Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Perpetrator’

9/4/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Kiah McKirnan as “Jonquil ‘Jonny’ Baptiste” in Jennifer Reeder’s PERPETRATOR. Photo Courtesy of Shudder. A Shudder release.

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.

One unfortunate truth about our world that we as a society don’t acknowledge enough… is that we genuinely do treat women like second class citizens. After all, women don’t receive equal pay in anything they do, that cash goes to a man. Not to mention, the opinions and the leadership of women are often dismissed by men or seen as emotional and well… it just gets worse from there. Since the biology of women receives zero respect and understanding, even though it is what brings forth life and what’s worse… is that women have little say over their bodies and their biology. For such matters are decided by old men that are so out of touch they still think using the phrase, ‘the bee’s knees’, is swell.

Which then begs some important questions regarding women and their rights. In that… how do we impact change and give women the respect and the autonomy… and outright equality they are due? Well, it will in part take some fundamental change to our society. The kind where people at a young age learn what equality really means. But that will of course take a great deal of time and work that won’t yield immediate results. Which is why storytelling can help in the interim. By pointing out the hypocrisy of men and the stupid things that women have to deal with on a daily basis to give people pause and perhaps elicit change from those open and willing to do so, and it just so happens… that a brand-new horror film on Shudder offers up just that.

A feat that Perpetrator accomplishes by introducing us to a seventeen-year-old woman named Jonquil ‘Jonny’ Baptiste, who… is in a tough place in her life when we meet her. Because her father isn’t able to really function without some medicinal help and that puts the onus of responsibility upon her. And that is so much to process, she is ready to get away from home and just live and well, that opportunity arrives when dear old dad stumbles hard. That prompts him to send Jonny to live with her great aunt, Hildie, in a faraway town. Where she can turn eighteen in a few days in peace and find her own way. But what happens instead, is that some family secrets are revealed with the big birthday arrives, the kind that will force some hard changes in Jonny’s life and give her agency like never before. To the point… where she might be able to use the wonder of her new age for good and teach some of the unsavory men in this new town some valuable lessons about respect.

Which at first glance seems to be more of a coming-of-age story over something that is horrific in nature and reflective of our world, and that is reinforced by the early third of this motion picture. Since it really is about Jonny finding her place in the world and settling into a new town. But it doesn’t take long… for us to come to understand that this movie really is about the inequality that women experience in the world. In part by satirizing moments in a woman’s life that are nothing but the norm, in a manner that a close-minded man would view them. To put the stupidity of such thinking on display and inform us of the ridiculous nature in which women and their everyday lives are viewed and the majesty of that doesn’t end there.

Because soon the story digs deeper and points out how men view women and what they expect of them and that’s really where the horror begins. Since we see how men view women as objects and properties and something to own versus recognizing rights and treating women like equals. And of course… that is taken to the extreme here, in a manner that feels frighteningly familiar, as though we are watching nothing short of the six o’clock news and well… that definitely gives the viewer pause. For it is a visceral view of reality and the nonsense that women put up with on a daily basis and while that sobering and fascinating look at such matters could have carried this film and left us with a supremely bleak snapshot of life in America right now, one where the audience is tasked with pondering upon how best to bring about change… the film opted to be a bit more direct on what comes next.

For this is a story that in many ways, serves as a call to arms. One that tasks everyone out there to just start saying enough to inequality, to the bad behavior of men and the nonsense that women are subjected to. Simply because, that really doesn’t happen enough, not in a unified manner that is, and well… it needs to. Because unified voices are heard and unified voices inspire change, and if we can finally come together to do so… this horror story will have a happy ending. But while we wait to see how that call is answered, we can celebrate one poignant horror film. One that harbors some fascinating and horrifying observations regarding our modern world and truly puts on display how far we have to go in matters of equality.

Watch ‘Perpetrator’

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