Back in the mid-nineties, before the internet took off and streaming platforms were even an idea, network television ruled the airwaves, and the world-premiere network movies and multi-night mini-series were landmark events. As an impressionable youngster, this was how I’d get my regular fix of Stephen King-adapted horror. But, on occasion, you’d also get something like John Woo’s Once a Thief remake, the first-ever X-Men movie, Generation-X,  and, one time, we got the best adaptation of a Dean Koontz novel to date, when John C. McGinley took Molly Parker on an RV road trip that cannot be forgotten in Intensity. McGinley played a serial killer who invades the home of Parker’s friend’s family during their Thanksgiving dinner, killing them all while Parker hid in the murderer’s RV, finding herself trapped when he jumps back in the driver’s seat. So, I got goosebumps when Brock Bodell’s Hellcat began.

Hellcat opens on Lena (Dakota Gorman) waking up in a camper with no earthly knowledge of why she’s there, or how. She looks around, noticing the windows are blacked out and, despite the camper rolling down the road, she tries the door, discovering that it’s been locked shut from the outside. Lena’s adrenaline spikes, and so does the audience’s. Like anyone trapped in this situation, Lena’s first instinct is to make noise and find a weapon. Suddenly, the voice of a man is heard through a mounted wolf head in the camper, but it isn’t the cold, deep-toned sound of a voice scrambler being projected. It’s just a man named Clive (Todd Terry) trying to talk to Lena calmly.

The juxtaposition from what’s expected is a fantastic touch, with atmosphere so thick you could choke on it. Your eyes are glued to the screen as the story propels forward, with Lena asking the right questions after waking up in a strange place without her autonomy. Who are you? Can we pull over? etc., trying to get Clive to acknowledge her abduction, and maybe let her go. However, Clive vaguely explains that he has to take her to a doctor, calling attention to a wound on her arm that looks infected. But is this a Good Samaritan misunderstanding, or is Clive manipulating Lena to keep her compliant?

Bodell sets us on the precipice of two bad outcomes. Either what Clive is saying is true and Lena’s health is at risk, or he’s flat out lying, and what lies at the end of the road is any number of bad things you’ve heard about happening to abducted women. So, how do you decipher the truth? Lena begins looking for evidence, facts, whatever she can concretely discern about her situation and the voice of the wolf. For as clear as the picture often is, it’s always a little obscured, and we begin to get an idea of the subtextual elements in Hellcat.

You don’t know what you don’t know, and with Lena waking up unaware of how or why she’s been trapped in a camper, she’s forced to either trust her instincts or the voice of the man touting veiled racist talking points of right-wing media conspiracies. Be that as it may, Clive’s voice is sincere about what’s happening, making it difficult to determine Clive’s intentions.

Hellcat presents two very different people with very different critical thinking skillsets on this trip. Bodell puts these two together in a volatile situation where the sources of information on both sides are very different. Lena has to trust her senses to gather information, whereas Clive is being led to believe all manner of the unbelievable from his radio. But just because Lena can rationalize every bit of information she’s finding, the truth isn’t always something you can see, and seeing isn’t always believing.

Bodell utilizes an exceptionally taut storyline to tell a story about the power of journalism, breaking it down to the literal and the fantastic. Some of you might not remember, but there was a time when conspiracy theories used to be a fun excursionary exercise in irrational thinking. People used to ponder the existence of Bigfoot and Tessie, and consider flat-earth theories as a counter-perspective to the natural order and against intrinsic information. But now the internet argues about lizard people and whether or not birds are real with contentiousness and conviction, convinced such things exist, and nothing is going to change their minds on the subject. Bodell considers the antagonistic perspective, but does so with compassion rather than mockery and disdain. As if to say the system has failed people like Clive, and they’re a product of their environment.

Regardless, Clive thinks he’s helping. A notion I want to believe is alive in most people, even if not everyone agrees on everything. But, for as much as I, like Lena, would love to believe a good-natured man is on the other end of the wolf’s head, I still have reservations about where the film’s political subtext ends up. The film’s finale adds heat to the conversation a little, as new characters fill in the missing pieces of the duelling argument. Clive isn’t above listening to reason, though others like Jordan Mullins’ Officer Crump are more likely to buy into the fear tactics sensationalized by the media he and Clive are consuming. I suppose it’s nice to assume that some people can still consider the other side of the argument, or at least see past it, but that’s a far cry from what is reflected by our online opinions.

All in all, I think the first part of the film is exceptionally well done. Dakota Gorman gives one hell of a performance throughout, and Bodell’s shot list makes Hellcat very claustrophobic. The “that’s for me to know and you to find out” slow trust building through the symbolic wolf head is ultimately more magnetically compelling, a cat and mouse game of retention under a speculative gaze of clue-finding and tense questioning. The nuance and its potential to shock and unnerve the audience with little bits of information are revealed staggeredly as the two face off. It makes for a better film up until the transition to the final act, when the film shifts. While I think a shift is necessary for the third act, the last part of Hellcat is a little undercooked.

I think the film loses a lot of its steam in trying to shade victimization onto an ignorant and misinformed society, through a kidnapping with shades of the female autonomy argument present. While I admire the idea that it’s easy to get confused about what the right thing is at a time when entertainment and political discourse are combined, Hellcat just doesn’t find its subtextual footing. Nevertheless, it is an entertaining horror picture, even if it doesn’t reach its full potential.