To continue the discussion of the necessity for extremely original plot lines in new vampire genre creations, I absolutely must commend the film Perfect Creature for rising above and beyond the call. Set in what feels like the 1940’s (though I’ve read it was supposed to be the 1960’s), in an alternate reality New Zealand referred to as Nuovo Zelandia, Perfect Creature paints a stark, cold picture of a world where vampires are merely a genetic evolution instead of the supernatural monsters of myth and legend. They live peacefully within humanity serving as a religious priesthood whose sole purpose is to watch over and protect a sad mortal humanity. The Brotherhood, as they are referred to, are born, an anomaly, to mortal women, though they are taken at birth from their mothers and quickly wrapped in the secret ways of the church of Holy and Noble Gnostic Brothers. Seventy years have passed since a Brother had been born and, in an attempt to encourage nature to produce another, one of the elder Brothers, Edgar (Leo Gregory), a noted scientist and theologian within the vampire community, has taken it upon himself to genetically engineer a virus intended for just such a purpose. However, the virus mutates, creating a terrible disease. Edgar is infected by accident and goes mad, unleashing blood lust carefully contained by years of training upon the poorest sections of the city. Silus (Dougray Scott), an elder of the Brotherhood and Edgar’s half-brother, must hunt down his kin and destroy him before he can succeed with his plans to infect all of humanity and destroy the pristine image of the church.


On the surface, many might scoff that this is simply another apocalyptic-styled vampire movie, but the skeptics are so very wrong. Perfect Creature is, by far, one of the best vampire movies I have ever seen. Not only is the concept original, but the execution of it is stunningly gripping, luring you into its darkness, its sadness with a bitter poignancy. Indeed, the movie definitely has a similar feel, at times, as the apocalyptic world featured in Children of Men. The world director/writer Glenn Standring has created is brutal in its honesty and painfully beautiful in its slow human decay. Devastated by poverty and disease, humanity is a pitiful, wretched animal struggling for survival and clinging to the one hope, the one prayer they have, the concept of Brotherhood. They themselves have placed the vampires they worship, with the same reverence of a priest with offerings and rosary beads, on the pedestals they stand upon. Humanity knows nothing else after 300 years and is terrified to lose faith in the one infallible certainty they had. The realization that the idols of their worship are subject to the same flaws, the same diseases, as they themselves causes the masses to revolt, questioning everything they have ever trusted and prayed to. And it is obvious that the vampires themselves, for all of their cold, emotionless demeanor and black garb, are fighting bitterly to hold onto everything they have created to safeguard themselves against a rabidly superstitious and violent humanity. If they lose control of the church they have built, war will erupt and they will be persecuted. Dougray Scott portrays this struggle with a cool strength that is otherworldly with a performance that makes him completely believable as a vampire. Indeed, the entire movie is expertly cast, from Saffron Burrows, who plays Lilly House, the primary detective assigned to assist Silus, to the smallest street urchin cowering in a muddy, trash-lined alleyway. It is spectacularly eerie how the actors in Perfect Creatures fit so easily into their roles, appearing as if they had somehow grown up and become a part of the very fabric of that world from birth…


If you are a fanatic about vampire movies, like I am, you absolutely must rent this DVD! I know that it will become a permanent part of my movie collection! Check out the official website here: http://www.perfect-creature.com/