Perfect Creature

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.

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.

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.

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")

I thought this was a really good film.

The world of the film - an alternate world where vampires are like priests who look after humanity and whom humanity respects - is original and feels very solid.

When watching the film, it really is like stepping into another world. The production values are superb for what would be a low budget Hollywood movie and there are some terrific action sequences, but it is more of a sci-fi thriller than a straight out action movie for me.

This film has a lot of ideas in it, something most Hollywood films don't; the role of religion within a state for example.

Recommended.