Feminist horror director Jennifer Reeder is diving deeper into the terrifying depths of adolescence with the upcoming slasher “Perpetrator.” She watches the trailer, an IndieWire exclusive below, for the release of Shudder bringing Alicia Silverstone back to the screen.
Screened at the Berlinale and Tribeca and screened at the Hudson Film Festival, the film is written and directed by the director of “Night’s End.” “Perpetrator” follows Jonny (Kiah McKirnan), a reckless teenager sent to live with her estranged aunt Hildie (Alicia Silverstone). On her eighteenth birthday, she experiences a radical change: a family spell that redefines her called Forevering. When several teenage girls go missing at her new school, a mythically savage Jonny pursues the perpetrator. Of note, Reeder has also directed a short film titled ‘Forevering’ which ties into the premise of ‘Perpetrator’.
Melanie Liburd and “How I Met Your Father” and “Promising Young Woman” star Christopher Lowell also appear in the high school-set film. Yet the McKirnan breakout and career-best Silverstone prove that “Perpetrator” is more of a two-handed dissection of generationally bestowed supernatural gifts.
Director Reeder told IndieWire she’s been trying to work with Silverstone for years, including on the blockbuster “Knives and Skin.” Since Reeder and Silverstone’s collaboration on “Perpetrator,” Reeder said: “I’m not done with her now that I’m around her. I keep promising to do more movies with her, which we absolutely will. Maybe ‘Batgirl.’”
IndieWire’s review for “Perpetrator” emphasized the film’s “ambitious” nature, citing how “the blood takes on a kind of mystical element; there is rarely a scene without a splash of it.
“Perpetrator” is produced by Derek Bishé and Gregory Chambet, with cinematography by Sevdije Kastrati.
“Perpetrator” will premiere September 1 in select theaters and on Shudder.
