Perfect Creature (2006) User Reviews

Perfect Creature

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 12 November 2007]

"Everything flows from me. My blood will change the world."

An evolved genetically enhanced race of homo-sapiens("vampires")titled "The Brotherhood" have lived in harmony with humans serving them faithfully for centuries until a rebellious rogue member, Edgar(Leo Gregory), responsible for creating an anti-virus towards the dangerous outbreak of influenza which took many lives, decides he's tired of being a servant towards those he deems inferior. He has created an influenza virus that poisons humans, and his direct aim is the Jamestown slums where he feels those undesirables aren't fit to live. His brother Silus(Dougray Scott, mostly emotionless and stoic, tilting his head slightly towards an action or something of human nature that fascinates him)is to be a leader of The Brotherhood one day, but Edgar's goal is to infect him with the influenza virus. For the first part of the film, Silus(..and The Brotherhood members)has trouble catching an elusive and cunning Edgar who is feasting on the throats of humans in alleys and apartment dwellings. Silus joins the human police, lead by policewoman Lilly(Saffron Burrows, although glammed down she's still quite beautiful)as they seek the whereabouts of Edgar. Edgar bites Lilly, but doesn't kill her. Silus develops an attraction to Lilly, who now will be Edgar's chess piece in his goal to infect his brother. For a little while The Brotherhood are able to quarantine Edgar, but you know a prison will not hold this villain very long. Edgar's goal is to kidnap Lilly and cause a world of chaos as The Brotherhood see no other alternative but eradicate Jamestown due to the outbreak by one of their own. Will Silus be able to stop Edgar? Will Silus turn on The Brotherhood, his people for what they plan to do to Jamestown? Will Silus be able to save Lilly from the harm Edgar has in store for her?

The film moves about as fast as Edgar, and the plot isn't very complex;I'm pretty sure most vampire fans will find it easy to follow. The setting isn't very glamorous, but the film uses that to an advantage, dipping the viewer into an ugly world where humans are rotting from disease, poverty, and filth. The Camera often briskly follows the actions and movements of the characters..the camera even often follows the heightened senses of the vampires such as what Silus hears and what Edgar sees as he crawls through a ventilation shaft in retreat and hiding from those out to catch him. Leo Gregory, as the snarling villain, often has his face locked in rage like a venomous snake on the verge of attack. There are moments of vampire carnage such as when Edgar takes a bite out of slum victims. You know the film is heading towards a showdown between Silus and Edgar, so that shouldn't be a surprise. The ending opens the possibility of a sequel. Not a bad way to waste about 88 minutes. Nothing that'll stay with you afterwards, but works as a futuristic vampire tale that doesn't overstay it's welcome.

An Intriguing Premise That Slowly Fizzles

[Kashmirgrey · 6/10 · 10 September 2007]

In the midst of deadly and rampant plagues, the vampire is born. During several centuries that follow, the vampire race becomes known as "The Brotherhood", keepers of the faith, holy icons of hope and inspiration during a time of pestilence despair. Unfortunately, one of the bros ( Leo Gregory) gets a taste of some bad blood and slowly graduates from serial killer to mass murderer. It's up to his "biological" brother (Dougray Scott) and a cop (Saffron Burrows) to rein him before he gives The Brotherhood a bad rap.

"Perfect Creature" has a lot going for it. The premise is intriguing enough, the characters are interesting, and it casts (pardon the pun) an interesting light on the vampire genre. Edgar, the psychotic Brother is quite sinister and contrasts nicely against his priestly peers. Burrows and Scott also adeptly assume the shoes of their roles as well.

The bummer is that the film lacks in plot development and suffers from some pretty significant story flaws. How do the Brothers sustain their need for blood? What exactly is their religion? Why don't those bitten by Edgar contract his virus? I guess, referencing the common question from the film "Outbreak", is it airborne?

For me, "perfect Creature" ascended nicely from nothingness, but its wings never fully developed and it took a nose dive back into its grave.

Look and feel let down by dull story and action

[Fartybeast · 4/10 · 23 May 2007]

Oh, I really wanted this film to be better.

