PopHorror Let's Get Scared
A decade ago when I first started writing for PopHorror, I reviewed an action/horror film called Demon Hunter (recently rereleased as Taryn Barker Demon Hunter) from writer/director Zoe Kavanagh. Recently the long awaited sequel, Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill was released. I had an opportunity to chat with Zoe about the road leading up to the film, its production and post production and what’s next for her.
Check out our conversation below!
PopHorror: It’s been almost a decade since we did our last interview after the release of Taryn Barker Demon Hunter. What have you been up to for the last 10 years?
Zoe Kavanagh: Yeah time flies! Yeah it’s taken a while to get this sequel made. A second Demon Hunter wasn’t initially supposed to be my next project. In fact the 2nd Demon Hunter’s script became the, possibly, third films script since Time 2 Kill is a hybrid. I had an 80s script called ‘Hack N’ Slasher’ and it was not time travel but basically the bulk of the summer camp slasher movie in this, there was no Taryn. It was a pure period piece, like a lost slasher movie from the period. However, it was taking too long to get a film off the ground and as time was racing by I felt Taryn needed a sequel and so I brought her into this alongside other elements of the IP.
Between the two films, I guess I wasn’t up to too much. I did a few music videos for the goth band Clan of Xymox, I directed a few short films and slowly developed this film which took quite a long time to get made.
PopHorror: When we last spoke, you had a trilogy of Taryn Barker movies planned. How does your initial plan differ from the final product in Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill?
Zoe Kavanagh: Life and circumstances sometimes dictate the direction of what opprotunities happen. We had finance and a lot of companies attached to an earlier version of the sequel but the pandemic put the kibosh on a lot of things I wanted to do. Felt like I had to start from scratch and so I wrote this insane film and threw everything and the kitchen sink at it.
That trilogy idea is a complex scenario now. As the initial second film is now the third film and the third film may have to be combined into that story. Although it would be cool to have 4 films thats not realistics I dont think. It takes too long to make these films.
So I am still thinking of a trilogy. So the movies, if I am so lucky to make another entry are:
Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter
Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill
The Last Demon Hunter
PopHorror: It took the better part of a decade for us to get a sequel to Taryn Barker Demon Hunter. What obstacles did you have to overcome during that time to make the film?
Zoe Kavanagh: There was a lot of factors that contributed to that. If I could have made a sequel instantly I would have but it was tough, even though I truly believe in Taryn and the idea, the first film was well recieved in the UK & Ireland but was poorly recieved in America and then it was pirated by so many people which, for a period of time, had me questioning if I should even bother. I love the first film, I think it’s great, it’s a dark character drama and am incredibly proud of it.
The second was, as the first film was self financed, and did not go through the traditional route to secure financing such as tax incentives, government grants or even pre-sales, it was a harder challenge to get anyone to commit to a sequel. So I took up work in cyber security, saved all that money up. So myself and producer Leeona Duff financed Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill and went to the US to shoot it, with the help of US producer Ken Daniels, we were able to film it in Kentucky.
When we wrapped the film, we also couldn’t get any finance for post-production from any outside parties, so that was all gradually self financed by myself and this film had a long post production journey. Between the VFX, sound and songs, it was quite expensive.
The film spent all of 2025 doing film festivals whilst we were slowly chipping away at the VFX. Post-production finished January 2026 and then it was the next task to find the distributor who could take both films, give them the love they need and get it out to the world.
PopHorror: One of the best things about Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill is the return of Niamh Hogan as Taryn Barker, what was it like working with her again?
Zoe Kavanagh: I love Niamh, she is one of the most talented actors Ireland has to offer and I am beyond grateful she trusted in me when we made the first film ‘Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter’. She is Taryn and to follow her journey to being one of the best stunt performers out there, it’s just incredible.
I remember at first she was taken aback when I told her the sequel is going to be a comedy as anyone would but I wanted to basically make an unhinged badass film where Taryn is echoing what the likes of Jack Burton or Ash Williams did in ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ and ‘Army of Darkness’. I wanted to aim high and as we barely see movies like this anymore, I wanted to make something that I would have loved if I discovered it as a kid.
Niamh trained heavily for this film alongside Lar Mclachlan who plays Lucien Krull, the slasher. The two of them coordinated the stunts for the film. Niamh had a hands on approach in the action scenes and we worked very closely on making sure camera shots were the best they would be for these sequences.
There were long days, so blood, sweat and tears were poured into the making of this film.
PopHorror: Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill is a significant departure from the original film. The first film was mainly a supernatural horror/action film while the sequel is mostly a supernatural slasher film with some time travel elements. How did the new elements offer challenges on set?
Zoe Kavanagh: Yeah the first film has dark drama elements and crime thriller elements. I wanted to combine The Crow, Highlander, The Terminator and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and even the game Devil May Cry into one movie. These elements are what built ‘Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter’ I was never inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even though a lot of articles and reviews of that film say I was. I haven’t watched the show since the 90s when it was aired on Sky One but I loved that show, just never revisited it.
