If you’re a film-maker, just sitting on the sofa and waiting for Hollywood to come calling, you’d better have a sandwich ready. Because you’ll be there for a while. The best thing any film-maker can do – at the risk of stating the obvious – is make films. By any means necessary. Sometimes this is a process which takes a while, obviously. But if you truly want to make a film, then you will make a film. Which brings us to Zoe Kavanagh, who has basically gone down that road, not once but twice. First with Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter (a.k.a. Demon Hunter) in 2016, and now with the long-awaited sequel, Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill. We talked to Zoe about the journey for both movies, the lessons learned and what the future might hold. 

What got you into film-making initially?

A lot of things come to mind when I think of this question. Film is forever and the idea that I could record my imagination somehow, translate it to screen and it would exist long after I am gone was one of the biggest appeals of wanting to be a filmmaker.  There was also the fact that I had so many stylish visuals in my head and I felt confident I could go out there and see if others would like my style. This was why I initially got attracted to doing music videos for bands.

You’ve been making movies about demon hunters since well before K-Pop showed an interest! Where did the central idea come from?

Yeah, over a decade! Yet K-Pop has suffocated the demon hunter algorithm! The idea originates all the way to the feeling of melancholy and angst. I was in my bedroom and I illustrated a gothic young woman, looking pissed off and holding a sword in the rain. I said to myself ‘what is she fighting, why is she so pissed off?’. I looked around my room for inspiration. So I called her Taryn Barker and that name came from two places. I always felt Taryn was a rare and unique name, but it felt strong somehow and I love Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors – so I figured that would work. I chose Barker because I am a Clive Barker fan: not just Hellraiser but Books of Blood, Cabal (Nightbreed), etc.

The music blasting on my CD player – yes, a CD player, in the mid 2000s! – was a song that was on the Resident Evil: Apocalypse soundtrack, ‘Demon Hunter – My Heartstrings Come Undone’. So the picture was painted, and I knew the concept – the world then expanded over the years, as I think about it all the time. But that was the central idea’s origins.

Niamh Hogan is the face of the franchise. How did you meet her, and in your opinion, what does she bring to Taryn?

I originally met her in 2014 when we held auditions in Bowsie Workshop to recast the role, two weeks before filming began. She just had the passion and was a trooper about diving into the deep end on this! Actually, a funny story. When Niamh got the role, I actually had no credit on my phone – was kind of broke that day. I had to send her a ‘call me’ text, so she could call me back! Anyway, she did, took the role, and I can’t imagine anyone else as Taryn.

Niamh is Taryn Barker. She owns that role, and has essentially become Taryn! When this film ends, you think back about all the variety she brought to this role. From the insane stunts, the front flips, scorpion kicks, jumping through walls, smashing through cubicles, falling through time! That’s next level!  Then there’s the brilliant comedic timing, and being able to adapt to the change or evolution of Taryn in this film. Niamh gets it, but she has been heavily involved in a lot of aspects of Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill – we really care for this world. We both knew the fighting had to be improved for the sequel and dialled up past 11, to show that we can fully deliver on what the audience wants from a film like this.

I’ve noticed that a few people have compared Niamh’s performance to Bruce Campbell’s Ash Williams character and that is so great to read! I feel after Ash rode off into the dystopian sunset of season 3 of Ash vs. Evil Dead, there kinda has been a void in the horror scene. It needs a new cocky, sardonic badass demon hunter. I hope Taryn fills that gap for people, as the best days of B-movies I feel are in the past.

There must have been a huge learning curve making Demon Hunter. Tell us the lessons you took from the experience.

Absolutely there was. Look, there’s a few things I will say in defence of the first film. Budget was €70K, so we were limited. The intention was to make a dark character origins film, and build the world. I was not making the film for an audience. Myself and Tony Flynn co-wrote that film, focused on character and style. In the film Taryn lost her sister – that’s a dark place to be, and I wanted us to experience her pain and yearn for vengeance. 

When the film was picked up for distribution and released in the US it was mismarketed, I believe. That trailer that they put out, that you can see on Joblo Movie Trailers, is horrendous. It has no heart, no soul and ADHD editing that nearly gives me an epileptic fit. People went at the film, because they expected an action-filled film – when it wasn’t that kind of movie. So when I decided I wanted to make another, I was aware of what people didn’t like about the first film, and felt I needed to make sure the sequel gave that audience what they wanted – whilst I got to make something that I would love to see. Taryn had evolved in my head as a sardonic badass and if people wanted to see lots of demon hunting, we were gonna give it to them this time. So nobody can claim there isn’t enough demon hunting!

When writing Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill I made a checklist:

• So they think it’s too serious- make it campy
• The lore makes no sense – expand on it
• There’s not enough demon hunting- have Taryn fight almost every scene

Those were my main takeaways, and I just went in with that mindset.

You’ve made a number of music videos, for bands such as Clan of Xymox. How does that influence your cinematic style?

