Perpetrator Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Perpetrator Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 5, 2025

You may or may not want to say the following in Don LaFontaine's inimitable vocal style, but in a world of cookie cutter entertainments where minimum effort too often seems to be the ruling ethos, even when a film may arguably not succeed completely, it's kind of refreshing to realize that one reason why may be because it's trying to do too much. That may be the case with regard to Perpetrator, a really interesting and stylish outing from Jennifer Reeder that nonetheless may simply have tried to stuff too much content and competing ideas (and perhaps even genres) to ever flesh things out satisfactorily. The back cover of this release touts its "Bava-esque colors", which may be a bit of an overstatement, but which may saliently suggest that it is in fact style more than content that may resonate with many viewers. The content is almost deliberately opaque and tonally variant, starting with a fairly rote abduction scene which then turns into a not exactly innovative vignette documenting the kidnapper (masked, of course) about to have his way with his victim. That then gives way to the introduction of focal character Jonny (Kiah McKirnan), an evidently troubled young woman who is engaging in petty larceny, revealed to be at least in part to be able to pawn items to help her evidently sick father Gene (Tim Hopper). The fact that there's an early "reveal" documenting Gene's face weirdly morphing in a mirror before he collapses in a pool of blood starts to hint that there's something pretty weird going on, though Reeder takes a while to "get there".

A conversation between Gene and Jonny's Aunt Hildie (Alicia Silverstone) ends up with the teenager being sent to Hildie's home for reasons which are hinted rather broadly may not be due entirely to Jonny's larcenous misbehaviors. And that's where Perpetrator starts to get really weird. In what might almost be seen as a bloody parallel to Carrie with its fraught relationship between a mother and daughter within the context of nascent supernatural powers, Jonny and Hildie have their own rather interesting interactions which slowly reveal that Jonny is herself starting to experience some supernatural powers about which Hildie may know quite a bit.

This whole slightly gonzo element, which includes Jonny experiencing the same sort of face morphing in mirrors that Gene was shown to undergo earlier, kind of collides uneasily at times with what almost comes off as a darkly satiric look at Jonny's new school environment, which includes a retinue of mean girls and a perhaps crazed principal (Christopher Lowell). That all then has to be integrated into the kidnapping seen in the opening vignette, which of course turns out to be just one of several similar disappearances of young women.

The result is commendably ambitious, but its reach may ultimately exceed its grasp. Silverstone is on record in an interview on this disc mentioning Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger as an inspiration for both her look and characterization in this film, but she rightly or wrongly comes off as extremely mannered when compared to a relatively more naturalistic McKirnan, though everyone here seems to be winking at the audience at times, which again is somewhat tonally inconsistent with the more gory aspects of the story.

Perpetrator Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Perpetrator is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet has the following information on the presentation:

Perpetrator is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound. The high definition master was provided by AMC / WTFilms.

There's some really interesting information available in this interview with director of photography Sevdije Kastrati which discloses the Sony Venice was utilized, though it's unclear to me what resolution the DI was. One way or the other, this is a pretty stunning looking presentation a lot of the time, and if that aforementioned "Bave-esque" element may be in the eyes of various beholders, there are some really interesting lighting and grading choices utilized throughout, including a number of jaundiced yellow scenes and others bathed in either blue or red. All of these varying hues can marginally affect fine detail levels, though perhaps by not as much as might be assumed. The widely variant palette can tend to affect shadow detail as well, and a lot of this film is swathed in darkness. All of this said, things can pop amazingly well, as in the late scene that is literally bathed in blood.

Perpetrator Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perpetrator has a nicely evocative DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. Surround activity is noticeable in both exterior and interior scenes, with the side and rear channels regularly populated by ambient environmental sounds. Nick Zinner's score has some good choral cues and a few arguably more hackneyed "swoops of low frequency dread", but all of the music is spaciously rendered throughout. Dialogue is clean and clear. Optional English subtitles are available.

Perpetrator Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary features writer-director Jennifer Reeder and director of photography Sevdije Kastrati.


• Mirrors and the Monstrous Womb (HD; 10:41) is an interesting video essay by Jennifer Handorf that cites a huge number of horror adjacent films featuring women and mirrors.


• Original Shudder Trailer (HD; 1:41)


• Cast Interviews

Kiah McKirnan (Jonquil 'Jonny' Baptiste) (HD; 5:22)




Alicia Silverstone (Hildie Baptiste) (HD; 6:32)




Melanie Liburd (Jean Baptiste) (HD; 5:23)




Christopher Lowell (Principal Burke) (HD; 5:07)

• Short Films and Music Videos

Screenplay (2024) (HD; 5:59)




Tiny Baby (2024) (HD; 5:29)




All Small Bodies (2018) (HD; 19:34)




I Dream You Dream of Me (2018) (HD; 10:13)




LOLA, 15 (2017) (HD; 4:25)

Arrow provides its typically nicely appointed insert booklet, and packaging includes a slipcover.

Perpetrator Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Perpetrator has a lot going for it, and arguably too much. The glut of content and ideas will be daunting enough for many viewers, though for me it was the huge swings in tone that tended to unsettle me, and not necessarily in a "good" horror film way. Still, this is a really interesting effort that looks and sounds great and comes with a nice assortment of enjoyable supplements, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.