PERPETRATOR (2023)

 

Written & Directed By: Jennifer Reeder Cinematography: Sevdije Kastrati  

 Editor: Justin Krohn

Cast: Kiah McKirnan, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Lowell, Tim Hopper, Audrey Francis, Ireon Roach, Josh Bywater, Melanie Liburd, Taylor Kinkead 

Jonny, a wild and impulsive teenage girl living precariously in a town where young women continue to go missing, and the power she's forced to unlock to survive.

This film is quite interesting as it has an amazing amount of ambition. Yet it tries to be low-key about it and treat what happens as business as normal. Even though we in the audience realize that everything is just a little off. Even the so-called normal scenes.

The film comes across as campy but at odd times. As it will go through a terrifying or dramatic scene and then just go off on its own. At first, the film is mysterious, but as it introduces teen characters it gets predictable. 

Especially Alicia Silverstone’s performance and character. She is a delight though she seems like she is in another film which helps keep this one off-kilter. She plays a pivotal role but comes across more as a guest star. 

Just as Christopher Lowell seems game for whatever is thrown at him. His character changes personalities and has varying intensities so often. 

This film floods itself with different stories and issues and it tries to solve as many as it can in its time. While still leaving other mysteries. So that it feels like the first of a series.

One can appreciate that not everything is tied up in the end. Those problems persist, but a new phase has been entered allowing the protagonist to understand herself more. 

That there is a mystery that drags you along and creates others. The film mines small-town weirdness and high school once again. 

Director Jennifer Reeder has a David Lynch-like command of direction. A mastery of soundscapes that are haunting but tend to intrigue the audience. While this has similar beats and owes to Lynchian suburbs and weirdness bubbling underneath the normal.

The film has a great soundtrack that allows for atmosphere and a bit of attitude. It sets a mood. 

Though some details leave you guessing. As in a majority of scenes, it seems like this is an all-girls school, but then there will be a random boy in a scene there. 

Some of the special effects can be lackluster but more so when they are digital rather than practical. 

The film seems to want to say a lot about body image. As even a guidance counselor throughout the film seems to be there to advise the young students but it always seems to be in recovery from one cosmetic surgery or another. This would also explain the constant body horror themes and scenes of various bodily Fluids splattered about. It gets gooey and is disgusting at times.

For all the surreal mayhem though explained at times it never quite comes together cohesively. Though as a film about coming of age and metamorphosis, it does go hand in hand as material. Metaphors themselves. 

After it’s over it does haunt you. as it gets you thinking about it and leaves plenty of questions. Though it is likely to frustrate most. 

Grade: C