So much potential with the alternative reality and the wet gritty feel of it all. The interactions between the characters held the possibility of layers of intrigue and backstory which could have led to spin offs into other media.

But it plays like a hastily written love story wedged into an interesting world view. Just when the story seems ready to move into an action sequence, it gets all boring and at the exact moment you expect some deeper relationship exposition, it stumbles onwards to progress the action.

The acting is great (even if a number of the actors are regular players on New Zealand TV and film), cinematography and editing is OK but nothing special, and the effects are passable for the budget. As an overall look it scores well, but it is no white knuckle ride.

My immediate comparison is to a films like Night Watch/Day Watch, Blade, Dark City or Underworld. Budget aside, these other films score so much better because they seem to get the pacing right. Ultimately, I found that I struggled to sit through the whole thing. I just kept thinking of other things I could be doing ... it just didn't engage me as it should have.

I'd still recommend seeing this film as it does throw up some cool ideas and grim images. But don't expect action and adventure at every turn.

Unfortunately boring despite good setup

[EnvyYouProductions · 5/10 · 31 July 2007]

First a confession: I have a weakness for vampire films. There are just a handful that really did it for me (NEAR DARK, BRAM STOKER'S Dracula, BLOOD & DOUGHNUTS, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN and a few more), but this genre still intrigues me against my better judgment. So I grabbed the opportunity to see PERFECT CREATURE that comes up with a new concept: vampires were created in genetic experiments in the Renaissance era. The new breed called themselves The Brotherhood, formed a church and put their powers into the services of mankind. They're no evil bloodsuckers - until now. Suddenly people get killed and drained. The Brotherhood sends investigator Silas (Dougray Scott) to collaborate with the local police (led by Saffron Burrows). Together they try to hunt down the killer vampire, while The Brotherhood tries to hush things up. The story takes place in a fictitious city where it always seems to rain (hello SE7EN), the aesthetics is 19th century meets the 1930s, mixed with modern technology (see: DARK CITY). All in all no bad yarn, but Dougray Scott proves again his yawn qualities, and the characters stay two-dimensional in an extend one wished it really was a comic book (where it would be told better). The ending aspires to be the beginning to sequels or a TV series, which seems doubtful. But after all there have been follow-ups to way dodgier genre films. For me it just means waiting for the next good vampire film. 5/10

An Absolutely Original and Stylish Vampire Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 12 January 2008]

In a world not unlike ours in the 50's, the human race has been coexisting for three hundred years with a genetically enhanced breed of vampires called The Brotherhood that lead the church and researches. The fragile humans are under an influenza epidemic and shortage of the vaccine has been developed by The Brothers, and the police is struggling against the black market. In this environment, Captain Lilly (Saffron Burrows) is assigned to investigate the murder of a woman in an alley of the local slums, and she finds that the murderer is a Brother. Due to the political issue, the church sends Silus (Dougray Scott) to help her, and he discloses that his brother Edgar (Leo Gregory) was infected a couple of weeks ago and killed other women, but the Brotherhood has covered-up the murders to avoid the return of prejudice against their race. Silus and Lilly succeed to arrest the insane vampire, but when Edgar escapes from the compound, he begins to infect the human race.

"Perfect Creature" is a surprisingly good, underrated and absolutely original and stylish vampire movie. The acting is great, with an excellent development of the characters and situations; and the plot is dramatic, consistent and well resolved and gives an excellent hook for a sequel. The art direction blends different styles and ages of "our world" prevailing the 50's, and together with the dark and Gothic cinematography, produce a very pleasant and entertaining feature. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Criatura Perfeita" ("Perfect Creature")

Good idea, but not perfectly executed ...

[kosmasp · 3/10 · 30 July 2007]

No pun intended with the summary line by the way. But it's a shame to see a really good idea going to waste! It begins with the main actor for me, who seems to have no facial expressions at all ... This might be intended, because after all he's a vampire. But even so, there should be some, I think.

The action is executed nicely, but the story doesn't move accordingly or has the usual bumps. So while the "Brothers" could remind some people of Blade, it never achieves to come near that movie. And the comparison doesn't help, on the contrary, it just shows you how much lesser of a movie this one is!

