‘Hunt Her, Kill Her’ Review: A Film That Warns Us About Taking the Night Shift

Low-tier jobs are the worst; you don’t get any benefits, the hours suck, and the work environment can feel quite hostile most of the time. Night shifts are infamous for a reason. Workers often find themselves alone, doing mechanical labor in spaces that were meant to be filled with people. Custodians are frequently represented in fiction as loners and a bit weird, but it is no surprise when their work environment doesn’t allow them to be anything else. Hunt Her, Kill Her explores the risks of the night shift and how, if possible, we should avoid it.

Hunt Her, Kill Her is a film directed by Greg Swinson and Ryan Thiessen. The film stars Natalie Terrazzino, JC Oakley III, Larry Bunton, and Philip Zimmy. The film tells the story of Karen, a single mom going through a very tough divorce while also trying to put food on the table. To do just that, Karen accepts the night shift as a custodian in what looks like a furniture factory. However, on her first night on the job, Karen will not only have to work hard for the money but also for her life, as several killers are out to hunt her.

Hunt Her, Kill Her’s setup is quite effective. It takes advantage of the inherent anxiety accompanying going to work and elevates it by making that work a night shift. Going to work is part of most people’s lives, and because it is such a normal and mundane situation, it makes it terrifying that a situation like that could go out of control as it does in the movie. There are several hints as to why this is happening to Karen, and the ending might lack a bit of energy, but the road to get there is quite solid.

The film is clearly not a big-budget production; it doesn’t have to be one. Single-location movies can be quite effective if the filmmakers use the location well enough. In this case, the factory and its warehouse are big enough to make the chases a bit believable. Although, if this were a real-life situation, our character would surely die. Karen is not a very athletic character, and she is very small. When faced with several men looking to hurt her, it is a bit unbelievable that she manages to do what she does. Even a big man would surely be dead in a situation like this.

This might be the biggest issue with the film. At one point, everything feels quite unnerving, but soon enough, you realize that the group of killers is not very smart. On top of that, they are also quite clumsy, and they look like cheap knock-offs of a Slipknot cover band. All these elements get stacked one on top of the other, resulting in a lack of tension for the rest of the film. The villains are not that clever or menacing to make you feel anything closer to fear.

Despite all of this, Karen becomes quite a fun character, the only thing that will make you take the movie seriously. She is established quite well in the opening act, and from there, she only becomes tougher and more likable. Terrazzino really does a great job at creating a very solid character and even gets to perform some very cool kills. She is, without a doubt, the best thing about the movie. Her acting is a thousand times better than anyone else in the movie.

In terms of visuals, the movie does what it can with what it has. The result is actually quite satisfying. It is always great to see filmmakers solving problems with very few resources. As we said before, the factory makes for a very believable setting, and the filmmakers manage to make it dynamic. Karen and the killer often go around the same sections, which might remind you of Scooby-Doo. However, the factory becomes a maze with just some new lighting and different angles.

What really strikes me as clever is that the movie sets up different sections of the factory early on. Then, as we travel to the factory along with Karen in her attempt to survive, that information stays in our minds and makes us go through the same mental process. It is a great way to put the audience in the character’s shoes without the need to appeal to emotion through words. It all comes very naturally. This entire setup could definitely be used for a game in the same vein as those “escape rooms.”

Hunt Her, Kill Her might not be the most amazing slasher or horror film you have ever seen. It is quite hard to carve space in such a crowded genre, yet the movie is entertaining, putting her above many of today’s releases. Terrazzino does a great job as the lead; a couple of kills feel and look quite great. Gore fans will love it. The story is simple and effective, even if some elements make it feel more like a cartoon than a serious slasher.

SCORE: 7/10