Hello Everyone, Janet W. here…
” Suspense, intrigue, and fear-inducing terror are absent from The Perished.”
From the Emerald Isle comes a story that tears you apart. The Perished opens with Sarah who dates Shane and suddenly discovers that she is pregnant. Before she could tell Shane he proclaims that he needs space. Shortly after Sarah’s parents uncover that she is pregnant. Being of a strict Catholic mind, her mother kicks her out and her father hopelessly complies with his wife. Destitute, pregnant, and without her parents or her boyfriend, Sarah decides to have an abortion and turn to the only person she has left, Davet, her best friend. Davet is thoughtful and takes care of his friend at his family’s remote home. Unbeknownst to them, the house has a history written on the dead carcasses of 800 dead infants and toddlers.
The Perished has the potential for an interesting concept. A few cinematic elements are too great of an obstacle. The sound mixing is so out of balance that ambient sounds (traffic, air conditioning, car seat creaking, etc.) cover over the dialogue (echoing dialogue often, too) throughout the film. This disruption yanks the audience out of the story. From the sound of the crinkling envelope of money while Sarah’s father’s words are inaudible to the possession of Rebecca complete with the inability to discern her words or who or what is possessing her.
The Perished lacks character development which leaves the audience in the dark. Sarah and her mother go off the rails just because she goes to clubs and gets pregnant? Her mother is super conservative and highly religious yet wears a blouse that is see-through with only a few designs barely covering her assets for her being a woman of morals. There are plot holes for instance, what possessed one girl, why do some people hear the baby cries and others don’t, what is the creature supposed to be and why is it so big, etc. I could list more but I hate spoilers. For the most part, the editing is fair. A positive point is the decent editing technique used in Sarah’s blood hallucinations.
The ending of The Perished also leaves the viewers wondering due to the incongruent series of images with Sarah, Shane, and a child interposed with a whole lot of children and bloody creatures. I wanted to like this film, but overall, I do not recommend The Perished. The underlying message of a woman’s right to choose was just buried in poor cinematic choices. The preface was sufficient to make something blood curdling, but they just missed the mark. Suspense, intrigue, fear-inducing terror are absent from this “horror” film.