[gtranslate]
Connect with us

Movie Reviews

‘Perpetrator’ Review: Alicia Silverstone and Kiah McKirnan Star In This Supernatural Coming-Of-Age Tale

Published

3 years ago

on

Perpetrator

Going through the stage of being a teenager can be tough; what with all the hormonal and physiological changes that occur in one’s body. Add to that an out-of-the-ordinary phenomenon turning your life upside-down as well as other teens disappearing throughout your town and you’ve got the recipe for a coming-of-age disaster. Jennifer Reeder brought her latest film, “Perpetrator”, to Fantasia Festival as it made its Canadian premiere.

Jonny (Kiah McKirnan) is 17, soon to be 18, who is sent to her aunt Hildie’s (Alicia Silverstone) after her father becomes increasingly overwhelmed and cannot manage to take care of his daughter anymore. There, she will learn of the mysterious and shocking changes happening to her body and of its long history in her family’s lineage. At the same time, other teenage girls are vanishing in this new city in which she now resides. Perhaps Johny will be able to have an impact on these disappearances. Perhaps she can help bring the perpetrator to justice.

Perpetrator Movie Still

Writer/director Jennifer Reeder (“Knives and Skin”, a segment in “V/H/S/94” and “Night’s End”) brings forth a coming-of-age tale, intermingled with supernatural powers, while hunting down a killer who has been kidnapping teenage girls from a high school run by a misogynistic principal. Seems like a lot to take in? That’s because it is. As much as there is a lot of creative potential present in Reeder’s film, it just feels like too many ideas thrown around that don’t necessarily fit together harmoniously once the puzzle is complete. The fact that the main character is gifted with a superhuman gift isn’t even the issue; horror fans have embarked on much more farfetched rides before. It’s that when the audience is getting used to one notion in the storyline, there is a completely new and different concept superposed, just to make way for another wild idea layered on top. The script has enthusiastic intentions, but simply seems confused and chaotic, making it frustrating for the viewers and fading their interest.

Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone in Perpetrator

That being said, the cast is quite entertaining and interesting to observe. Lead actress, Kiah McKirnan, carries the film on her shoulders with her solid performance. Starting off as a troubled, cold-hearted teen who invades others’ homes to steal their belongings, she slowly begins to evolve (figuratively and literally) once her aunt, played by the excellent Alicia Silverstone, reveals their dark family secret and attempts to guide her into utilizing her newly discovered powers. Silverstone acts with such delicate, yet powerful, poise, always on top of her game as the fully blossomed woman in control of her own mystical characteristics. Together, their chemistry grows throughout the film despite Silverstone having a secondary role.

The title almost seems secondary after the viewing of “Perpetrator”. Sure, there is the ultimate intrigue in regards to who the killer is, why these kidnappings are occurring, and how it will all end. However, most of the film’s focus is on Jonny and her particular gift, which is understandable. The confusing question remains: why highlight the concept of the “perpetrator” if that aspect of the plot feels very marginal in comparison to the central focus of Reeder’s film?

Perpetrator
Perpetrator Movie

“Perpetrator” feels as if someone threw a whole bunch of different ingredients that don’t truly mix well together into a blender. It is a confusing and frustrating chaos in the midst of the recipe and the end result isn’t all that delicious, which is a shame because there’s a whole set of talented actors that get lost in this odd film. Following this culinary analogy, Jennifer Reeder’s feature film receives the score of 2.5 eyes out of 5.

2.5 out of 5 eyes
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Related Topics:

Movie Reviews

Self Driver Runs Out of Road

Published

13 hours ago

on

May 12, 2026

By

Every few years someone makes a movie where a desperate person takes the money and watches his conscience become negotiable. I am always there for it. Cheap Thrills. Would You Rather. The whole subgenre of moral erosion for cash that does not have a name but absolutely should. Self Driver walks directly into that territory and for the first half of its runtime, it delivers.

Nathanael Chadwick plays D, a cab driver trying to keep his head above water, who gets recruited onto a mysterious new rideshare app that promises fast money and asks for increasingly terrible things in return.

Writer-director Michael Pierro shot this on cellphones with a skeleton crew. That constraint should work against the film. For the first act, it does not. Chadwick earns your sympathy without doing anything obvious to ask for it, and Pierro keeps things tense enough that the premise does exactly what it is supposed to do.

Then the psychedelic angle shows up.

Self Driver

I want to be fair about this. I understand the intention. But it lands the way a plot fix lands. You feel the seam. By the halfway point the script has accumulated a lot of threads, and the psychedelic detour is where those threads stop being pulled. They do not resolve. They just stop mattering.

That is the consistent frustration with Self Driver. It is not short on ideas. It is short on follow-through. Almost every interesting thing Pierro introduces gets picked up, examined, and set back down before it earns its place in the film. The bones of something genuinely great are visible throughout. The second half just never shows up to finish the job.

Chadwick won Best Actor at Grimmfest for this role, and it is not hard to understand why. He is doing real work here. He makes D worth following even when the film is not fully following through on its own premise. That is harder than it looks.

