I have to admit that I have never heard of this film prior to receiving it for review, so I went into this one completely blind without any expectations. My only guess was that this would be some sort of fantasy/horror film, and it turns out I was right. Perfect Creature is a different sort of take on a vampire film which makes it rather unique, but how’s it going to end up?
Set in a fictitious New Zealand referred to as Nuovo Zelandia, Perfect Creature takes place in an alternate world not unlike our own. There is, of course, one major difference, which is the acceptance of vampires as the next level of evolution in human beings, referred to as The Brotherhood. Members of The Brotherhood and humans have a pact in which they live amongst each other in harmony, humans donating blood at the churches to quench the thirst of the vampires. That is, at least, until the renegade vampire Edgar begins attacking and killing human beings. Lilly, the local hard-knock cop, who has lost her entire family to a sweeping influenza epidemic, teams up with Edgar’s brother Silus who wants to protect the rights of The Brotherhood and stop Edgar’s madness. Eventually, the two succeed and even share a few almost romantic moments, but before long Edgar escapes the confines of The Brotherhood once again, and he carries with him a dark secret powerful enough to change the society forever.
I have to admit this movie wasn’t completely awful. In fact, I enjoyed it. I liked the different take on the vampire genre, and although the story was a little flakey at times I really enjoyed how it was executed. Set in a world like ours, but not ours, the feel of this movie was really dark and often rather dramatic. But don’t expect the Hollywood norm where blood drenches the screen and a group of 30-year-olds playing teenagers get slaughtered. Get ready to think just a little bit, and enjoy a unique albeit sometimes boring take on vampires.
Video
It is important to note that a review copy was used; retail video, audio and special features may change.
Perfect Creature is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and landed with some extremely mixed results. By far the most impressive looking feature of the transfer is the use of color and detail. Although it is a dark looking film, color maintains realistic looking hues, never too dull. The set pieces appear quite detailed at times and provide the perfect background for the story. But, as in life, not everything is perfect and the main problems within this transfer are the often apparent compression artifacts and digital noise seen throughout. Low lit shots seem to be a toss up between a good looking picture and one that is completely muted by grain. Hopefully Fox can clean this transfer up in time for its retail release. Unfortunately, as it stands here, Perfect Creature looks average at best.
Audio
The 5.1 Dolby Digital track does a good job presenting the film’s atmosphere, but will disappoint those who are looking for a more active track. There are at least several scenes that use the front, rear and sub channels. Most notably are chase sequences in which Edgar is constantly being run down, and this effective use of channels can really add to the tension of the scenes. But above all else what I enjoyed with this audio track was the successful creation of ambience. In most outdoor scenes, the wind was constantly blowing in my rear channels, of course among other things making for a nice listening environment. Even though this track isn’t flawless, it did create an impressive sounding atmosphere, so in this sense the audio track is successful.
Special Features
I didn’t expect to get much out of the special features, and Fox didn’t surprise me. At least what we get isn’t a complete waste of time, but fans of the film will definitely be wanting more.
- The Making of Perfect Creature – A look into the making of the film starting with preproduction and into the filming. This 12-minute piece also includes cast and crew interviews. This feature is actually quite engaging and a good look at multiple aspects of the film, it’s too bad more featurettes of this quality couldn’t have been included on the disc.
- Designing the Perfect Creature – A 9-minute look into the alternate world of the film as well as the special effects involved in bringing it to life.
- Trailers
Final Thoughts
This film was by no means spectacular, but it was surprisingly entertaining – a definite rental for fans of the genre. Included on the disc are some decent special features but unfortunately there just isn’t enough to please fans. Combine this with only slightly impressive audio and video transfers, and this disc isn’t worth much more than a rental, unless of course you’re a big fan of the movie already.
