There’s an adage in art that working within constraints can often produce something greater than what you originally set out to create, as those limitations force you to get extra creative in working around them. Restricting settings and using what you have in terms of production value can sometimes illuminate areas of creativity that broader, more expansive approaches might overlook. Brock Brodell’s streamlined and claustrophobic Hellcat—a film that does an awful lot with very little—is one such creative venture, showcasing both the strength of embracing constraints and the dangers of diverging from them.
Lena wakes up confused, in agonizing pain from an inexplicable wound, and—strangest of all—confined in a moving van. Her only communication with the driver comes through a speaker, as he informs her that they have to get her to a hospital within an hour before… something even worse happens. Thus begins a ninety-minute exercise in keeping the action (mostly) confined to a single, stifling space as our protagonist struggles to come to terms with her horrifying predicament.
Dakota Gorman and Todd Terry, as Lena and Clive respectively, form the emotional core of the film. Lena’s toughness and resolve quickly endear her to the audience, while Clive’s mysterious motivations make him harder to pin down. The actual dilemma the two face is intriguing but almost secondary—though it does add a distinctive touch that sets the film apart from the typical “bad guy kidnaps young woman” formula. Despite its minimalism, Hellcat offers moments of quietly unsettling imagery (a wolf’s head speaker, anyone?) that elevate it above its less adventurous peers. Likewise, the hook of Lena’s survival depending on her keeping her heart rate low—paired with the relentless one-hour deadline—gives the film the feeling of a fuse burning toward a horrible explosion. As the story unfolds, it’s never far from the viewer’s mind how much time has elapsed and how little remains.
Hellcat is the kind of movie many people claim isn’t made anymore—urgent, tense, and oozing with a restrained but very real fear about what will happen to its characters. It stumbles briefly once Lena escapes the van but quickly regains its footing as the story becomes even more unhinged. Overall, it’s a welcome departure from the run-of-the-mill horror films we see today.
