HELLCAT (U.S., 2025)
You’re likely to find much more about the plot of writer/director Brock Bodell’s excellent chiller Hellcat elsewhere online, but my advice to you is simple: Don’t. You’ll want to go along for the ambiguous ride exactly how Bodell envisions it: thrilling, puzzling, and revealing its secrets at a pace calculated for maximum fingernail chewing.
The film starts off in an exciting manner right away, as a young woman named Lena (Dakota Gorman) wakes up trapped inside a strange camper trailer that is speeding down the road. She has an infection that she doesn’t know how she got. Driver Clive (Todd Terry), through an intercom, insists that he is taking her to a hospital to save her life, but events and clues make Lena — and viewers — skeptical of his motives. Let’s leave the plot description at that.
Suffice it to say that Bodell has many surprises and well-played turns that ratchet up the suspense straight through to the climax, and nightmarish visions come into play. The pacing is terrific, and the visuals are fantastic. Gorman is outstanding in a performance that requires a wide range of emotions for her complex character as Lena tries to bargain with Clive, goes feral in her frustrations and fears about being kidnapped, and as she experiences quieter moments of reflection. Terry makes for a fine foil, and gets a chance to shine beyond being simply a mysterious voice on the other end of a speaker.
Hellcat is a heck of a roller coaster ride. Highly recommended, it is destined for a spot on my list of top 10 horror films of 2025.
I LIVE HERE NOW (U.S., 2025)
In writer/director Julie Pacino’s debut feature at the helm I Live Here Now, Rose (Lucy Fry) is a struggling actress who is being given an opportunity for a big break by top agent Cindy Abrams (Cara Seymour). An unexpected situation involving her casual boyfriend Travis (Matt Rife) may make that opportunity go south, and matters only get worse when his overbearing mother Martha (Sheryl Lee) sticks her nose into the couple’s business, after which Rose checks herself into a decidedly bizarre hotel.
Pacino crafts a surreal odyssey for Rose that evokes Lynchian dreamlike fantastical elements and lighting that pays a nod to Argento’s classic fright fare offerings. Cinematographer Aron Meinhardt, shooting on 35mm with 16mm inserts, wonderfully captures the rich color palette of the film. Fry gives a bravura performance as a young woman surrounded by weird circumstances and odd staff members Ada (Lara Clear) and Sid (Sarah Rich) and peculiar guests of the hotel, none more so than Lillian (Madeline Brewer). I Live Here Now is an intriguing debut for Pacino, who obviously knows her way around a surreal cinematic story steeped in the strange.
Hellcat and I Live Here Now screen as part of Fantasia 2025, which takes place from July 16–August 3 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
