One of the London Frightfest 2019’s ‘Official Selections’ was writer/director Paddy Murphy’s supernatural horror offering THE PERISHED.
Troubled college girl Sarah Dekker (Courtney McKeon) has a quickie in the back of a car with boyfriend Shane Daly (Flach Kunz). Her strictly religious mother, Elaine (Noelle Clarke) and father Richard (Conor Lambert) are none-too-pleased when they find out she has got herself pregnant and Elaine orders Sarah out of the house after a massive and volatile argument in which Elaine gets physical with her daughter.
Seeking solace, she takes up the kind offer of gay friend Davet Lynch (Paul Fitzgerald) to stay at his parent’s country house and she begins to put her life back together. Unfortunately, the house has a dark and sinister past which begins to impact on not only her rehabilitation and possible reconciliation with those she holds dear, but also her own survival and welfare…..
Murphy has a more restrained sense of pace with THE PERISHED and the film harks back to some of the more slow-burning and underplayed horror offerings of previous decades, providing a little more context to the shocks that come a little later in the film.
There is an opening series of captions providing some background to the history which sets the film up, but the early part of the film is more about the relationships between key characters rather than trying to make the audience leap off their seats.
This is both a hindrance and a strength in terms of the overall impact of the film, as it does veer more towards a more straightforward drama and less in terms of real horrific sense, when in fact you have to have balance of the two, a bit like the original 1982 version of POLTERGEIST, which worked very well character-wise as well as showed depth to the story and elements that were conspiring to undermine the fates of the Freeling family and people they affected around them.
However, what it lacks in its slow-burner set-up is compensated during an effectively atmospheric climax, when the nature of the evil within the house manifests itself. There’s a nice and dark idea at the heart of the film, but the focus early on on the relationship dynamic impacts on what the real focus here. Horror is more about getting to the gore and scares early.
THE PERISHED is well-made with good performances within, but there should have been a little more horror on top of what we see here. Director Murphy should hopefully get another crack at the genre, as he shows some good promise with this, even though it is one of the more under-developed additions to the genre.
The film is available to watch on iTunes here.
