has fashioned the intercom into the mouth of a stuffed wolf mounted on the camper wall. But Clive isn’t like your ordinary kidnapping culprit; he is soft-spoken and trying to aid Lena. He confesses that she was infected with some kind of virus and that his mission is to take her to a doctor. Whether or not Lena believes him, the infected wound on her arm is real. And the infection is spreading.
The film works like a maze as Lena stumbles around searching for truth, searching for the exit. Her mind plays tricks on her along the way by conjuring memories inside the trailer. These scenes are highly effective and haunting. Even in her dreams, Lena cannot escape the tight walls of the camper trailer. Hellcat delivers a compelling second-act twist that isn’t ultimately paid off in the messy third. Discussing it any further would sacrifice the surprise that Bodell has woven into his claustrophobic story.
It’s clear that Bodell knows his way around the camera, and for a feature-length debut, Hellcat is an effective and smart film. He knows where the strength of the picture has to lie and that’s in the performances and sound design. Dakota Gorman is nothing short of sensational as Lena. We are invested in the story from the very beginning because of her harrowing performance. It is essential to the success of Bodell’s riddle.
The other strength in the film is the sound design. Strong sound can make an inexpensive movie like Hellcat feel like a freight train. Because it is heard and not seen, the sound covers every inch of film. Every squeaking screw or pothole in the road is a brushstroke used by Bodell to paint the paranoia of his camper location. The sounds are familiar and even comforting to a degree, but it never lets you forget that this is ultimately a cell we cannot escape from.
The issue for Hellcat is the final act of the story. After a convincing surprise that shifts the outlook of the picture, we are given a cheesy ending that doesn’t land. The movie becomes the riddle itself and the ultimate goal of finding that exit seems more like a shrug than a saving grace. This isn’t to say Hellcat didn’t offer an interesting new take on the ‘character in search of an exit’ trope, but it’s that taste of what could have been that lingers in your mouth after the movie ends.
Rating: 6/10
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