A fresh slant on the vampire myth

[misbegotten · 7/10 · 28 September 2008]

An independent New Zealand/British production, Perfect Creature was completed back in 2005. 20th century Fox promptly snapped up the worldwide distribution rights, and there was talk of the movie being released into cinemas. And then... nothing. Fox apparently didn't know how to market the film, and after sitting on the shelf for two years, it quietly crept out as a direct-to-DVD release.

Perfect Creature is set in an alternative reality where (compared to our world) branches of science and engineering have experienced different rates of progress. Horse-drawn carriages are still in use, the few cars we see are steam-powered, and airships cross the sky. However, attempts at genetic manipulation began three hundred years and resulted in the creation of vampires - although that word is never uttered in the film. Instead they're referred to as The Brotherhood. Accepted by most of the population as the next stage in Man's evolution, The Brotherhood have dedicated themselves to protecting society, are in charge of the Church, and drink blood donated by willing volunteers. However, a renegade Brother has started committing murder - the first to do so since their kind first appeared - and Brother Silas (played by Dougray Scott) is assigned the task of tracking him down. Despite Silas's protests, The Brotherhood is covering up the fact that one of their kind has become a killer, in the belief that this knowledge will damage the bond of trust between Man and Brother. Eventually however the information gets out, and Silas (who is being groomed to lead The Brotherhood one day) forms an alliance with a human detective (Saffron Burrows) to catch the murderer.

Perfect Creature is an intelligent and entertaining film, but Fox's wariness about how to promote it was probably due to the fact that it contains few surprises and not much actually happens per se. The alternative reality is well realised on what was (by Hollywood standards) a fairly low budget of $20 million. In addition to the different levels of technology, the fashions worn by the various characters reflect their social standing: the poor and working classes have clothing that's Dickensian/Victorian, the middle classes wear 1920s fashions, the plain-clothed and uniformed police have suits and uniforms that echo the Forties, while the riot police's armour and The Brotherhood's clothes are almost-modern. Burrows give a fine but unshowy performance as the world-weary detective, but Scott seems ill-at-ease and unsure how to portray the character of Silas, and settles for adopting a sorrowful expression throughout.

I couldn't stop falling asleep honestly

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 3/10 · 1 November 2007]

My boyfriend and I were looking for a good horror movie to watch on Halloween, one problem, we've seen pretty much every good horror movie there is to see. But we came across Perfect Creature and the cover looked very cool and the story seemed to be interesting. We watched this when it was storming out and turned off all the lights; but I kept falling asleep during the film, we would start it over and then I would look up and my boyfriend was asleep. I was thinking maybe I was tired and just needed to give this movie another chance, but when I watched it the next day, I still really couldn't keep awake. I got through the movie, but I was still I wasn't really into it. The story was good, but the pacing was slow and it seemed to be more of a vampire soap opera than a scary story. I'm fine with drama's, but this one was just not making much sense.

From what I've gathered it was about the vampires that are actually called The Brotherhood and they live peacefully with the humans, in fact, they actually provide the humans with cures for illnesses and the humans provide them with blood. But one vampire, Edgar, is about to change that and decides that he should feed on whoever. He teases his brother, Silos, who is in love with a mortal that he saves from Edgar, and how he craves her. But Silos knows that he must keep it together and stop Edgar from destroying the relationships between man and The Brotherhood.

Perfect Creature isn't paced well at all and could have been just a little more exciting. There wasn't anything wrong with the acting, I think the story just needed to move faster. Because the story had extreme potential, I thought it was very original, it just needed a little extra something. So I wouldn't really recommend this film, it is pretty boring in my opinion, I'm surprised that it has a 5.5 rating, but I'm guessing some users are seeing something that I didn't.

3/10

A Nutshell Review: Perfect Creature

[DICK STEEL · 7/10 · 12 May 2008]

Written and directed by Glenn Standring, Perfect Creature falls into one of those fantasy, alternate universe timelines where because of genetic engineering and the likes, humans now are living side by side with the more powerful vampires with whom have forged a truce, that is, to never feed on the blood of humans, but instead, get their dosage of plasma through religious rites of sorts.

