Shudder Saturday: Perpetrator (2023)

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

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

Shudder Saturday: Night's End (2022)

I like to take every film as I find it. Whether working with a small or large budget, whether it's a minute long or a 7-hour+ bum-numbing experience, whether filmed with other main restrictions in place or not. If I learn information about the making of a film that can affect my opinion of it then I'll try to pass that along. If I am missing out on something because I should have previously read a complete comic or book series that everyone else says is essential to getting the most out of the film, well, I'll also try to pass that along (although I greatly dislike that idea). But taking a film as I find it doesn't JUST mean what's there on the screen. It's all about the talent and conviction of those making it, and sometimes it's about recognising the potential in something that doesn't quite achieve what it was setting out to achieve.

Night's End is a film full of great potential, but it's hampered by an inability to get anything spot on. There is some good, spooky, atmosphere in the first half, but it's undercut by the casual attitude of the person finding themselves in the middle of what could be a haunted apartment. There's a wild and fun finale, but it's undercut by the fact that director Jennifer Reeder can't effectively show what she might like us to see developing onscreen.

It also doesn't do enough to distract viewers from the fact that every character is largely shown on computer screens, which feels like it was either a workaround during lockdown times, or just a way to save a bit more money. This format can work, especially in horror movies, but it is a bigger obstacle to overcome when the focus of the movie, for the most part, isn't really the technology itself (even if it does prove crucial to the plot).

Geno Walker plays Ken Barber, a man who is trying to grow his identity on YouTube, or any other generic video-sharing platform standing in for it. Terry (Felonious Munk) is his most loyal viewer, and it's Terry who points out to Ken that something seems to be moving in the background of one of his videos. This leads to Ken changing starting to explore the potential haunting in his home, looking to also get more traffic on his videos by connecting with others, from the host of Dark Corners (Daniel Kyri) to an alleged exorcist, Colin (Lawrence Grimm).

Writer Brett Neveu doesn’t have much work out there so far, which may go some way to explaining why Night’s End has that “mix plenty in for a first, and maybe only, film” feeling. Reeder finds plenty of ways to complement the script, but she is ultimately hampered by the muddled state of the whole thing. It is easy to view this as a much better movie often tripped up by itself.

Walker is a good lead, very good, and his scenes with Munk are excellent, both actors having a good rapport with one another. There are also some good little scenes for Kate Arrington and Michael Shannon, the former playing the ex of Ken, the latter her new partner who is very sweet and supportive in a way that is pleasantly surprising, considering how often that character would be made mean and antagonistic. Sadly, the other cast members aren’t as good. Grimm delivers his performance in a way that feels as if he belongs in a movie, and Kyri is stuck being one of your typically annoying “internet personalities” (the same goes for the character played by Theo Germaine).

Bringing to mind a few other films from recent years (most obviously Host and The Cleansing Hour), Night’s End at least tries to give you familiar scares within slightly different packaging. It is unfortunate that it doesn’t really succeed, but there are certainly a few good moments along the way, in the scare department and in the performances, which is why I feel a bit more goodwill towards it than I would towards any similar film that didn’t even try.

6/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Shudder Saturday: V/H/S/94

Although I didn't really enjoy the last outing for this anthology horror series (V/H/S Viral), I have to admit that the format has been used to deliver more hits than misses. There are many good names involved, and this is one series that usually gets you interested because of who is behind, rather than in front of, the camera, and the aesthetic allows those involved to easily distract viewers from any FX shortcomings (not that there necessarily ARE any FX shortcomings).

The wraparound tale here concerns a police S.W.A.T. team storming into a building that is full of people who have been collecting real-life horrors on videotape. The cult members, because it IS a cult, have often removed their eyes, and their legacy is left behind in tape form, items ready to be played/viewed by the unsuspecting officers. First up, the tale of some kind of "rat man" living in a storm drain. Then you have a woman looking after a body in a funeral parlour, and she soon discovers that the dead don't always remain as stationary as they should. There's a mad scientist tale next, with a different S.W.A.T. team bursting in to put an end to his lunacy and then finding themselves attacked by his creations. Last, a small militia group are shown creating a deadly weapon, but it's one that proves more dangerous to themselves than to anyone they plan to attack.

Whatever you end up thinking of every individual tale here, and there’s even room for a small fake advert directed by Steve Kostanski that adds to the fun, it is easy to see that every segment tries to marry creativity with some impressive gore gags. It is also easy to see that the V/H/S series creates premises that allow the idea of the camera running at all times to feel more natural than it does in so many other found footage films.

Timo Tjahjanto  is the standout here, delivering the third tale, a cross between Frankenstein’s Army and Tokyo Gore Police (with a, perhaps inevitable, hint of Doom), but nobody really disappoints. Simon Barrett takes his time to build to a wild finale in “The Empty Wake”, Chloe Okuno starts things off on the right foot with “Storm Drain”, and Ryan Prows tries to put an interesting spin on a very familiar concept in the final tale, “Terror”. Even the wraparound, written and directed by Jennifer Reeder, works better than many other anthology wraparounds I can think of, in terms of allowing an extra tale to unfold while maintaining a consistent aesthetic.

Although I am not naming any of the main cast members, everyone gives a decent performance. They’re just never the focus of the film. The focus stays on the atmosphere of dread, grime, and potential nastiness. This is inherently helped by the lo-fi VHS effects, complete with variable lighting and audio and picture quality apparently affected by the limitations of the format, and that is how this series has managed to succeed where so many others have failed.

An enjoyable bit of entertainment to check out when you want a dose of horror, V/H/S/94, unlike the previous entry, now has me very keen for any next instalment that may come along. 

7/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews