While pretty odd from start to finish, you might even say defiantly so, Perpetrator is also a film that makes complete sense once viewers are caught up on each and every plot development.
It all starts off normally enough. Jonquil AKA Jonny (Kiah McKirnan) isn't really flourishing under the parentage of her father, Gene (Tim Hopper), so she is sent to live with a relative, Hildie (Alicia Silverstone). This is when things get weird, although there have been one or two moments of weirdness before this full shift into darkness. Hildie lives in an area where a number of young women have gone missing. While she sometimes seems as if she doesn't care about Jonny, especially if any of her house rules are broken, Hildie is also ready to prepare her to survive in an environment that is full of constant danger, including the pretend "school shooter" drills conducted by the strange Principal Burke (Christopher Lowell).
Written and directed by Jennifer Reeder, Perpetrator is a film that had me worried for the first act. I didn't know quite what was going on, I wasn't sure I would care about anything, and then Silverstone comes onscreen with a performance that was obviously requested from the director to emphasise something being off. Thankfully, as ever, I stuck with it, and was rewarded by a unique and satisfying horror film that delivers an excellent commentary on identity, the female experience, and how often extreme measures are needed to push back against those who have become far too used to indulging in their worst desires without fear of any consequences.
McKirnan is really good in the lead role, a solid anchor even as the waves around her roil and crash and threaten to drag her out to sea, and she is ably supported by a young cast that includes Ireon Roach (a friend), Vic Kuligoski (a suspect), and Taylor Kinkead, Casimere Jollette, Avery Holliday, and Ilirida Memdovski as various schoolgirls/potential victims. Silverstone is also good, although that won't be apparent from her first appearance onscreen, and Lowell has a lot of fun in his role. There are also very good performances from Hopper, Audrey Francis, Josh Bywater, and Melanie Liburd, with some of them providing one or two surprises while others provide exactly what you think they will.
I can easily imagine certain viewers hating this, it's too strange and "toothless" (the irony) for some, but I hope that those who are patient and open-minded feel as rewarded as I did. Perpetrator might seem a bit muddled and confusing from the opening act, but Reeder has a strong point to make, from the title onwards, and she does so with a good bit of style and imagination.
8/10
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