Film Review - Hunt Her, Kill Her (2022)

Hunt Her, Kill Her is a cat and mouse thriller which sees one woman desperately fighting for her life one fateful night.

Directed by Ryan Thiessen, the film follows Karen (Natalie Terrazzino). Struggling to make ends meet as a single mother, Karen takes a night shift as a janitor at a large furniture warehouse, reluctantly leaving her young daughter with an unreliable babysitter. After being briefly shown the ropes, Karen is left by herself. When she spots a strange vehicle outside and then a delivery man unexpectedly turns up asking suspicious questions, Karen realises that she is no longer alone. As the warehouse is invaded by a group of men, it quickly becomes clear that Karen is who they are looking for and they have no intentions of leaving her alive.

It is always fascinating to see how one location horrors play out and Hunt Her, Kill Her has an interesting set up. Whilst the warehouse itself is not necessarily that striking visually, what it does allow for is lots of space – meaning there are lots of places for Karen’s attackers to chase her and in turn lots of places for her to try and hide. The downside of this solitary location is that at times it does look and feel slightly repetitive.

Hunt Her, Kill Her will certainly appeal to those who like their horror to get straight to the action as the audience doesn’t have to wait too long for the carnage to begin. The flip side of this is that the story is only surface level, and the audience doesn’t get to know much about the characters. The film does make a good effort at letting the audience know a little bit about Karen, but these are baseline facts that mostly serve as salient points to later plot points – for example Karen has a difficult relationship with her tempestuous ex-husband. With that in mind, Hunt Her, Kill Her sets up certain reveals so obviously that when they are later delivered as twists, it just doesn’t quite work.

Another difficulty with Hunt Her, Kill Her is that it is extremely misogynistic. Karen is threatened by two male employees earlier in the film where a sexual threat is strongly implied and then the rest of the film sees her taunted, hunted and abused by the male attackers. It may be that the film itself is trying to make a statement on modern misogyny but unfortunately that message is lost in the violence. Hunt Her, Kill Her is not a particularly fun watch with only one moment of slight comic relief (that is still rather grim).

Terrazzino is a good lead but overall she feels like the only bright point in a rather dark film. Hunt Her, Kill Her is an interesting watch for those who are superfans of one location horrors, but it has little to offer elsewhere.