‘Hellcat’ review: Claustrophobic US horror sees woman trapped in Airstream trailer

Dir/scr: Brock Bodell. US. 2025. 91mins.

Twenty-something Lena (Dakota Gorman) wakes to find herself locked in an Airstream trailer, being towed through the middle of nowhere. The disembodied voice of the vehicle’s owner, speaking from a truck up front, reassures her that he is “a good man”. He is, he claims, saving her life from a mysterious infection. But his collection of lurid conspiracy theorist literature, the blacked-out windows and the oozing wound on Lena’s arm casts doubt on his credibility. It is a neat and nasty premise, although the debut feature from editor-turned-director Brock Bodell loses some of its woozy, claustrophobic tension once the action moves beyond the trailer. Still, it is a murkily atmospheric work driven by a compelling turn from Gorman.

 There is little in the final section that matches the picture’s unsettling opening

Bodell’s credits include short film Grief and extensive work as an editor. Notably, he cut Rob Schroeder’s feature Ultrasound, which premiered at Tribeca 2021 before screening at Fantasia and others. Hellcat follows that film to Fantasia and should enjoy further exposure at genre-skewed events, although hardcore horror aficionados might wish for a more gung-ho approach to gore and practical effects. This could be a title of interest for specialist distributors, but it is more likely to find a home on a streaming platform.

It takes a while for Lena to register where she is after regaining consciousness. The camera swims around the interior of the trailer, buffeted by the movement as it is towed and focusing on each disorientating detail as if it might provide a clue. Is there a hint to the nature of her plight in the World’s Greatest Dad mug that swings from a hook in the kitchenette? The dog-eared photos tacked to a cupboard? The hypodermic syringes in the fridge? Or in the box of bullets?

Her priority, though, is to check for injuries – there is a bandage on her upper arm and snaking veins of black radiating from the wound. Not surprisingly, Lena assumes the worst. And the strident score and clattering sound design (this Airstream, with its percussive bead curtains and rattle of fittings, sounds as though it is shaking to pieces as it moves) add to the sense of threat.

The voice of the abductor warns Lena to keep her heart rate down and that there is no saving her once the poisoned black arteries reach her heart. The fact his voice appears to come from a stuffed fox’s head mounted on the wall does not make the situation any less sinister (creepy taxidermy does a fair bit of heavy lifting in the ominous scene-setting department). But the alarm bells ramp up a notch when Lena realises there is someone else locked in the trailer – a young woman caged behind a padlocked door, in a dark room equipped with a bloodstained mattress and metal shackles. Lena attempts to free her but the man, whose name is Clive (Todd Terry), bursts into the trailer, with some urgency, to intervene.

It is fairly obvious what the nature of Lena’s condition might turn out to be even before Clive phones in to a late-night radio show catering to cranks and nutjobs. There are glitchy flashbacks as her memory returns, psychedelic shots that seem to show something mutating within her on a cellular level. 

Like many horror pictures, Hellcat suffers from diminishing returns: the more that is learned about Lena’s plight and the nature of her abductor, the less frightening it becomes. An additional threat, in the form of a character whose arrival triggers the third-act climax, adds a little spice, as does the revelation that Lena is pregnant. But there is little in the final section that matches the picture’s unsettling, oppressively tense opening.