Which serves as an intriguing premises to begin with, except that it had so much going for it, that it failed to capitalize on the wealth of its potential, instead choosing to coast through the expected until a finale made up of standard fare, with too many plot elements than it could handle, with mistrust between the two species of homo sapiens, an influenza virus, and a murderous vampire hell bent on creating havoc by unleashing his own brand of justice to the world.

With movies like Underworld and various other genre incarnations that dwell on super- beings, Perfect Creature at best was on par in terms of the visuals, where the filmmakers have created a stunningly looking dark city, which seemed like a cross between Victorian England, except for the vehicles such as zeppelins which crowd the sky. Special effects was rudimentary, and you can feel the lack of slickness in the movements of the vampires, not so much as they couldn't fly, but their essence of speed wasn't properly brought across, and looked quite clunky.

The story, bared down to the basics, is about how human detective Lilly (Saffron Burrows) has to team up with a high ranking vampire / priest (yes, you read that right) called Brother Silus (Dougray Scott, who walks really stiff here and nary breaks into a smile), despite her and her team's discrimination against the vampire race. And their common adversary Edgar (Leo Gregory) happens to be a researcher of sorts gone renegade, and with blood relations to Silus, puts a dampener on so called conflict of interest.

As an action-fantasy piece, don't expect any award winning acting here, because what thrills are the set action pieces in claustrophobic spaces within dark and dank apartment blocks. However, unlike its contemporary peers, there aren't any fancy gadgets, weapons or moves to wow you, well, maybe perhaps the cool stunt gun that Silus carries which fires off projectile rounds to immobilize his kind. And of course something tells you it's not quite right when the mid-point action sequence trounces the finale which had a distinct lack of excitement.

But on the whole, for its mood, settings, and imaginative spin on the vampire genre, Perfect Creature does deserve a watch.

A nice idea but...

[shanecameron · 3/10 · 22 February 2008]

poorly executed.

Perfect creature is a clear example of a reasonable that generates a sub par script (I'm thinking shortland street which is New Zealand's stock doctor soap which has been meandering across our airwaves thrilling pubescent girls with ever worsening for the last fifteen years) and not enough money to cover even that as a result the effects are TV quality at best, the acting is slow paced and wooden and the general tone is New Zealand morbid ie there is no emotion other than general peevishness and....

Ahhh I grow weary.

I've already given it more time than it deserves.

A vampire movie for Sherlock Holmes fans

[Blekkhart · 9/10 · 31 October 2010]

I don't understand the poor rating this movie has. There is so much crap being made that people seem to love, and when something really good and original comes along people don't care about it. This movie touches on the theme of vampires, but it's not your ordinary vampire movie. It's a vampire movie with a twist. It is set in what looks like a somewhat futuristic "Jack the ripper era London" type of environment. This is beautifully done. Movies that come to mind are Sherlock Holmes, Bram Stokers Dracula and Wolfman. If you like those movies, you should find this movie interesting. You don't have to be a vampire buff to like this movie since it's not really a vampire movie, as much as it is a Sherlock Holmes type of suspense thriller where the murderer just happens to be a vampire. This movie is high-end quality filmmaking. It looks far more expensive than what the budget would suggest. The casting and acting is superb. The cinematography, editing, directing, visual effects...everything is superbly done. The story in this movie is even interesting and could have opened up to a number of sequels if this movie wasn't so poorly received (for reasons I don't understand). Anyone who found Sherlock Holmes interesting are advised to give this movie a chance.

Decent little flick that puts an interesting spin on the vampire mythos. ** Spoilers **

[acidjesus · 7/10 · 11 March 2007]

** possibly contains some SPOILERS ** Hearing absolutely nothing about this movie I recently got a chance to watch it and I have to admit I was slightly entertained. I would not put it in my top 10 or give it any major awards but it was definitely an enjoyable movie which showed that the vampire genre is not dead and has potential to come back, just not through this movie.

The existing plot description make it sound like you will be baffled by the plot and it will keep you on the edge of your seat, which is a half truth as you will be definitely baffled by the multiple plot lines which never go anywhere.