With all of my work, I always think musically. Usually when I write a script, I create a Spotify playlist that helps to navigate my feelings and writing process. It also helps me imagine the scenes and visualize the style and pace. I consider directing music videos as a style workout. Sometimes the artist tells you exactly what they want, sometimes you can make whatever you want, with their approval – but you have the freedom to experiment at all times. 

Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill is a very musical film. It’s stacked with bands like The Birthday Massacre, Clan of Xymox, House of Serpents, Chastain, Warlord, Jessie Frye, Nightstop, etc. It was important that it kinda had that tone and vibe to it. The film is kind of a showreel of all the skills I’ve learned over the last ten years.

It has been the best part of a decade since the original film – what have you been up to in the meantime?

I wish it wasn’t a decade, but yeah – time just flies past. I spent years trying to get different projects off the ground and falling through. I almost had an agent in the US and was attached to a feature, until 2020 caused all of that to collapse. Making a sequel to Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter was a challenge. The first film was seen by millions due to piracy, but it was a victim of me being naive about the accounting and business sides of sales and distribution. However, knowing millions of people saw it, made me feel confident about giving Taryn a second shot and maybe making a film that connects with genre fans.

In between the first film and Time 2 Kill, I directed commercials, Swedish pet training videos and music videos. I was living in Sweden in 2021 and was kind of accepting that I may not get to make another feature film. The first film was self financed and had cost me a lot of money – yet other people made so much money exploiting my film. I saw multiple uploads of a Russian dub with casino sponsorships and millions of views. Who pays these people? There was a lot of crazy stuff like that. There were third party unofficial licensors to the film, licensing the film to fourth parties and they were all making bank. I saw an upload on YouTube called Hunter of the Devil with a Jennifer Lawrence thumbnail on it and 1.5million views.

It was so depressing, and an absolute disaster – the film was a huge success, but not for me. I remember a few years back when some Facebook page listed a URL to pirate the film, I reported it and got the entire pirate site taken down. Only for the pirate to email me, and send a bunch of bots to 1/10 the film on IMDB. Yet all those 1/10s got counted but the 8/10, 9/10 and 10/10s are not counted for that film. So even though the arithmetic mean should have the film at a 5.6/10, it’s at a 3.5/10… I figured, if I was to do another feature, I would have to approach it like I would never get to direct ever again. I then came up with the insane idea for Time 2 Kill and decided I needed cash asap. So I did a one year course in cybersecurity, got a job doing that and saved up money. Then I called Niamh Hogan, Kevin O’Malley and Leeona Duff and said, ‘We’re making another!’.

I had hope and motivation, because the idea for Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill was so ridiculous nobody would ever give money to such a film, so we never even tried to go that route. So I contacted a US producer I know and I flew to the US to recce locations. We filmed in late 2022, and here and there in 2023, but post production took 3 years because we couldn’t get any completion funds. That’s why IMDb has set the year as 2024. They claim the work-in-progress, 111 min cut with unfinished VFX and none of the final licensed songs, counts as the release version of the film for some reason, because it was a public screening. 

I was still in post up to January 2026 because the VFX for the final battle took 9 months to do. I was sending the film to festivals whilst it was still in post production. I should have gotten a sales agent in advance. as that would have allowed us to get some of the bigger festivals but I only learned that afterwards. So the IMDb is wrong: the film was released in the US July 7th by X4 pictures on VOD & Physical Media as well as a rerelease of the original film now retitled Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter.

Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill brings a big eighties horror vibe to proceedings – plus time travel! Why did that combination appeal? 

My favourite films that I comfort watch are all from the 80s. I love watching Evil Dead 2, Big Trouble in Little China, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th etc. Also some of the best music is from the 80s! Gary Numan, Ultravox, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Duran Duran etc. And look at some of the composers of the era such as Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, John Carpenter. I wanted to make a fun film that felt authentic to the era that could be rewatchable. The goal was that people would wanna relive the adventure over and over again. So originally this script wasn’t a Demon Hunter sequel, it was a period 80s horror called Hack N’ Slasher. It was set in 1987 and there was no Taryn Barker. I wanted to make a slasher horror comedy, that felt like a lost movie from that period.

How the time travel happened, with Taryn and her world mixing into it, became a thing because of a few changes. When I originally brought Taryn into the script, I modernized it. But Niamh highlighted the issue of teens having access to phones and modern technology. Wo we agreed to go the time travel route, but also Taryn needed more to do! So I realized you cannot just add in Taryn. You need the city, you need her to fight demons, ride a motorbike, have her techie Ethan by her side and a bigger bad looming over, to emphasize the satirical anti-authoritarian themes in the IP. So I came up with billionaire, oligarch, time witch Elysia Cronika, CEO of Illumini Industries, who causes the plot to happen. That opened up the world building even more – and now that we have time travel, we gotta deliver on what you would want from time travel!

The sequel is also different in style, and seems to be leaning more into humour. Was this a conscious choice or did it just happen?

