PERPETRATOR -- A Surreally Loud Journey Through The Horrors of Womanhood

Review by Erin M. Brady

Kiah McKirnan as “Jonquil ‘Jonny’ Baptiste” in Jennifer Reeder’s PERPETRATOR. Courtesy of Shudder. A Shudder release.

Saying that women are expected to be everything at once isn’t a new feminist concept. We’re supposed to be emotional yet emotionless, people we are and people we aren’t. For as surface-level as this might sound, it doesn’t make it any less true, making it nearly impossible for us to navigate the world without scrutiny. However, trying to effectively depict this in filmmaking is very difficult to pull off in a way that is the right amount of preachy and artistic.

Perpetrator, the fourth feature film of director and artist Jennifer Reeder, might be just the right combination of attributes, and it’s the film that has arguably solidified her unique filmmaking style. Teenage petty thief Jonny (Kiah McKirnan) visits her estranged aunt Hildie (Alicia Silverstone) while her father recovers from some strange ailment. However, it turns out that that supposed ailment is the ability to absorb the auras of those around her. These strange and unsettling abilities appear as a string of disappearances stack up.

The film exists on the same satirical level as Emma Seligman’s Bottoms — it exists in a heightened version of our own reality, one where the red flags are so loud that they almost become obnoxious. The brashness of the film’s depiction of misogyny — something so overt and oozing out of every male character — will not work for most people. Its effectiveness does begin to wear thin at times due to the frankly poor performances displayed by these male figures. However, the off-putting tenderness of the film’s other performances, particularly of Jonny’s love interest Elektra (Reeder collaborator Ireon Roach), more than makes up for it.

Kiah McKirnan as “Jonquil ‘Jonny’ Baptiste” in Jennifer Reeder’s PERPETRATOR. Courtesy of Shudder. A Shudder release.

The most distinct thing about Perpetrator, though, has to be its writing. Reeder mixes different but intertwined ideas together in a way that should have resulted in a jumbled, convoluted script. Thankfully, it isn’t – each idea, from how true crime objectifies victims to how women are often labeled as emotional simply for existing, is depicted with the care they deserve. For those not in tune with her sensibilities, the script might make the film sound like the most obvious and male-hating thing in existence. However, with just a little time set away to think, it becomes something much more poignant.

Perpetrator is not for the typical horror watcher, and it doesn’t try to be. It can be argued that it is trying to be divisive, trying to weed out those unwilling to think deeper about what it’s trying to say. At the same time, though, it deserves better than to be labeled as a litmus test. For those on its wavelength, Perpetrator is a surreal, sometimes confusing, but never boring treat. Would you want it any other way?

Perpetrator is now streaming on Shudder.

Rating: 3.5/5