As someone pointed out this movie revolves around the existence of humans and "vampire like creatures" in a fictional alternate reality putting the time frame somewhere around 1930s-1950s ( I could be off ). The major story is somewhat a "film-noir"esque murder mystery with subplots of epidemics / human evolution / love.

The film stars off well enough by giving us a background on the "brotherhood" ( vampires ) and how they are trying to coexist with humans which is interesting in itself but never really develops into anything concrete.

Then we are introduced to our main villain( Leo Gregory ) and our protagonist ( Dougray Scott ) with a very well done bit of cinematography. But after that things start slipping ... rest continued at the bottom following the review ** spoilers *** To sum it up, the movie was "ok". it presented a lot of interesting ideas and i believe would have worked well if kept as a straight up murder mystery and simply focused on that plot line. But with too many interesting characters and potential subplots open up to so many different ideas there just wasn't enough of one thing to keep me interested.

I would give it a 7/10 for trying to bring back the vampire flick but the rest was very adequate and nothing to write home about.

** SPOILER ** The main characters were very shallow and this included the more interesting villain who simply "snapped" one day and decided to go on a murdering rampage to cause a conflict between the humans and the "vampires". Not very original nor interesting which is too bad because the performances were pretty good and the actors did a fine job but the sub par character development kept it from being really gripping.

The mother ( Saffron Burrows ) / daughter development seemed like an afterthought to appeal to the "Children of Men" fans. Secret society who controlled the human life was interesting but once again very underdeveloped and cliché. The love story between the vampire ( Dougray Scott ) and the human ( Saffron Burrows ) was completely unnecessary.

The whole movie seemed like it started off original and could have taken many different genres to a new level and then someone ran out of steam and just picked away at some more popular movies from this genre causing a big mish mash of unfinished plot lines.

Anyway these are my two cents.

"My blood will change the world."

[Backlash007 · 13 August 2007]

~Spoiler~

Perfect Creature...imperfect movie. There is a reason Perfect Creature skipped theaters folks: it's a mess. This is Glenn Standring's second feature and I'm not really excited for his future projects. Perfect Creature centers on a world where vampires and human beings co-exist. The vampires form the Brotherhood, which is basically the Catholic Church, and humans look to them for protection. That is until one vampire, whose reasons still remain unclear to me, starts feeding on humans. If any of this sounds familiar you probably saw another crappy movie called The Breed. In The Breed, a vampire cop and a human cop have to team up to locate and stop a renegade vampire. This is almost the exact plot of Perfect Creature. It even has the same environment: a cold war 1950's-ish atmosphere where the characters look and act like dime novel detectives. Too bad neither movie made good use of this backdrop. Ideas come and go before you can fully understand them. For instance: Why haven't there been any new vampires born? What kind of sickness was the villain possessed with? What exactly was the purpose of the newborn baby at the end? These plot devices scratch the surface and then aren't mentioned again. It's just sloppy all over; the writing, the CGI, the acting. Yes, the acting too. Dougray Scott has no charisma in this role and I feel like he doesn't want to be there. Same thing with Saffron Burrows. These are two actors who are capable of more. The movie is blatantly set up for a sequel, one which I doubt ever gets made.

Good Cop - Vampire Cop.

[hitchcockthelegend · 5/10 · 17 October 2015]

Perfect Creature is ironically far from being a perfect movie. It's one of those frustrating cases where on the page it looks a smart premise, while the visuals and atmospherics are classy and inventive. Yet it's told in such a dull and uneventful way, managing to strangle the cast's skills whilst wasting the serial killer - cum - rogue vampire promise. Then there's the thematics that are given over to exposition drivel, the science, the ethics, and tolerance and evolution, wasted as we had towards an action scene, none of which is particularly special.

