Acting is pretty good all around, although that is masked by some awfully slow pacing. There is some action and a couple of splashes of blood, but they are used more as punctuation marks to make sure the viewer is still awake. This is best demonstrated by the volume changes; much of the long dramatic setups and exposition are all at a pretty low volume, but watch out — when the action kicks up, so does the volume. Back to the acting, though — Dougray Scott has a quiet, almost regal presence, while Leo Gregory has an explosive charisma as our bad guy. Meanwhile, Saffron Burrows (and those supernaturally high cheekbones) holds her own as a woman making her way in a male-dominated society as a ranking police officer.
This is an impressive, if uneven, outing for Glenn Standring. He brings an interesting vision to the screen, with a unique take on the vampire tale. I just would have liked to see more of this society and the relationship between vampires and humans explored a bit more deeply, rather than the standard cops and killers story that is presented. Those surrounding details elevate the film in my estimation, and show that a lot of creativity and imagination went into putting it together. Now if only those last few steps had been taken.
Audio/Video. The disk I have was a pre-release screener, and as such is not the final production copy that you will find in stores, although I think that it will be pretty close. As it stands, the copy looked decent, blacks were deep, still allowing detail through, and audio was clear, despite the volume changes, which I believe to be by design rather than a flaw.
Extras. Two featurettes accompany the feature. The first is a twelve-minute "Making of Perfect Creature" which goes into casting and development of the story. The second is "Designing Perfect Creature" which looks at the art, costume, and effects. Neither one is outstanding, but they do a good job of giving you an inside look at the movie, including interviews with Standring, Scott, and Burrows.
Bottom line. I liked this movie, more than I would have thought, but less than I would have hoped. It is definitely of interest for fans of vampire movies or alternate universe sci-fi movies. It is not a great film, but one of great design, and a good dose of imagination.
Mildly Recommended.
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