Perkins' 14 (2009)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Craig Singer

Writer:

Lane Shadgett (screenplay)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Years have gone by... not heard from, nor seen. Destined to KILL. Its...

Plot:

In the small town of Stone Cove, Maine, deputy sheriff Dwayne Hopper is on the night shift at the police station...

Plot Keywords:

Small Town | Loss Of Son | Chess | Trail Of Blood | Severed Head

Cast

Patrick O'Kane	...	Dwayne Hopper
Richard Brake	...	Ronald Perkins
Michale Graves	...	Eric Ross
Mihaela Mihut	...	Janine Hopper
Shayla Beesley	...	Daisy Hopper
Gregory O'Connor	...	Grodsky
Katherine Pawlak	...	Felicity
Josh Davidson	...	The Stranger
Jeremy Donaldson	...	Sam
Trey Farley	...	Scott
Sean Farragher	...	Pete
Roxanna Ravenor	...	Raggedy Woman
F. Stone Roberts	...	Officer Weber
Dean Sansone	...	Hal
C.J. Singer	...	Kyle

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic bloody violence, terror, language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

MediaPro Studios, Bucharest, Romania

Company:

After Dark Films

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Dwayne Hopper is searching the sheriff's database for "Ronald Perkins" the information he gets back is for "Roland Perkins".

Quotes:

Grodsky: We have to get out of the lobby.

Movie Connections:

References On the Waterfront (1954)

Definitely one of the best "8 Films to Die For" that I've seen

I have not been very impressed with most of the releases in these three sets that have come out the last few years. I was somewhat intrigued by this one though, and in watching it, I was not disappointed with it, but it's not exactly perfect.

A small town sheriff's deputy, Dwayne Hopper, is having some personal crises within himself and with his family, due to his son's disappearance some 10 years earlier. One night, while on duty, he goes back to check on the prisoners & finds one Ronald Perkins, an alleged pharmacist & a friend of a local judge, supposedly. Something Perkins says to Hopper arouses some suspicion, and in checking him out Hopper finds out that Perkins may not be who he says he is. And in fact, he may have something to do with his son's kidnapping. Of course, Dwayne has to search Perkins' car too & comes up with a big bag full of vials of PCP...quite the pharmacist this guy is.

Now, Dwayne manages to coerce one of his fellow deputies to go to Perkins' house (even though the guy things he's crazy or drunk again) and while there the other deputy manages to easily find a secret panel that hides an area full of cages, one of which is still occupied. Thinking that he's helping someone, the deputy opens the cage only to realize (too late) that this was a very bad choice.

Meanwhile, out by some strange old amusement park or something, Hopper's daughter is hanging out with her folk-singing goth-punk dreadlocked friends, only to have some crazy person come out of nowhere with a big sharp object that he proceeds to put to use. Of course, Hopper arrives & saves the day, or so he thinks...but the town of Stone Cove (apparently a wealthy place since he's driving a Land Rover) is being overrun by crazed, zombie-like beings that are on a killing spree.

Naturally everyone holes up at the police station, and yet that doesn't guarantee safety when resourceful PCP-fueled zombie-things manage to enter via skylights and such. There's almost a touching sort of ending to this too, but thankfully it didn't work out as it appeared it would, that would have been so disappointing.

Overall, this is pretty creepy & dark themed, but it also has its share of plot holes & inconstancies. However, I didn't think that those necessarily ruined the atmosphere.

This film seems to have rather an odd pedigree, if you watch the end credits, as it was apparently filmed in Romania, and some of the processing was done in Mumbai, India, and some in Rome...and some in the UK? But it's released as a US film. Very odd.

Still though, I'd recommend it, it's head & shoulders over most the the "8 Films To Die For" stuff. 7 out of 10.