It's bold attempt at steampunkish horror, but sadly it's not all it can be. 5/10

Another 'original' vampire flick....zzzzzzzzzz

[The_Void · 4/10 · 27 January 2008]

I actually went into this film with fairly high hopes, in spite of the fact that there hasn't been a really decent vampire movie in ages, and naturally came out disappointed. What we have here is another 'original' yet uninteresting take on the vampire myth. I'm guessing the influence came from Underworld as the film features organised vampires in a contemporary setting. The main problem with this film is that it's messy and much of it doesn't make sense. The plot has something to do with a world in which humans and vampires live together in harmony. But then one vampire decides to create a war...etc etc. The film is stylishly shot and features some action sequences, but since the story is all over the place; much of the film doesn't make sense, and this is a big problem as the story really isn't interesting enough for most people to try and work out what is supposed to be happening - me included. What you end up with therefore is a bunch of 'cool' people with fangs kicking and punching each other while talking about things changing (or whatever). Overall, I can't say I was impressed with this original take on the vampire myth, and I'd rather filmmakers stop being original and make a vampire flick that's actually good, like they used to.

Ambrose Bierce may well prefer PERFECT CREATURE's universe

[charlytully · 7/10 · 6 April 2009]

As the author of THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY, whose definitions often turn conventional wisdom on its head, Bierce may find the alternate reality portrayed here for his Victorian years preferable to that era as he actually lived it. The idea that people would go to church simply to donate blood toward the substantiation of their big-as-life guardian angels (aka The Brotherhood) doubtless would make more sense to him than any theory of the transubstantiation of an unseen being's blood. The thought that the division between science and religion never occurred would meet with Bierce's conditional approval (though he might find the attendant risks inherent in the Brotherhood's under-the-table genetic experimentation--unchecked by outside religious scruples--troubling). But the Old Gringo probably would be first in line for a ride on a steam dirigible!

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: The body of noted American author (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge) Ambrose Bierce, born June 24, 1842, recently was discovered in total cryogenic hibernation at the back of a Central American warehouse. Bierce is expected to be fully defrosted by late 2049 or early 2050. Based on my 85 previously posted IMDb comments and background in Bierce studies, the author's guardians have commissioned me to review a periodically updated list of films to help guide his future leisure pursuits, with the provision that my comments also be made available to the general public.

Mediocre IMDb rating spot-on in this case.

[reviewerinoimdbino · 5/10 · 12 April 2008]

I got this because there was a decent deal for a used DVD at Amazon, and I looked at some of the comments at IMDb and figured it would be okay. And it was, well, okay. But if you want something that isn't kind of boring and makes sense at the end, then this isn't the movie for you.

It's a good-looking movie, and Dougray Scott remains a handsome fellow, but that's about all you can say for this. And I KNOW Saffron Burrows can be so much more interesting than she is here. They give her nothing to do--just emptiness, no interesting lines, no interesting moments, she has nothing to act with or against. Just standing there looking blank. And that's completely unfair of the filmmakers, because she's a beautiful, intriguing actress.

So there's this villainous vampire dude (as opposed to our righteous vampire dude Dougray Scott) and he's, like, poisoning everyone with some sort of virus he's creating and is in his blood? Well, this never comes to much of a boil. He lurks about being evil, and then there's a lackadaisical fight, and then he's stabbed from behind by Saffron. Yeah? So? And then the movie ends with the discovery that there's some baby who is a 'perfect creature' who was born in the virus containment zone. And she's a 'perfect creature' because why? I dunno. Because she's a good-guy vampire AND a human AND immune to the virus? Or some or none of the above? Or sumpthin'. And Saffron and Dougray are going to raise her and are in hiding and Dougray is on the outs with the world of vampires and men for some vague reason. Because he didn't advocate wiping out the infected zone of the city? Or sumpthin'? There needs to be another half hour of plot development or exposition for any of this to make any sense, but I say, oh, god, please, no, no, no. It's all so slow-paced and tedious. No more!! I beg of you!! If you don't like gore (and I don't like gore), then any grossness here is pretty small and minor and contained. You CAN therefore watch this without puking. But that's about all you can say for this.

I know some talent went into the making of this film, but none of it gelled.

Oh--and it takes place on some sort of alternative world where 100 years after the Victorian age the style of everything is Victoriana married to the 1940s. Horse buggies and old-fashioned clothes and big-ass cars and primitive TVs. Just sorta silly. ...In one shot Dougray Scott in outline looks exactly like the vampire in 'Nosferatu'--the shot and the cut of his frock-coat had to have been taken from that film.

