The only thing that distinguishes Perpetrator is the sense of totality with which it seeks to confound the audience. This is a movie that is Making a Point, and in doing so, it mixes so many metaphors about burgeoning womanhood, gender identity and expression, and pubescent loneliness that the film simply comes across as utterly confused about what it wants to say. As with such experiences, there is also a sense that it says nothing about any of that stuff on account of such effort. If trying too hard and not trying at all are both problems with one’s movie, perhaps that should act as a wake-up call to the truth that the act of trying in general is the overarching issue. Writer/director Jennifer Reeder really, truly tries.
The word “pretentious” comes to mind here, by the way. That term has lost its meaning and meaningfulness, thanks to years of misuse and abuse, but when a movie that it truly describes comes along, the term is clearly and decisively the correct one. Here, we have a film whose thematic backbone is loaded with significance, bolstered by theatrical performances and showy filmmaking style, and, finally, hollow in every department. If that doesn’t come across as pretending to be something deeper than it is, one truly can’t be sure whether it ever happens. As it stands, it is never entirely clear what we’re supposed to take from the story of Jonny (Kiah McKirnan), except all the times it’s extremely clear what the story is supposed to represent.
It’s a twisted coming-of-age tale, in which the act of becoming a woman involves an ancient ritual, tied to a terrible destiny Jonny must confront, thanks to the simple mistake of being born into her family. Having been raised by a single father and bored with her life, Jonny has taken to a life of drug-dealing crime, which prompts dad to send her off to live with her great-aunt Hildie (Alicia Silverstone, chewing up far too much scenery for the movie to compensate elsewhere). A rather terrifying woman, Hildie keeps hinting at a deeper and more meaningful existence to come for Jonny, or perhaps the birthday cake made of period blood has some other significance. It’s impossible to know, and Reeder makes quite certain we couldn’t care less.
An actual plot eventually reveals itself, with a series of kidnappings occurring and an at-large suspect hiding in plain sight. A few of those suspects include the resident high-school womanizer Kirk (Sasha Kuznetsov), whose entire reason for being here is to objectify his female classmates in some way, but it also might as well be the high school principal, Mr. Burke (Christopher Lowell), for all we know. Why else would anyone in a position of power over students stage and execute a terrifying succession of active shooter drills, complete with fake blood, except to terrorize them for no reason?
Again, because of the heightened nature of Reeder’s treatment of this narrative and the over-the-top performances from actors who seem to have been given a single take to get their dialogue down, it’s impossible to care about anything or anyone in Perpetrator. If there is one notable thing about the movie in any positive sense, it’s that the filmmaker clearly knows how to deploy bloody practical effects and, perhaps, to establish a general air of atmosphere. All of it is misdirected here, though.
Photo courtesy of Shudder
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