It was intentional. I am not the type of person to make the same film twice. I love horror films, I love comedies and I love adventure films. I have been writing the Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter novelization for years now – hopefully I will have it finished soon! But Taryn is hilarious and evolved with me over the years; I used her as my way to satirize and lovingly mock the problems with cinema and cliche storytelling. Also, in other aspects such as the bad CGI Lizard Man. I wrote him as a bad CGI Lizard Man in the script because I knew he would get some laughs. He vibes like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. Writing the film, I felt comedy was the only way you are going to pull off an insane story and just go along with the trashy ride.

Niamh adapted seamlessly to the cheesy one liners and Kevin just knocked it out of the park as Ethan, as well as the brilliant ensemble cast who got what we were making – especially Lisa Wilcox. I told Lisa that we are making a Saturday morning cartoon for adults, but its live action! 

I read an interview about the first film, where you said A Nightmare on Elm St 4 was an influence. And now, lead actress Wilcox is your villain! How did you get her on board?

Yeah, I was referring to the “tool-up” montage in The Dream Master, where after all of Alice’s friends get killed off, she claims their powers. Now she is in her room, tearing the photos off her mirror, tooling up and training her skills to a guitar solo rendition of Go West’s Don’t Be Afraid of Your Dreams. I liked that imagery and its stuck with me. That film has superhero elements. I got Lisa on board when I had an agent – for the brief moment I had one! I reached out to her, as we were attached to another project, but the pandemic seemed to have caused the project to collapse. Lisa was on board because she loved Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter, and I wrote the role specfically for her. I was delighted she did, and feel so lucky and appreciative.

The first film was made in Ireland, but the second shot mostly in Kentucky. Why the change, and can you compare the two locations?

We moved to the US for the sequel was because America now has become a very dark place and someone like Taryn Barker should be moving her operations to the belly of the beast, it only makes sense. Also for the summer camp slasher stuff, it wouldn’t be authentic to film that in Ireland. It usually doesn’t work for me, when films try to be American slashers. Summer camp slashers are part of American culture and I wanted the audience to retain the experience like all of the 80s slashers they watch. Plus it was exciting to take the risk lf shooting in the US for the sequel, I think it was a great idea.

Comparing the two? Both countries have great locations but Ireland is a smaller country and all our best spots from cities, castles, heritage spots are easily accessible. The challenge with the US is you could be moving crew on a 6 hour road trip to get to your next location. They both have their ups and downs, I feel.

Was the sequel easier or harder to make than the first film?

In terms of production it was an easier film to make: we were very lucky and we prepped. Leeona Duff collaborated with Ken Daniels and Steven Patek to get this co-production moving and a reality. I can’t think of any issues that got in our way. The only compromise made was to shoot fast, on a BMPCC 6K and keep moving. So time was against us, but we pulled it off. It’s a relief it worked out, and we got a great film out of it. 

How has the reaction been to the new movie?

Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill did very well at film festivals where it won Best Feature film at Fright Nights, Best Horror/Thriller feature film at the Always Late TV Movie Awards, Best Underground film at Light Till Dark, Best Horror and Best Editor at Dublin Underground Cinema Film Festival, amongst many others. Despite that, a lot factors were stacked against this film. It was really difficult to find the right distributor for the film as a lot of companies passed on it at EFM. Luckily it landed a home at X4 Pictures where both films currently reside. It’s amazing to see the glowing reviews and the audience over at Letterboxd seem to be raving about the film. Such a relief, and hopefully word of mouth will help others discover it.

You’ve hopes for a third film: where would that take Taryn?

The third film will take Taryn back into the IPs habitat: the big city, urban fantasy action. We have done time travel, the next film is actually gonna be a hybrid of two screenplays I’ve written. In the next chapter Anne de Chantraine is a rock star who is in fear of being next on the list to be wiped out from Taryns crew, the K.A.I.C. she is currently on tour and is planning to turn her fans at her big concert into demons with her new song, she summons Iscariot (a big Terminator-like demon) to hunt down the KAIC) and it becomes a crazy thrill ride. We also have the big bad, which is Taryn’s father and we may get some answers to some mysteries unresolved from the first film.

Expect the same personality from Taryn from Time 2 Kill; an expansion of Taryn’s crew as it becomes an ensemble film; and a lot of demon hunting. There wont be any 80s vibes in this one, more goth, industrial and metal stuff. I really hope we can make it! Would be cool to get to do that chapter.

Go back in time twenty years: what advice would you give yourself?

Well if I had that skill, my advice would be to always read every contract you sign and not give up. Invest in buying camera and lighting equipment because then everyone will be calling you to shoot their projects and you will be making a mint and then you can easily self finance your indie features faster. I am too broke now to buy any camera and lighting gear! I suppose I would also tell myself the lottery numbers, who won sports matches and place bets so that would also make me rich. If, of course, you are suggesting time travel, and going back to talk to myself from 20 years ago!

If you got to make a big-budget film, who would be your fantasy cast?

I generally don’t like to name names but I would like to continue the working with Niamh Hogan and other cast I have collaborated with over the years. If I was ever to have an opportunity to do a big film, my fantasy cast would be the people who stood by me, and I could give them a shot too!

Many thanks to Zoe for her time and help. And now, let’s review! First the original Demon Hunter piece from 2018, and then we take a look at the new film…