The Vampire church?

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 25 March 2008]

It is so hard to see originality in horror, even for someone with as little experience in the genre as I have, but here is a new one for me. Vampires and humans in mutual cooperation. Humans generously give blood at the Vampire church and the Vampires protect the humans, who are coming out of a massive flu epidemic.

But, one of the head Vampires (Leo Gregory) is trying to breed new ones. There hasn't been a Vampire born in 70 years because there are no females. Unfortunately, as often occurs in horror films, something goes wrong and the scientist vampire is infected.

The lovely Saffron Burrows (Troy, The Galíndez File) is a cop who joins with the brother of the scientist (Dougray Scott), himself destined to lead the Church, to find the infected Vampire.

Seems easy enough, but there is more to the story and that is what makes it interesting and makes for some enjoyable Vampire horror.

Barely worth the rental fees

[SmartCritic · 3/10 · 3 July 2008]

Pro's: Overall storyline was intriguing. From and acting perspective, two actors carried the movie on their shoulders. Movie picked up when I watched via fast forward, which is one of my last ditch efforts to give some value to a movie.

Con's: Although storyline was original, wasn't ultimately compelling enough to make me care about the characters. Movie was frustrating at times with actions taken by the characters. Brother Silus may have been the most wimpy, least skilled vampire I've seen written into a movie. Felt like he was unconscious through half the movie always getting beat up, and his skills to protect as a bodyguard need some work.

Another sleeper from New Zealand

[aaronrourke · 7/10 · 12 April 2007]

While not reaching the heights it could have, "PERFECT CREATURE" is certainly an intriguing little film that throws up a lot of fascinating twists on the well-worn vampire genre.

The alternate world created (which feels like a mix of OLIVER TWIST and DUNE) is wonderful, and a lot of care and attention has gone into making this environment seem believable and convincing.

A capable cast do their best (when was the last time Dougray Scott actually smiled in a film?), bringing an effective melancholy to their characters that the script unfortunately lacks. If the characters were as well-constructed as the setting, the movie would have had more dramatic impact.

At a scant 90 minutes (and I hear it is being chopped down for it's U.S release), writer/director Glenn Standring could have spent more time opening up this eye-popping world and its history. At least it doesn't make the same mistake as UNDERWORLD, another vampire film that gave us its backstory in 2 minutes, but then still managed to go for a yawn-inducing two hours.

PERFECT CREATURE may prove a hard sell, as there is very little in the way of action, gore, and over-the-top CGI set-pieces. But the very fact that director Standring has made a film that doesn't easily fit into a particular category or formula, shows that a genuine attempt has been made to give us something different. He comes so close to succeeding.

What a challenge, and what a disappointment.

[tikkan21 · 4/10 · 8 February 2008]

One problem that Glenn Standring fails to overcome is that brooding inner monologue, omnipresent in vampire novels (graphic or analog), is necessarily absent from a motion picture. In the aforementioned media, this is the strongest form of continuity in the genre. Without this tool, the story is broken. Most "dark" movies substitute an introductory scene to show a turning point in the hero's life. This helps the audience understand the characters' motivations so that constant pulp-noir narration is not as crucial. All we got from Silus and Edgar's introduction is that they were born, and that they were important.

This inner monologue conveys the emotion of characters who would otherwise bury it. In that way, Dougray Scott completely fits the role by keeping Silus' face completely stony, whether he's ogling the policewoman Lilly or beating up his little vampire brother Edgar. Combined with a monotone soundtrack, the tragedy of his involuntary servitude was lost.

Another thing that such a device would have solved was the crop of half-grown subplots that never came to fruition: Lilly's symptoms of vampirism that were never developed beyond the foreshadowing phase; the unexplained affection that Silus had for Lilly; the unwarranted mistrust that sidekick Jones had for Silus throughout the movie, and the spontaneous evaporation of that mistrust when it was time for the big confrontation. Even the niche of the vampires themselves is unaccounted for. What do they do when there's not a crazy rogue vampire to contend with?

