HELLCAT, debuting today on Shudder, has a grabber of an opening. A woman named Lena (Dakota Gorman) wakes up to find herself imprisoned in a camper trailer motoring down nighttime back roads. Its driver (Todd Terry), speaking to her through a PA system, tells her that she has been infected with a virulent disease, and he has an hour to get her medical attention before she succumbs. Is he telling the truth, and does he actually have her best interests at heart?
Those questions fuel an inventive and consistently tense viewing experience that leads to a major revelation in the film’s second half that sends the story spinning in new and scary directions. HELLCAT is an auspicious debut for writer/director Brock Bodell, and RUE MORGUE spoke to him, Gorman and producer/cinematographer Andrew Duensing following the movie’s world premiere at last year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.
Did the idea for HELLCAT begin with the reveal and you worked backwards, or did you just start with a woman in a trailer and work forward from there?
BROCK BODELL: It was a woman in a trailer. My wife and I were in a Home Depot parking lot, and for a solid couple of months, I’d been thinking, how can we do a super-low-budget film? I had this perpetual sense of waiting for people to give me the green light, and I was like, “You know what? I’m going to force something into the world.” I was talking with my wife about it, and in that moment, I looked over and there was a U-Haul moving truck that you could rent for like 20 bucks. And I was like, “You know what would be wild, is if someone just woke up in the back of that.” That would be terrifying, if the film started with someone just waking up in a place where they don’t know how they got there or why they’re there. And they’ve got a horrible wound, and suddenly someone’s talking to them, another person who’s basically in control of their destiny. And we’re trying to figure that out as we go along.
How did you find the right trailer to use?
BODELL: You know, I looked for this trailer for months, and I always wanted it to be some sort of Airstream-type thing. I was searching on Facebook Marketplace and going to look at trailers, and trying to find the most gnarly-looking one. And I found one, like, three blocks from my house. This guy had had it in his backyard for like five years. He was like, “I’m trying to renovate it. I’ll sell it to you for this amount of money.” And I was like, “That’s a little bit much. This thing is a piece of shit. I mean, it’s a piece of shit in a good way, but it could fall apart while we’re on it.”
Then I asked, “Do you like movies?” He was like, “Yeah.” “Do you like horror movies?” “Yeah.” “Can you come down on your price? Because I’m going to shoot a horror movie in this.” And he said, “Actually, yes.” So he sold it to me super-cheap. And as soon as we released the HELLCAT teaser, I was like, “Here’s your trailer.” And he was like, “I cannot believe you guys made a movie in the back of that thing that was just rotting in my backyard.”
ANDREW DUENSING: And every time we moved it from a location, it was this kind of panic situation. Everybody was like, “Is it going to make it?”
BODELL: And we were shaking it the entire time, because we weren’t on the road when we’re filming [the driving scenes], we were in the studio. And I’d be watching people literally shaking the trailer, seeing things kind of start coming apart. And Dakota would come out, and I’d say, “You did a great job. Just don’t step right here [everyone laughs], because that might be over for the movie.”
Working in that confined space must have posed challenges in keeping up the visual variety, building the performance intensity, etc. Could you each talk about that experience?
BODELL: They were in the trailer more than I was, because there literally was no space for me to be on there.
DAKOTA GORMAN: I would say it was like the best office job I’ve ever had [laughs], because I was showing up to the same space every day for a set number of hours. So it was familiar in that way. I personally don’t have any issues with proximity, and it gave us an opportunity to bond in a way that a lot of people don’t bond on sets, because that proximity is very rare. It never felt monotonous, because I feel like the trailer is its own character in the film. It goes through a transformation, so to speak, through deciding on certain shots and production design things—the beads were a big one, seeing how that changed. So every day it was like this familiar space was evolving in a new way.
DUENSING: It was one of those things where we knew going into it, we had, what was it, 40 square feet to work with, and we were going to be in there the whole time. It all started with Lena’s experience in the trailer. We knew that if we followed her journey, it was like, she doesn’t know where she is, right? So at the start, you’re with her and kind of exploring it. We knew that different parts of the space were where these emotional beats would happen, or where she would go to collect herself.
We had such a short time to film that we had to design everything ahead of time. We knew were going to have to go, go, go. And then at the end of the day, we did all that work and then Dakota walked on the set and did whatever she did, and we had to follow it. In some ways, being in a small space is actually very freeing, because it forces you to think differently about scale and lighting.
GORMAN: The challenge, especially in act one of this script, was that the situation is so intense, but I knew where the film ends up, and didn’t want to start too heightened because of where it goes. So Brock and I worked with this fun kind of grounded, angsty rapport, and we were able to build from there. As far as keeping the intensity up, I think I just had a lot of internal rage [laughs], so this film was super-cathartic. It was cool, because so often in life, we’re trying to like soothe ourselves through things. I’m not going around just screaming madly. And it was such a fun opportunity to play and do that. I got this opportunity to be totally feral and wild, and I loved every second of it.
DUENSING: Day two, I remember, I was really impressed by the makeup department and some of the bruises they were doing. And then realized, no, that’s not makeup, Dakota’s just going all out.
You are covered in blood and sweat and so forth throughout the movie. Was it fun to work with makeup and effects like that?
GORMAN: Absolutely. Horror films, I have such a deep love for them, as a viewer and now as a participant. After this, I’m like, that’s all I want to do. There’s something about the physicality that I find so immersive. The one thing that was challenging was a lot of times, that wasn’t sweat, because we were keeping the set cool, so they were spraying me with water, and I was freezing. It would be, you know, 6 or 7 a.m., and I just woke up, and it was like, “Put this super-mildewed shirt on that you’ve been wearing the entire time.” But, well, that’s what Lena’s experiencing. Her clothes are disgusting. So it was cool to live that life. I like being messy and gritty, so it was the perfect alignment.
For the role of the driver, you needed an actor who would be defined by just his voice for a good portion of the film. So was it all about voice casting first?
BODELL: No. I mean, I knew that he was going to eventually be on screen. So we got everyone to do their sides on camera. But the moment Todd started talking, it was like, that’s the guy. It was his voice and his look; he has this fatherly tone. And that was the most important part to me for his character.
A late-night radio call-in show is a key component of HELLCAT. Are you a fan of that kind of program, and were there any specific examples that informed the one you created for the film?
BODELL: Sure. I mean, Art Bell was an obvious inspiration for that. But like any filmmaker, I put a lot of my personal experience into my movies, and I worked at college radio for a long time; my college’s call letters are in there. I’ve always enjoyed films like THE FOG and PONTYPOOL, where late-night DJs play key parts. There’s something so romantic to me about the late-night DJ, just sitting in a dark room with a little light on the microphone—that has always had a special place in my heart.
Without getting into spoiler territory, HELLCAT transitions from one kind of horror trope to another at a certain point, so can you talk about making that switch and pulling variations on classic genre themes?
BODELL: So, OK, I’m trying to think of what I can say and not reveal it. But there’s a thing that happens where it was so important to be steeped in Lena’s perspective. When she doesn’t know what’s happening, it’s a horrible scenario, waking up in this trailer and so on. She’s going through this very intense experience, to then finally have the information given to her about why she’s there. Ultimately, the answer as to why this is all happening to her is absolutely insane in this world, because this is a grounded world as far as we know, and as far as she lives in it. So when that is revealed, it is totally bizarre, and it makes everything else feel even more hard to believe for her. And it’s just like, OK, I’m dealing with a crazy person, and now things are really scary.
Dakota, you mentioned that you’re a horror fan. Is this your first lead in a genre film?
GORMAN: It is, yeah. I’ve done some horror-esque things throughout my career, like a State Farm commercial where I’m being chased through the woods, and I’m like, “You dropped your purse with your insurance,” and I did an episode of TEEN WOLF. So I knew I liked acting in horror, but as an actor, at least at the stage I was at, you don’t get to choose what audition comes your way. But the second I got this one, I was like, I am in! I didn’t even read the side, I was just so hyped, and I had so much fun in that audition. And it was really important to me. Like, I would want to watch Lena’s character, even if it wasn’t me playing her. She takes agency. She doesn’t let her fear break her. I think we can be inspired by the people we see in movies, even if it’s a horror film, so that’s what I wanted to bring to it. Horror is something I hope to maintain for a long time, and that I’m actively working to stay relevant in.
