Perpetrator: Shudder’s new must-watch

As the Halloween season quickly approaches, a new horror gem comes to Shudder. Filled with mystery and fantasy, Perpetrator is a blood-soaked movie that is guaranteed to entertain and surprise.

Code Massacre – Level Bloodbath.

Perpetrator follows Jonny, a troubled teen who must move in with her aunt in a town plagued by missing young girls. Her aunt is strange, and so is her school, but no amount of oddities can prepare her for the transformation that she undergoes on her18th birthday. As a new kind of supernatural being, Jonny seeks to take down the perpetrator who has been kidnapping the girls in town.

The movie starts with a serious and gritty tone, but slowly turns into something more complex. The whole thing draws you in with thoughtful realism, dark humor, and unique fantastical elements.

“Girls go missing all the time.”

I found Perpetrator to be a pretty special movie. The visuals are interesting, the soundtrack is wonderful, the ending is beyond satisfying, and it even includes a sapphic relationship. My only real criticism is the look of a particular special effect, but it didn’t take me out of the experience as a whole.

Perpetrator stars up-and-coming actress Kiah McKirnan (who totally kills it), accompanied by the Clueless queen herself, Alicia Silverstone. Jennifer Reeder’s Perpetrator is an exciting feminist horror film that I highly recommend, especially to all the horror girlies.

Now I can’t help but talk about my thought process at the end of Perpetrator. I’ll be giving away all the reveals, so don’t read unless you’ve seen it (or are okay with it being spoiled).

Spoilers below! You’ve been warned…

The ending is chalk-full of reveals that made the whole film come together perfectly. First we find out that the cop is in on the kidnapping. He had always seemed weird, so I wasn’t shocked on that reveal. However, the cop being Kirk’s dad – color me surprised.

Then we find out why the girls were being taken. It totally makes sense why the cop does what he does – for his wife who, surprise, is the school nurse covered in bandages. Not to mention I had watched Eyes Without a Face the day prior, so talk about a coincidence.

Of course things got even crazier. Jonny’s dad was actually her mom the whole time?! I jumped out of my seat for that one. But wait, another mystery is raised and another reveal is here to shock. The Principal is her dad and also the kidnapping, butchering freak?! I have to include that I loved Chris Lowell’s portrayal of Principal Burke, he was so much fun to watch.

I don’t care what anyone else says, I loved this movie. It sucked me in and gave me an unpredictable, exhilarating experience.

Perpetrator can be streamed on Shudder starting September 1.

What other Shudder originals have you watched and loved? Let us know in the comments!