Ignore "make test" for right now. Tests will run with perl or prove, so let's use them. I tried not to make it too complex but simple, the way you wrote it. Here's my version that I ran:

#!/usr/bin/perl

BEGIN {
    $ENV{'HARNESS_ACTIVE'}  = 1;
    $ENV{'HARNESS_VERBOSE'} = 1;
}

use strict;
use warnings;
use Test::More tests => 1;

my $log_file = './test_log';

my ( $sec, $min, $hour, $mday, $mon, $year, $wday, $yday, $isdst )
    = localtime(time);

my $timestamp = sprintf(
    "%4d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d",
    $year + 1900,
    $mon + 1, $mday, $hour, $min, $sec
);

open( OUT, '>', $log_file )
    or die "Could not open OUT! $!\n";
binmode OUT, ":encoding(UTF-8)";

print OUT "### START##################################################
+##\n";
print OUT "\t $timestamp  \n";

ok 1, "running the test $0...";
print OUT "ok 1 - running the test $0";

close(OUT);
[download]

You'll notice that I used environmental variables. It sure makes things easier. I also used binmode. If I'm going to open a file, then I usually binmode it. Don't forget to close the file or filehandle.

Here's the result, using perl:

###START####################################################
     2015-02-13 11:44:06  
ok 1 - running the test /root/Desktop/test_hangs.t.tdy
[download]

Here's the result, using prove

###START####################################################
     2015-02-13 11:22:31  
ok 1 - running the test /root/Desktop/test_hangs.t
[download]

One last thing: Most of the tests that fail can be unhung by using your keyboard. You can use Esc, or Pause/Break. Give it try. It'll take some experimentation and some time. Be patient:). I usually use Num/Lock--Pause/Break--back arrow.