Perkins in post

Well, whoop-i-dee-doo! It looks like at least one of the flicks scheduled for After Dark’s HORRORFEST 2009 will be completed on time. The first candidate to likely reach the finish line is the creepy, cult-y PERKINS’ 14 which just entered its post-production phase for director Craig Singer. Please excuse me for not pumping my fist in joy, but I just have a strange feeling that this one may be suspect for not delivering. However, Mr. Singer seems to be spouting nothing by high praise for his film, boasting that it is ”the real deal: all practical effects, a cast filled with non-SAG actors and a dash of 70’s horror show.”

I do like fright flicks that go the “real deal” route, so hopefully PERKINS’ will be able to prove my initial feeling wrong. A cast of unknows tends to work well because there are no pre-conceived notions about what they’re capable of, which usually preserves the element of surprise. And you know there has got to be at least fourteen major “unknown” roles here. That’s already pretty big for a horror indie. Here’s the plot:

A man named Robert 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.”

Aw nuts, I just got that initial feeling again. Oh well. I’ll say it again: “prove me wrong.” Here, get to know the unknown cast: Patrick O’Kane, Shayla Beesley, Mihaela Mihut, Michale Graves, Gregory O’Connor, Katherine Pawlak, Richard Brake, Trey Farley, and Craig Robert Young. PERKINS’ opens on January 9th 2009.