The sequel is a action horror comedy inspired by all the movies I loved growing up. So the elements that are new such as US summer camp slasher, time travel and it’s locations. This created a lot of new obstacles.
The first film ‘Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter’ was filmed in Ireland but this time for ‘Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill’ we had to shoot in America, I mean, if we shot an 1980s summer camp slasher not in America, I’m not sure the authenticity would be there. We all grew up watching them and it’s associated with American cinema. So luckily due to making friends with Ken Daniels who is a filmmaker and runs the Fright Night Film Fest, I had a contact who could help me shoot a film in the states and he was the one who found Camp Beaver which was filmed at Lions Camp Crescendo in Kentucky. We lived there whilst we made the film. It was great!
We also used Waverly Hills Sanitarium for a lot of different locations and sets in the film.
For the time travel elements, we used a big Gym warehouse, thanks to Marcus Sumner, I truly appreciate the resources we aquired to pull off a huge green screen sound stage on a small budget. We painted and draped walls and floors green for the big space sequence where Taryn and Cronika meet.
For the Wild West we found Copper Canyon Ranch and we had 6 hours but I made sure we covered as much of it as possible in the brief period we were on that location.
For the Viking scene we used the Irish National Heritage Park which is a tourist attraction for Viking history.
Tintern Abbey in Wexford was used for the Medieval scene, which also looked great!
We got very lucky with the locations on this film.
PopHorror: What slashers influenced you the most?
Zoe Kavanagh: The most influential slasher on this film was Jason Lives: Friday The 13 part VI. The film throws so much at you in 85 mins. Jokes, Kills, action scenes and even some Alice Cooper tracks. I love that film. That was the one film that mainly inspired this in terms of slashers. The other was Friday the 13th The Videogame. I played that game a lot and what I liked in that game was, if you look at the story contained in each match you play, the teens are aware Jason is coming to kill them and they all need to be proactive, you also have a hero character come in to take leadership and save them. You can call the police or defeat Jason. Team work!
There are other slashers I watched such as Sleepaway Camp, The Burning, Cheerleader Camp and they certainly inspired our aesthetic for the look of the camp and the costumes.
PopHorror: The action in the sequel is so much clearer, easier to follow, and well executed. How differently did you approach the action than the first film?
Zoe Kavanagh: We took into consideration the criticism of the first films action scenes. We should have rented wider lenses and the editing should have cut less. The films that inspired my editing on that film such as the Resident Evil and Underworld movies cut fast. So I approached it the same way.
This time around John Wick’s action scenes inspired us. I think myself Niamh and Lar from the stunt crew were on the same page with regards to how amazing action scenes are filmed these days. Long wide angle takes and show everything as much as possible. So we co-ordinated that the camera had to be in the correct position at all times for each frame and only cut at the right time. I wanted you to see Taryn do the scorpion kick, break through a wall or jump off a castle!
Very proud of how we pulled it off, at the same time we stayed very true to the storyboards and vision.
PopHorror: On Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill you worked with one of my favorite indie horror actresses Angel Nichole Bradford, what was she like to work with?
Zoe Kavanagh: Angel is amazing! She was the first choice and was delighted she took up the offer to play Deborah. The character is a quirky, goofy and enthusiastic journalist kind of like Gracie Law in Big Trouble in Little China.
Angel not only committed to the role but she also did other roles on set such as an sfx artist. Deborah evolved as Angel worked with the character throughout the shoot. She put a lot of herself into Debs and was still able to be a pro and have a laugh even though we had some really long and tough shooting days. She did so much on that film and I am so grateful for it!
I am so glad to see she is constantly busy, I hope we get to collaborate in the future.
PopHorror: How has the reaction to Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill been so far?
Zoe Kavanagh: Suprisingly very positive. People and critics who have taken the time to see it have very much enjoyed the film and understand what it’s trying to do. It’s a love letter to trashy 80s b-movie shlock whilst also being its own thing.
People are responding to the performances, the non stop action, the vfx and the soundtrack. So far it looks like we may have got it right.
Yeah it went down very well at festivals, it won a few Best Feature film, Best Horror film and Best Editing awards at festivals which has been amazing!
The only main criticisms are some technical camera issues. Which, yeah, time was against us making such an ambitious story. We could have taken our time and the shots would be perfect but we wouldnt have finished the film. We had to shoot fast and move fast and hope it came out okay. I think, looking at the responses so far, I think we pulled it off!!!
PopHorror: Can we expect to see more Taryn Barker? I’m very curious about where the series can go from here.
Zoe Kavanagh: I certainly want to make at least one more entry at the least.
I really hope this film catches on because we made a great film, it’s just a matter of people knowing it exists ya know and maybe people will rediscover the first film.
In terms of other media, the book is almost finished. I have one more chapter to write. Been very slow at getting that finished.
PopHorror: Any upcoming projects you would like to talk about?
Zoe Kavanagh: I am currently writing ‘A Reason to Live’ which is basically ‘Assault on Precinct 13’ set in a Gender Clinic. I feel a story like this needs to get made, considering the regressive times we seem to be living in. I wont give too much away on it but I hope I can get that one off the ground soon. Halfway through the script
