HELLCAT
Filmmaker Brock Bodell brings his debut feature, HELLCAT, a genre-bending horror, to Fantasia 2025. Discussing HELLCAT is difficult without spoilers, which is always a compliment in my book. The basics (and I use that term loosely) are this: Lena wakes up groggy to discover she is being held captive in the back of a trailer. A man’s voice comes over the intercom to inform her that she must see a doctor to survive. Lena’s panic increases once she discovers the man has her phone and she isn’t feeling well.
Is Clive gaslighting Lena, or are we being duped? The first half of the film almost exclusively features Lena on camera. As the terror ramps up and Clive comes into view, the film was already on 10, and then things get weirder. Bodell uses quick-takes, vingette flashbacks, and personal interactions from Lena’s memories and imagination, each lit in a specific neon color. It is a striking device. The audience must decipher the information in real-time with Lena.
Liz Atwater deserves applause for her role, but for the sake of the journey, I won’t say anything more. Todd Terry gives Clive a notable balance of paranoia and fear. It has a solid 10 Cloverfield vibe, with Terry playing the John Goodman role, a would-be savior with perhaps ulterior motives. The audience goes on a rollercoaster of emotions with Terry.
Dakota Gorman astounds in the lead role. It’s a performance that lands somewhere between Jules Willcox in Alone and Farrah Fawcett in Extremities. She easily carries the first half of the film, often with little dialogue. She is mesmerising.
Production design is incredibly detailed inside the trailer. The soundtrack is fantastic. Handheld camerawork from Andrew Duensing is thrilling. It is Bodell’s script that holds you captive. Lena’s relationship with grief becomes an unexpected emotional stronghold. Genre aside, the film comes from a place of transformation and new beginnings.
In 2021, Ultrasound was a complete mindfuck for Fantasia audiences, and Bodell’s editing was key to its madness. HELLCAT is yet another genre-bending whirlwind. Bodell understands horror structure and has given audiences a doozy. You will never guess where this is going. The finale is more bonkers than your brain could fathom, and yet it’s flawless. HELLCAT is a 90-minute freight train of organized chaos.
HELLCAT Teaser Trailer:
Screenings at Fantasia International Film Festival:
HELLCAT / World Premiere at Fantasia
Date: Friday, July 25th
Time: 6:45 PM
Location: Salle J.A. De Sève
1400 de, Maisonneuve Blvd W. Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8, Canada
HELLCAT / 2nd Screening at Fantasia
Date: Sunday, July 27th
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: Salle J.A. De Sève
1400 de, Maisonneuve Blvd W. Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8, Canada
HELLCAT
World Premiering at Fantasia International Film Festival on July 25
Synopsis: Lena wakes up in a moving camper trailer with a horrifying wound. She’s warned by the driver that they have one hour to get to a doctor, or she’ll succumb to an unimaginably awful fate. As the pain sets in and reality begins to fray, who should really be afraid? Dakota Gorman (Natural Disasters) delivers a blistering performance in this tense, mind-bending horror where survival cuts both ways.
Studio: Blue Finch Films
Director/Writer: Brock Bodell
Producer/Director of Photography: Andrew Duensing
Cast: Dakota Gorman, Todd Terry, Liz Atwater, Jordan Mullins, James Austin Johnson
Genre: Horror
Run Time: 91 Minutes
The complete nonchalance of the residents sets the tone for HOLD THE FORT. Nagley delivers over-the-top characters and laugh-out-loud one-liners from beginning to end. Creature builds are super fun, practical FX are decent, mostly throwing buckets of blood on Lucas, and one gnarly gunshot wound. Colored lights delineate each monster in a fashion similar to the 2000s Syfy network, and it is a perfect match for the film’s subgenre. The score reminds me of Ren and Stimpy, and that’s the best way to describe it.
Fast-paced editing and augmented sound effects keep you engaged from the first frame. The concept combines the adrenaline of SAW and SPEED, but it’s funnier and inevitably much darker. The soundtrack is fantastic. Gregory Turbellier‘s camerawork is immersive and sharp.
Leading players Hus Miller (who also co-writes) and Cam McHarg have fiery chemistry, each delivering fully flushed-out characters even if we know the most basic information about them. They make a great on-screen team. I would love to see this entire crew create more projects together.
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