5 fascinating female horror performances from 2019
By Mads Lennon
3. The Perfection
The actresses: Allison Williams as Lizzie and Logan Browning as Charlotte
What the movie is about: Musical prodigy Lizzie was the star pupil at her former school. Charlotte has now taken her place, and Lizzie seeks her out for reasons unknown, at first. Together the two plummet down a sinister, twisted path that crescendoes into a climax befitting the operatic drama of this film.
Performance: We’ve already seen how brilliant and unassuming Allison Williams can be with her performance in Jordan Peele’s horror, Get Out. She is as adept at a chameleon when it comes to masking her characters’ motives. Her transformative nature is critical in movies such as The Perfection, which leaves the audience in the dark until it’s too late to turn back.
As for Logan Browning, she has been one to watch since her scene-stealing and fierce performance as Jelena on former VH1 series, Hit the Floor. These days you can catch her starring in Netflix series, Dear White People.
Her role as Charlotte in The Perfection goes from victim to femme fatale to something altogether new. Together, Browning and Williams help this frenzied, weird, and original thriller veer into unexplored terrain.
I’ve spoken at length about this film already and how I think it seeks to twist the rape/revenge film into something far more compelling. It wouldn’t have succeeded without masterful performances from its leads. Williams and Browning are more than up to that challenge.