Sat. Apr 27th, 2024


A clip from Jennifer Reeder’s horror film Perpetrator, coming soon to Shudder, reveals the character played by Alicia Silverstone

Last weekend, Alicia Silverstone reprised her role from the 1995 film Clueless in one of the most talked-about Super Bowl commercials. Silverstone will next be seen in director Jennifer Reeder’s horror film Perpetrator, which is set to have its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival this Friday, February 17th… and will eventually be heading over to the Shudder streaming service. In anticipation of the film’s world premiere, an odd, disturbing clip has arrived online to give us an early look at the character Silverstone plays, and you can check it out in the embed above.

Perpetrator is Reeder’s third collaboration with Shudder, as she previously contributed a segment to the horror anthology V/H/S/94 and directed the horror film Night’s End, both of which were released through Shudder.

Perpetrator centers on Jonny, an impulsive teenage girl living in a town where young women continue to go missing, and revolves around the power she’s forced to unlock to survive. The filmmakers say that the film is “inspired by the shared experience of generations of women,” as well as an “exploration of youthful chaos.”

Jonny is played by Kiah McKirnan (Mare of Easttown). Christopher Lowell (My Best Friend’s Exorcism), Melanie Liburd (The Idol), and Ireon Roach (Candyman) are also in the cast.

Perpetrator was produced by Gregory Chambet of WTFilms and Derek Bishé of Divide/Conquer. Trevor Groth and Sarah Hong of 30West served as executive producers with Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath of Divide/Conquer, Dimitri Stephanides of WTFilms, and Emily Gotto of Shudder.

Shudder had this to say about the distribution deal: “Our third collaboration with Jennifer is her boldest, most exhilarating yet. Perpetrator is a wild coming of age tale, and we’re thrilled to continue to support a director like no other.

Reeder added: “This is a significant moment for women working in genre films. Women are very well suited for horror in particular — we have a personal relationship to fear from a very young age, and are able to bleed for days and not die. This film in particular takes on the myth of the out-of-control teen girl — the wild child. In this story, she has agency in her lawlessness and embraces her abject nature. Perpetrator is dark but feminine, a nuanced noir, a grrrl power take on modern horror.

And Chambet provided the following statement: “When we started developing the movie, the idea was to walk in the footsteps of powerful female horror references such as Cat People, Carrie, and Jennifer’s Body. On Perpetrator, everything gelled together perfectly: the unique voice of Jennifer, a breakthrough performance from Kiah, a great and surprising turn from Alicia, inspirational shots from our DP Sevdije Kastrati, and so much more. We assembled a dream team of partners with the strong know-how of Divide/Conquer, who have worked on numerous hit Blumhouse films, and the packaging talents of 30West. Shudder is the perfect home for our daring, bloody, and mysterious teenage tale and we can’t wait to share the movie with international distributors as well.

What did you think of the Perpetrator clip? Are you looking forward to watching this movie when it reaches Shudder? Let us know by leaving a comment below. I will definitely be checking this movie out at some point.

By Dave Jenks

Dave Jenks is an American novelist and Veteran of the United States Marine Corps. Between those careers, he’s worked as a deckhand, commercial fisherman, divemaster, taxi driver, construction manager, and over the road truck driver, among many other things. He now lives on a sea island, in the South Carolina Lowcountry, with his wife and youngest daughter. They also have three grown children, five grand children, three dogs and a whole flock of parakeets. Stinnett grew up in Melbourne, Florida and has also lived in the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and Cozumel, Mexico. His next dream is to one day visit and dive Cuba.