Portrait of a Demon Hunter - filmmaker Zoe Kavanagh raises hell
Updated / Thursday, 8 Oct 2026 13:00 Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter...
Updated / Thursday, 8 Oct 2026 13:00 Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter returns in Zoe Kavanagh's new sequel Writer and director Zoe Kavanagh looks back on the long, ambitious journey behind her Demon Hunter films, ahead of a special double feature screening in Dublin this October. I'm a Dublin-based filmmaker.
I have directed numerous short films and music videos, but I have also directed two feature films, Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter and Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill . In 2012, I graduated with a BA Hons Degree in Directing & Editing from IADT, National Film School, Dun Laoghaire: my grad short film, Taryn Barker , became the origin flashback sequence for the feature.
It followed a 16-year-old Taryn searching the dark streets of Dublin for her missing 12-year-old sister, Annabelle. She finds her in a warehouse, where Annabelle dies in her arms. Taryn's destiny was to become a demon hunter, and I used the short to establish the visual style of the world.
Niamh Hogan is Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter In 2013, I attempted to film scenes for the feature, but we ran out of money.In September 2014, I saved €70,000, teamed up with Constant Motion Pictures and assembled a crew from friends in the film industry. We set out to make an ambitious action-horror film.
Production wasn't smooth. We had to recast Taryn two weeks before filming, which meant reshooting material, but it became a blessing in disguise when Niamh Hogan got the role. Watch the trailer for Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter After filming, I tried to secure completion funding but was turned down.
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I was told the film wouldn't even get into festivals, never mind distribution. I kept working, saved more money and filmed additional action scenes in 2015 while continuing post-production. The film premiered at the IFI Horrorthon in October 2016 and was released worldwide in 2017.
Years later, after seeing how many people had discovered the film, I felt Taryn deserved another adventure. I began planning Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill , teaming up with producer Leeona Duff of Up On Blue Bridge Productions and US producer Ken Daniels, with Niamh Hogan and Kevin O'Malley returning.
The poster for Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill I wanted the sequel to be set in America because I believed Taryn and Ethan had bigger monsters to deal with there. It also gave me the opportunity to work with an American cast, including horror icon Lisa Wilcox, best known as Alice in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.
She plays billionaire oligarch Elysia Cronika. The sequel follows Taryn as she searches for two pieces of a medallion called the Necrox. Cronika sends her back to 1987, where she must save teenagers from summer camp slasher Lucien Krull and find a way home.
Watch the trailer for Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill We filmed in Kentucky in September 2022, using an actual summer camp called Lions Camp Crescendo, a Wild West ranch, a sanitarium and other locations. In 2023, we filmed additional time-travel scenes in Ireland. I then spent years in post-production, working with VFX artists and licensing songs for the soundtrack - the final battle alone took nine months to complete, with VFX finishing in December 2025.
The film's budget ended up being around EU 140K. Genre legend Lisa Wilcox features in Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill was finally released in the US on July 7, 2026, by X4 Pictures.It was a long journey from the first days of Taryn Barker to completing the sequel, but seeing both films reach audiences made every setback, reshoot and challenge worthwhile.
Taryn Barker: Demon Hunter and Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill will be screened as a double feature at Movies@ Dundrum, Dublin on Thursday October 15th, followed by a Q&A with writer/director Zoe Kavanagh and star Niamh Hogan - find out more here Read Next
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