dir. Greg Swinson & Ryan Thiessen

Karen (Natalie Terrazzino) starts the first shift of her new job as a lone janitor in a factory, expecting it to be long and dull evening. However, when she becomes the target of intruders, she must act quickly in order to survive the night.

A fast-paced cat-and-mouse thriller, Hunt Her, Kill Her is a pleasant surprise once it kicks into gear, the score by David Risdahl – who’s previously worked with directors Swinson and Thiessen on Five Across the Eyes – creating a heartbeat to the action. The sound design too uses silence well, accompanied by the humming of lights and the sounds of the factory to create intensity as characters listen for each other before each frenzied chase.

Terrazzino is also believable as the central heroine, and though the film doesn’t allude to Karen having any survivalist background she makes use of simple DIY techniques in order to fight back. In contrast however the dialogue of the intruders is often unnatural: they’re supposed to be intimidating and brutish, yet come across as clumsily reckless.

As such Hunt Her, Kill Her has some amusing moments (one death scene in particular stands out which may end up being one of the best of 2023), making this an enjoyably brutal – if a little generic – low-budget survival horror.

© Valerie Pullin

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