Hunt Her, Kill Her (AKA Night Shift)
Very low-budget 'cat(s) 'n' mouse' survival thriller. Karen (Natalie Terrazzino), a recently separated/divorced mother of one, takes a job as the sole night shift janitor at a large factory. On her first night she's confronted by four knife-wielding, masked intruders, whose sole aim is to kill her. Cue one hour and 20 minutes of the most ridiculously unbelievable 'female John McClane' running, hiding, and fighting.
By the time this was made movies were well into the 'cast a non-conventionally attractive female lead' era - we weren't going to get a Milla Jovovich-type. Thing is, Jovovich (just as an example), as well as being attractive, sells the action. She looks credible running and fighting. I get that 'Karen' isn't a trained warrior, she's just an average single-mom trying to make ends meet, and I get that that could be an interesting story to tell - but if that's what you're going for you have to adjust her methods and onscreen abilities accordingly; otherwise it just becomes laughable. We have a short, dumpy, completely non-athletic woman regularly outsprinting guys who look a foot taller with a stride to match. In one shot we'll see them rapidly closing on her (because the actress clearly cannot run) - then they'll all turn a corner and from the new angle we see they're way behind her again! 😄 The only times they catch-up is when there's a convenient small space for her to slip through at the last moment! I get suspension of disbelief - but at least cast an actress who looks like she jogs once in a while! As for the fighting... Again, 6'2" dudes with *very* nasty looking knives, vs mom-with-a-belly and cleaning products! We all know that most fights in movies are completely unrealistic;. If Statham/Stallone/Van Damme were really trapped in a room with a bunch of guys who were all fellow special forces badasses they'd be dead meat - but at least they manage to make it look believable. There's one fight in this movie involving a toilet plunger that looks like something from an Austin Powers movie! Add in several injuries involving heavy blood loss and bone breakage that 30 seconds later don't seem to have impeded her ability to run/fight at all, a 'twist' re the perpetrators that's obvious from about 15 minutes in (and that you've probably guessed already), poor acting all round, and ludicrous dialogue ('Don't let her escape!' - has *anyone* chasing anyone *ever* actually shouted that? 😄), and you get a very poor movie. I'll give it credit for some good effects on the injury detail, a cool synth score, and a nice title. 4/10.