Self Driver is out now on UK digital via GrimmVision. At 2.5 out of 5, it is worth your time if you have patience for low-budget genre work and can make peace with a film that is better than it finishes. Pierro has instincts. Watch for his next one.

Continue Reading

Indie Horror

Panic Fest 2026 Review: ‘Frogman Returns’ Is A Thrilling Sequel That Goes For The Croak!

Published

6 days ago

on

May 6, 2026

By

Horror as a genre has a greater propensity for sequels than almost anything else in the world of cinema. There have been scores of slasher sequels from the likes of Friday The 13th to A Nightmare on Elm Street to even sequels to seemingly stand-alone affairs like The Exorcist and The Blair Witch Project. While some may be seen as cash grabs or of diminishing returns, it cannot be argued that there have been some phenomenal sequels to horror films such as Aliens and Evil Dead 2 among many others. So imagine my pleasant surprise to see that 2023’s Frogman is back in the aptly named Frogman Returns!

The sequel picks up not too long after the original’s cryptid catastrophe. The Loveland, Ohio Frogman and surrounding cult that was exposed by amateur filmmaker Dallas (Nathan Tymoshuk) has since disappeared and the terror of the magic wand wielding amphibian seemingly ended. Having lost his friend Scotty (Benny Barrett) and a falling out with Amy (Chelsey Grant), Dallas has found a new life heading a cryptid reality web show. But when strange forces call him and his team back to Loveland, will he have to face the Frogman for a final battle?

I was a big fan of the original Frogman upon release, and was interested in seeing where director Anthony Cousins was going to take the story. I’m happy to report that he did the best kind of thing you can do for a sequel like this: made it weirder and wilder! Not only is there Frogman, but a number of classic cryptids have encounters as the genie is out of the bottle and Dallas irrevocably proved that there are truly monsters among us. There is a pretty memorable scene involving a run-in with the living pants-like Fresno Nightcrawler creature that establishes what a brave and bizarre new world things have become since the previous film. Monsters are basically a fact of life now. So, of course, people are finding ways to profit from it.

Dallas’ arc continues from the first film and I do like how he carries the weight and guilt of Scotty’s disappearance and his disconnection with Amy. There are real consequences to the ways things went wrong previously and Dallas is haunted by the consequences of his obsession. Now he attempts to make things right in some form as his adventures bring him back to where it all began. And for those here for Frogman… without spoiling too much, everyone’s favorite amphibious cryptid does make a triumphant return. With a neon explosive finale that left me craving even more.

Frogman Returns does a fine job of documenting the new adventure in the traditional found footage format, with the foundation of Dallas’ new reality web show keeping the cameras rolling. Combining that with ample and memorable practical fx for all manner of beasts and gore to see. Exploding heads, zapped limbs, and so much more get captured on camera in all their visceral glory.

Overall, if you were a fan of the first Frogman, then Frogman Returns is a more than worthwhile follow up to digest.

Continue Reading

Indie Horror

Panic Fest 2026 Review: ‘Creature Of The Pines’ Is An Interesting Found Footage Horror That Walks A Beaten Path

Published

1 week ago

on

May 5, 2026

By

There are certain parts of the world that have an inherent evil or cursed nature to them. The Bermuda Triangle, where so many ships have vanished in its waters. Death Valley, where many have met their end in the unforgiving desert. And then there’s The Pine Barrens of New Jersey. A woodland infamous for the cryptid named The Jersey Devil.

While The Jersey Devil may be the mascot or face of sorts for the area, there are other dangers within those woods. Specifically, an area known as Pine Hollow. Infamous for numerous disappearances of local and hikers. While some attribute it to natural hazards, others say the source of these incidents may be tied to folklore. An ancient mimic of indigenous legend that targets those wandering its woods. After a trio of hikers disappear and leaves only one shell shocked survivor and witness wandering the wilderness, a documentary crew attempts to clarify between fact and fiction… only to find themselves subject to their own torments.

Creature Of The Pines is a decent found footage/mockumentary endeavor, and I’m always a sucker for that kind of framing. I will also give points for taking an original approach on the region rather than using a more well known cryptid or monster. Instead, crafting their own beast with the shapeshifting demon of indigenous lore. It did make it more interesting than relying on a more infamous antagonist, allowing the movie to make up its own rules and history behind the titular creature.

Unfortunately, the story does fall into a lot of the cliches of the sub-genre as well. Lots of scenes building up strange sounds coming form the woods leading to some shaky cam segments as a character is dragged off by an unseen force and such. The talking heads portions of the mockumentary featured some decent actors and subjects that kept things fairly fresh. Especially the former forest ranger who discussed the dark and terrible history of Pine Hollow.

Even still, the third act was kind of a mixed bag with the final confrontation and reveal of the horror. Ambiguity tends to work better in found footage for a reason, sometimes its better to leave the evil up to the imagination. There’s also a twist to the ending that felt a bit obvious considering the build up.

But, if you’re a big fan of found footage and mockumentary horror like I am, (especially for New England based horror) then Creature Of The Pines is worth at least a watch.

Continue Reading