[The Perfect Creature]
Plot:Set during the 1960s in an alternate New Zealand known as Nuovo Zelandia, PERFECT CREATURE imagines a world where vampires and humans peacefully co-exist, with the bloodsuckers the next step in human evolution. This delicate balance looks to be destroyed when an influenza epidemic begins to sweep the human population and one vampire turns to preying on humans. The church sends out Silus (Scott) to catch the renegade vampire, Edgar. Silus joins forces with a human police captain (Burrows), and discovers that Edgar harbors dark secrets.

Cast: Dougray Scott, Saffron Burrows, Stuart Wilson, Scott Wills, Leo Gregory, Craig Hall, Ian Mune, Alison Bruce, Danielle McCormack.

My Thoughts:Interesting picture.

Review:With so much of the same ole same ole or the just plain bad coming out of the vampire subgenre over the last few years, Glenn Standring's "The Perfect Creature" is a nice breath of fresh air and takes the vampire mythos to intriguing new levels. The film is set in an alternate version of the current New Zealand, and in the time period of the 1960's, where vampires and humans live together in a delicate yet solid balance. The vampires blood has been used to cure many diseases, including influenza. The vamps live under a catholic-church-like order called "The Brotherhood", but are referred to as "Brothers" by the humans. When an influenza like epidemic begins to take root among the human population, the truce between the two species begins to become more and more shaky, as the humans blame the vampires and their seemingly tainted blood for the outbreak.

The Brotherhood sees this as a threat to peace and to make matters worse, a renegade "brother" named Edgar is on the loose feeding on human victims. With Edgar and the influenza outbreak threatening Nuovo Zelandia, the Brotherhood sends Edgar's brother Silus (Dougray Scott), to aid the human police force in tracking down and stopping Edgar, while at the same time trying to keep this delicate situation under wraps from the majority of the human population. "The Perfect Creature" blends a very strong story (also written by Standring) with very important yet subtle social commentary to create a very smart and entertaining vampire picture. The film also has strong drama elements to it, as Silus soon begins to develop a budding romance with one of the human police officers named Lilly, played by Saffron Burrows.

While the chemistry between the two is intriguing to watch unfold, it doesn't eclipse or overshadow too much the fact that this is a vampire movie. The picture also makes sure to further emphasize this point by adding in the suitable amount of blood, gore, and "vamp" scenes. But while Standring's picture takes a horror and action approach to the story, it also takes a smart and human approach to the story as well. The movie delves into both sides of the situation, as Silus searches for his brother Edgar...hoping to find and stop him before the situation gets too out of hand. All the while, some of the human police allow their prejudices towards vampires to resurface pretty quickly, causing a serious rift between two factions who are supposed to be working together for a common goal.

At the same time, Burrows character Lilly is torn between trusting Silus to help stop his brother from killing her kind, or becoming the same as everyone else which means working together with Silus while heavily suspecting him of being up to no good. The three parallels between race, class, and the sexes in our world can be drawn from this films gritty and informative, yet non-preachy story. Standring's pic also shows things from the other side of the fence as well, with the Brotherhood always expecting the worst from humans, without giving them the benefit of the doubt that common sense will override their hidden prejudices and the character of Edgar who is not only driven by his hatred of humans but also blinded by it as well.

It's made very clear with Edgar's genocidical attitude towards humans, deserved or not....and Silus, his brothers more gentile nature that both of them are on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to the situation at hand. There's not many brilliant plot twists in "The Perfect Creature" but it's a brilliant film so it really doesn't need to rely on too much shock value, and the most that we get in terms of twists is there being more than meets the eye when it comes to the influenza outbreak and Edgar's blood-soaked killing spree. "The Perfect Creature" gives hope to those who want something fresh and new out of the vampire subgenre and takes a bit of credibility from those (myself included) who previously thought the vampire subgenre was on life-support and basically D.O.A.

Positives:Good performances, solid and smart story, decent action scenes.

Negatives:The picture slows to a crawl a few times action wise during some of the middle portion.

Overall:A great vampire movie.





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