The other challenge that our guide failed to meet was the depth of his own world. Instead of giving us a view of this brilliant alternate universe, he clouded the waters, only allowing us to see movement when it was close to the surface. No one knows where Edgar went wrong, past the unimpressive explanation that "something went wrong." No one knows why Silus was assigned to this specific task, other than that "he would be the leader soon." No one knows what made Lilly an object of obsession with both brothers, other than her "strength." Even when it was overtly declared, we never saw evidence that Silus was ever actually exiled from the Brotherhood. Backstories, flashbacks, and meaningful revelations are absent from this movie, leaving the audience to fill in the blanks ourselves. (Did they even manage to save the city? Or just to kill the bad guy?)

Despite the exciting world that solves the difficult problem of vampires coexisting with humans, and despite the earth-shattering importance of a villain who could upset that balance forever, all we end up with is the tired stereotype of the Outcast Vigilante.

Vampire brother trying to hunt down a renegade vampire with the help of a mortal policewoman.

[abogucki-1 · 9/10 · 11 March 2007]

Very good,original vampire action movie ...

I'm very impressed. one more proof that there can be a good original action movie outside of Hollywood. This should be playing in the theaters. Has a dark, depressed "batman city" feel, contains an original storyline and enough action to satisfy action buffs like me. Special effects are pretty good, do not get in the way of the storyline. I'm surprised how well this relatively unknown cast performed, the leads blended with their roles seamlessly. Definitely looking forward to a sequel.

Way better then most of the late Hollywood stuff out there...

"Perfect Creature" is an enjoyable ride that make me want to see more!

[singinghawk · 7/10 · 9 December 2009]

This is an absolutely original script with a fresh point of view. Given the current craze over The Twilight Saga, the elements of the vampire-human relationship in Perfect Creature almost seems to be a futuristic sequel. I like the overall atmosphere of the film, the story intrigued and involved me completely. When it ended I was definitely wanting a next chapter. I really enjoyed the performances of all the cast and felt that they developed complexity and depth in their characters that perhaps the script itself did not sufficiently support. I felt the actors had more to offer, but the dialogue and scenes sometimes limited their ability to express it. The casting was definitely spot on. The visuals worked extremely well and gave the film a really polished feel. Would like to have seen the relationships between Silas and Lilly and between Silas and Edgar given a little more screen time to let us in on the interpersonal qualities of each. After reading the plot synopsis here on IMDb, I realized that the lack of film time for the main characters' relationships likely resulted from an effort to include too many of the details of the story. I still found it enjoyable. Would like to see more from this writer-director.

Predictable and annoying

[jordondave-28085 · 4/10 · 20 July 2023]

(2006) Perfect Creature HORROR/ THRILLER

Creatively original but annoyingly predictable vampire flick written and directed by Glenn Standring, which the few experimentally born vampires are raised by the church until they become priests themselves calling them the 'Brotherhood' or Brother for short, until one of them goes amok against the townspeople victimizing every person it can get his hands on, somewhat of a serial killer. There's also a silly thing about vaccines which I don't care too much about. This is one of those films where as soon as the bad guy gets captured, in this case the evil vampire, he escapes going on a rampage killing spree, killing even more innocent people making the film even more predictable and annoying.

Like watching a Robot play Dance Dance Revolution

[panaceamedia · 5/10 · 4 December 2022]

This movie is like an overly long episode of Penny Dreadful that focuses on just one sub-plot and one and a half interesting characters. If that sounds enjoyable to you, then by all means, watch this film.

The acting is great, the movie is well made, the plot is not great (a strong baseline but goes nowhere, not really), the dialogue is okay, and overall it is just feels blah. Some very cool scenes, but for the most part it was more like, "hey look at this actor give a mean monologue!" or "wow, look how well we shot this!" or "see how seamless this editing was!" or "see how ugly and grey the streets are but we used it to make it ATMOSPHERIC!" You get the idea.

They set the movie up for a sequel, but I'm not the least bit interested. However, the main actor and the actor that played his brother, I would be interested in seeing more of their work. Hopefully, in something inspired as opposed to trying to show off technical prowess.