Hy3na

Seductive and sinister inclinations in the forms of Kristen Kaster and Storm Steenson are especially effective together. Their relationship has an uncomfortable ambiguity that works extremely well. There is attraction, manipulation, vulnerability, sexuality, and danger constantly shifting between them; the film doesn’t feel the need to explain every element of their relationship to the audience

Indeed, Hy3na contains one of the better uses of sensuality I have seen in an independent genre film; right from its opening it hits the right spots without being softcore. It isn’t simply there to provide erotic imagery or exploitation value; that is essential to the story, not gratuitous.  The sensuality is woven into the characters and the way they manipulate, attract, and read one another.

That restraint makes the erotic dimension considerably more interesting along the lines of CAM.  The film understands that seduction is control and a willingness to fall into a world when faced with no other way to survive. isn’t necessarily about what someone does; sometimes it is about what they make another person imagine.

Nicole (Kristen Kaster) in an intimate bedroom moment from Hy3na.

“Indeed, Hy3na contains one of the better uses of sensuality I have seen in an independent genre film; right from its opening it hits the right spots without being softcore.”

The dialogue is another pleasure. Hy3na has a slightly heightened quality. The characters can be funny, unpleasant, vulnerable, especially when Rachel, played with sensual camp style by Storm Steeson, speaks of her family life. Kristen Kaster’s Nicole is a perfect foil for her for all the wrong reasons that will become apparent in a strange payoff ending.

Beneath the murders is a story about identity, performance and the things people sell about themselves to survive. The camgirl profession provides an obvious contemporary setting, but the film’s argument is broader: almost everyone performs some version of themselves for somebody else. We sell our time, appearance, personality and labour, and we alter ourselves according to what other people want. The cast throughout is bang on with the look, the clothes, the dialogue that works in this world that is conjured up.

The weakness is that the work becomes too conscious of its own construction and loses momentum. The shifting chronology can make a relatively straightforward story seem more complicated than it really is, and some viewers will probably see the major turns coming, perhaps even the end.

Hy3na has atmosphere, personality, strong performances and a visual identity that many considerably more expensive productions would struggle to achieve.  It is a colourful, sensual, occasionally brutal and often amusing piece of work with style that it sometimes forgets there is a story, with a  sledgehammer ending