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HELLCAT

Starring: Dakota Gorman, Todd Terry, Liz Atwater, and James Austin Johnson
Director: Brock Bodell

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This film has been reviewed by Nick and Quentin as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival.

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NICK

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Although Hellcat is a noticeably lower budget production, it makes up for that with its twisty storytelling. What starts off as an abduction thriller, soon reveals itself as more than meets the eye, especially as you learn these characters’ motivations. For a film so heavily focused on its characters, I would have liked to see some stronger performances (nothing stands out either positively or negatively), but the strength of the story was enough to keep me invested. At times it’s like an extended episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? or Goosebumps, but for my first film of Fantasia, I can't complain too much.

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QUENTIN

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More than any other genre, chamber pieces only go as far as the characters and plotting will take you because those aspects are so front and center. There is no extra fluff to hide behind if those two things don’t work. So, since neither are particularly compelling in Hellcat, the movie falters. It attempts a scenario similar to 10 Cloverfield Lane, in which you don’t know who to believe, but the story isn’t balanced well enough to make the viewer invested in either side, a problem furthered by the bland characterizations. This ultimately results in a final reveal that generates shrugs more than anything else.

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