Perkins' 14 (2009)

one of my absolute favorites!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

In the resort town of Stone Cove, thirteen children are missing for more than ten years. One of them is Kyle, the beloved son of Sheriff Dwayne Hopper (Patrick O'Kane) that is obsessed to know what happened to him. When the pharmacist Ronald Perkins (Richard Brake) is arrested, Dwayne suspects that he might have abducted his son, and he asks his pal Hal (Dean Sansone) that is at home to go to Perkins' house to investigate. Hal goes to the basement and finds many cells, and accidentally he releases the creatures that are imprisoned. Hal is murdered and the creatures escape. Dwayne goes to the place with Perkins and discovers the fate of the missing children that are released on the streets of Stone Cove in a hellish night.The gore "Perkins'14" is a sort of combination of the disturbing and sick Travis Betz's "Joshua (2006)" with any zombie movie. The result is disappointing since the attitudes of the lead characters are stupid in many times. The funniest part is when Janine asks her husband if he is all right. The guy has just found that he is a cuckold; his teenage daughter is a slut; and his beloved son has been abused for ten years and has become a monster. Further he has just seen many dreadful deaths and they are trapped in a basement under siege of powerful zombie-like creatures. Couldn't the writer have a more appropriate line for that moment? The conclusion is so imbecile that ruins the promising parts if this flick. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): Not Available

incompetent. towards the beginning there is a part when the guy is popping open a beer and drinking it and it takes like 6 shots just for that! and it's not stylish as aren't these annoying flashbacks and the sputtering light throughout the latter part of the movie that seems to have gone to everyone's brain. in one scene this girl leaves the group to go to the bathroom she gets some kind of murder by being partially pulled through the ceiling and screams a lot and the group wonders "what was that?" over like 15 shots hey maybe it's the b who went to take a p for goodnessakes! the wife cuts her hand badly stabbing one of the zombies with a shard of helpfully broken glass... but later has no wound. I mean basically this movie was very incompetent.

One a night shift, deputy sheriff Dwayne Hopper (Patrick O'Kane) finds out some terrible things about Ronald Perkins (Richard Brake) and the disappearance of 14 children-one of whom was Hopper's son. Well, Hopper kills Perkins in a fit of rage, and the next thing you know 14 nearly unstoppable zombie like killers cause mayhem in town with only one thing in mind-kill for Perkins.While it sounds great, "Perkins 14" is a mess from the get go. How could a movie with such an inventive premise go wrong? Well, for starters, the acting (save for Brake, whose performance as Perkins is bone chilling) is universally awful and largely amateur at best. While it's satisfyingly gory and has some decent moments in direction (I love the use of color schemes which bring to mind directors such as Argento, Bava and Fulci), the script is terrible and ends up being uninteresting, while the conclusion is too anti-climactic, the plot-holes are too gaping, the characters are uninteresting and the editing and score are jarring. I could go on really.So why am I giving it 3? Because it's at least original, has some nice gore and has a few interesting moments. In the end though, it reminded me somewhat of another bad horror movie I've reviewed called "Frozen Scream" in that it has a great premise, yet it all goes to waste and feels like a letdown.This is also the 4th of this years "8 Films To Die For" I've seen so far. As of now, the gory and blackly comic "Autopsy" is the only one that I've enjoyed, as the others have been decent but disappointing ("The Brøken "), a total mess (the film reviewed within) and pedestrian and dull ("Dying Breed.") So far, this years Horrorfest has mostly been a letdown. Too bad really. Maybe the next one will have more good entries. If not, then maybe they should just stop now.

Today's horror movies are a far cry from the ones I grew up on. Rarely, if ever, do you find the hard-edged rawness of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or the original "Halloween" in today's highly-polished offerings. "Perkins' 14" is an outstanding exception. Watching this movie is akin to riding a very, very scary roller coaster. It starts off easily enough, building up a great back story and creating empathy and understanding for the main characters. Then, suddenly, you're plunged into a hellish heart pounding ride that leaves you, at the end, trembling with sweaty palms. The acting in this movie is superb and believable, the story is unique, the directing is masterful, and the photography is amazing. At first I had an issue with the dark appearance of this movie. However, on second viewing I realized it contributed to the entire ambiance and storyline. Considering the time constraints the director, cast, and crew were under, this movie turned out beautifully. I doubt it would have in less capable hands. It is my opinion that Perkins' 14 will go down in cinematic history as one of the top horror movies of all time. For those who doubt it, remember that "Halloween" was widely panned in it's day by critics who were unable to see the future of the genre. For those of you who like happy endings, look up "Disney" and/or "Pixar", because this movie won't give you one. What it will give you is honest-to-goodness hardcore horror, which is what a good horror movie should do. Watch it if you dare.