Ronald Perkins builds an army of 14 people brainwashed through cult-like methods to protect him from his parents' killers. When Perkins is imprisoned, the police unwittingly unleash his followers on a small town and they've only got one thing on their mind: "Kill for Mr. Perkins."
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Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Ten years ago a string of 14 abductions took place in a small town. All of them were children with the final one being deputy sheriff Dwayne Hopper's (O'Kane) son Kyle. This has shattered the town and Dwayne's family as they have never been solved. He's alienated from his daughter Daisy (Beesley) and his wife Janine (Mihut) is having affair behind his back. One night he comes across Ronald Perkins (Brake) a local resident brought in on a small charge to his jail. Hopper has a creepy suspicion about the man and sends a deputy to Perkins house. The deputy finds the 14 abductees locked up in the basement and he frees them. Perkins has spent the last 10 years turning these kids into savages and killers and they quickly kill the deputy and are loose in the town. Hopper tries to collect his family and keep them safe as the town is being over run by the 14 killers. They eventually take refuge in the police station as Dwayne must fight with himself whether to kill his son or try and save him. This original horror tale is a breath of fresh air. The story by Jeremy Donaldson and screenplay by Lane Shadgett raises interesting moral issues about main character Dwayne Hopper. His love for his son has driven Dwayne beyond reason on many occasions as he must face the toughest choices. Director Craig Singer keeps the story moving and some of the deaths are very bloody which should please gore fans. The movie never gets cheap and moves to a chilling ending which seems perfect for this tale. Patrick O'Kane is very believable and convincing as Dwayne Hopper and his performance carries the film in some places. By no means is this a classic, but Perkins 14 is a fresh and scary idea in a world of remakes and sequels.
Of all the '8 Films to Die For' that I've seen (which is most of them), this one is undoubtedly the best (though that isn't saying much). It's not what I'd call brilliant horror, and certainly could have been a lot better, but there are some really good ideas here and they're well carried off by the director and his cast. The film could be called a zombie film - although I think that isn't really an accurate description. The film does take some influence from said genre, but the monsters in the film aren't zombies - instead, they're teenagers high on PCP. The plot focuses on a small town cop, who is devastated by the loss of his young son some years earlier. He's called into work after one of the other cops took the night off sick, and is intrigued by one of the prisoners in his cells. He notices the guy is missing a finger, and jumps to the conclusion that he's holding the man who kidnapped his son. After sending another officer to the prisoners' house, all hell breaks loose when the fourteen maniacs being held in his basement are let loose! The whole film takes place at night, and director Craig Singer (who previously made the half-decent 'Dark Ride') makes best use of this as it gives the film a tremendous dark atmosphere that serves the central plot line well. It's basically a film of two halves; the first half focuses on the interaction between the two central characters - the cop and the prisoner. The best thing about the first half is the suspense and intrigue drummed up as we wonder exactly what is in the guy's basement - the sequence that reveals it is really well done. The second half is much more action packed and sees the maniacs let loose on the streets, and then we watch as the cop desperately tries to keep his family safe. The film is rather savage in the gore department - though to the director's credit, he's restrained with the gore and uses it only when needed - which ensures the biggest impact. The fact that the special effects are well done is also to the film's credit. The plot line flowing throughout the film regarding the officer's son is interesting; but soon gets silly. It also has to be said that many of the character decisions throughout the film are questionable. Still, this is an interesting effort and I would say if you only see one 'film to die for', make sure it's this one.
Start off with this, is a grade "D" horror-movie not a Merchant Ivory production of "WINDSWEPT MANOR". So you leave this film be ya-hear it ain't hurting nobody. Start off with the movie jumps around a bit and when it lands you have the dysfunctional Sheriff still grieving the loss of his son and hitting on his daughters friends. His boyz arrest a creepy guy who tries to talk his way out of jail. A further investigation leads him to believe this guy is responsible for the disappearance of his son and other kids. A deputy is sent to do an illegal search of the suspects residence. he releases the now grown son who starts infecting everyone with the crazies. The father kills the creep before he can tell them whats going on. the father won't let anyone kill his son which would've nipped this in the bud. It all culminates in a deadly stand off inside the local cop-shop.
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.