When I saw the trailer for Hellcat, I was about 80% sure that it was some sort of werewolf film. Apparently, I had it backward. It’s about 20% a werewolf film. And a very different kind of werewolf film, at that.
For most of the runtime, this is “just” a bit of a character study, of two characters, in a situation where neither the characters nor the viewers know everything about either character. It’s a rocky road to discovery… which is exactly what makes this film interesting.
Even our main character, Lena, starts out the film with little memory of how she got into the situation she’s in. Through the first half, as some memories start to come back–though not always the ones she wants–we learn a bit more about her life.
Meanwhile, the other core character, Clive, spends a good hunk of that same portion of the film as just a voice over a speaker. His character type seems a bit more obvious at first, but there ends up being nuance with that in the long run, which is nice to see.
Aside from Lena and Clive, there are two other active characters and one more who’s more or less a passive character, there to tie some things together and provide a little more unpleasant twist to the situation as a whole.
So, this is very much not your typical horror film, let alone your typical werewolf film. Which, I suppose, is one of the reasons for it’s generally low rating on IMDB. This definitely isn’t a flick for everyone. You have to be willing to commit to the ride and, more importantly, the uncertainty and vague trail of a plot that brings with it.
I found the performances, especially Dakota Gorman as Lena, to be really solid. Her physical acting in a number of the sequences is great and really ups the genuine drama of things. It also keeps the “werewolf” question very much alive… in the more typical sense of things.
The “werewolf question” as a whole, when it’s done well, is really about internal nature vs perceived nature. It’s about internal conflict with external expectations. It’s about human nature vs beast nature. And, yeah, it’s about human forms and animal forms… but that’s far from the main part of the question dealt with here.
Instead, Hellcat deals with the more esoteric questions and it does it in interesting ways. In that, it’s more like Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man from last year (except without much of an effects budget and set between two strangers on an unpleasant road trip).
Can’t say I care much for the title, though… even after we know where it comes from, it’s still not a great title overall. I’m a little curious if they came up with the title first or had the explanation already written, or if they had a different title in mind and then found out they had to name it something else and just pulled this one from dialog.
Anyway, it’s definitely not going to land for everyone. But I ended up really liking it.
- Hellcat – October 6, 2026
- Carrie (1976) – October 5, 2026
- The Love Witch – October 4, 2026
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