Summary

Poor performances and an overly ambitious script hold back Jennifer Reeder’s Perpetrator from reaching its full potential. While there are some effective horror moments and a mysterious plot, the film lacks consistency and fails to fully develop its villains. Despite its supernatural, feminist themes, and promising young talent, Perpetrator ultimately suffers from uneven acting and a lack of focus in its storytelling.

Editor’s note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Jennifer Reeder’s Perpetrator has some fun ideas but is held back by poor performances and a script that is juggling too much. The writer-director has a particular vision for the world she is building and there are aspects of it that really work. Another cut of this film would have probably been better. From a horror standpoint, there aren’t many jump scares, but a few gruesome moments will give you chills. The script plays out like a mystery that keeps you guessing, but it also works against the film at points. Perpetrator has something important to say but just doesn’t know how to say it.

Jonny (Kiah McKirnan) is an outspoken teenager sent to live with her aunt Hildie (Alicia Silverstone). The two do not get along at all and co-exist in spite of each other, but they share a supernatural bond. When Hildie bites her tongue, Jonny bleeds. Jonny begins asking questions and eventually Hildie reveals that Jonny also has abilities, but the origin of these abilities comes from the darkest parts of their respective pasts. At school, Jonny is far from popular, but she knows how to make a quick buck and that garners the attention of other students. Though they don’t exactly love how she does business, the girls do form a bond, which is good because the men at the school are psychopaths and no teacher, male or female, can be trusted. It soon becomes clear to Jonny that someone at the school is targeting the female students.

Perpetrator has a very appealing premise. Evil teachers, a sisterhood of witches, and an aunt who has all the answers but evokes zero trust. Sadly these parts do not gel well together. The film builds a good foundation that includes horrible men and plots a course for the women to come out on top, but there is no consistency to this motif. On the one hand, it’s very easy and, frankly, fun to root against the school principal (Christopher Lowell). On the other hand, it’s not entirely clear what his role as the antagonist is by the end of the film. By the beginning of the third act it’s clear what the villains of the film are after, but who they actually are is far more vague. When the film ends, the closure depicted onscreen holds no weight.

The thing that truly stops Perpetrator from being great is the performances. Reeder is going for a stylized form of directing, but the result is a mish-mash of bad and occasionally terrible acting. In the film’s defense, there is a certain level of camp that many horror movies live in, and that tunes the acting to a frequency you won’t see at the Academy Awards. But even so, the overacting by Silverstone cannot be ignored. She delivers practically every line of dialogue with a sense of unwarranted profundity that does not match the scene or the film. McKirnan plays the role of a teenager well but is unrelenting in her fury. Both the script and the actor are too one-dimensional, leaving no room for growth or character development in the nuances of her performance.

Perpetrator is supernatural, feminist, and creepy as hell. And while those bones are alive and well, the momentum of the film is nonexistent. The acting is uneven and at times even outwardly bad, although the cast is brimming with promising young talent. The script has a lot of potential but never zeroes in on one subject long enough. Reeder has plenty of talent as a filmmaker but very little of it comes through in Perpetrator.

Perpetrator is now playing in select theaters and is available to stream on Shudder. The film is 101 minutes long and not rated.