Hunt Her Kill Her
The overhead strip lights going out one by one, the buzzsaws silent and the tang of ozone dissipating while the smell of the sawdust lingers, the lumber mill after dark is a very different place than the working day, full of shadowed nooks and hidden places; her first day as cleaner and janitor, Karen’s induction was brief and brusque but she needs the job, in the midst of a divorce and with a young child to care for, unfortunately ill tonight and a burden upon the babysitter.
Supposedly alone in the mill, emptying the bins Karen sees a black transit van parked out back but sees no reason to investigate further, but the vehicle is not abandoned, masked men later breaking in and chaining the exits so no one can get out. The aim is not a random robbery, for what is there in the mill of significant value, but something far more specific: they are there for Karen, and they want her dead.
The international premiere of Hunt Her Kill Her taking place at FrightFest at the Glasgow Film Festival, directed by Greg Swinson and Ryan Thiessen from a script by Swinson and with Natalie Terrazzino’s Karen the only character whose face is seen for the majority of the film, while also known as Night Shift in some territories the title Misogyny: The Movie might have been more appropriate.
The early encounter with hostile co-workers Mickey and Rusty (Trevor Tucker and Scott Lane) who threaten Karen for daring to prevent her soon-to-be ex-husband Danny (J C Oakley III) from seeing his daughter leaving little doubt as to the motivations in play, a group of incensed men who have agreed and planned to murder a woman most of them barely even know out of a toxic sense of entitlement which bonds them together, no rationale greater than shared hatred.
Karen largely unfamiliar with the expansive site, that lack of familiarity is partially compensated by her smaller size, allowing her to squeeze through narrow passages they are not, but while they are all armed with knives and all she has is a knowledge of cleaning products she is hesitant to use the other potential weapons arrayed around her, nor does she think to use the fire alarm to alert outside authorities; even when she finally opts to use tools she chooses bolt cutters over a hammer, prompting the question: you have two hands, so why not both?
The emphasis on fear and the threat of violence rather than intrigue or character, where Hunt Her Kill Her is successful is in maintaining the constant tension of the situation and in the inventiveness of Karen’s retaliation when she finally does begin to fight back, Swinson and Thiessen’s game of murder in the dark perhaps not ground breaking but certainly more coherent and satisfying than the average mindless slasher movie.
The Glasgow Film Festival has now concluded
