Is “The Perfection” Perfection?

What’s happening everyone? The SASS here. I confess that I’ve grown slightly bored with looking at my same favorite horror movies over and over again and wanted a break from the hum drum. So, I was surfing Netflix, because a few people had told me about Veronica as well as this movie called The Perfection.

Funny enough, The Perfection had been sitting in my queue for at least a month, but because of the little automatic play previews, I thought it was one of those apocalyptic, end-of-days type deals. I mean, why else would you show a black woman flipping shit what seems like the middle of nowhere? When a black woman flips out, it must be the end of days indeed, since they are built to survive more than most, in my humble opinion.

Then, I noticed that it’s classification is “horror”. Okay. Let me bite. Will The Perfection drag me out of my disdain of the modern day horror? Will I discover a cure for my boredom?

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One of my favorite things in The Perfection is this perfection. Like, seriously, Logan Browning just needs one really good role. Sure, she’s great in this movie, and her dire straits was what kept me looking at the movie, but someone needs to cast her in a superhero movie. DC needs all the help it can get #justsaying.

There was one element of surprise, although Netflix almost spoiled it by making that precursor the auto playing snippet. Not much surprises me, but the fact that Logan’s character (Lizzie) not only believed what Alison William’s character (Elizabeth) told her but also went ahead and follow Elizabeth’s advice, knowing that it would put the main activity she loved in jeopardy. Whoo wee! Drugs and influence is a hell of a motivator indeed!

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Side Note: Not for nothing but Allison Williams looks like a cross between Kristen Stewart and Ellen Page. The Ellen Page reference is made highly prevalent in the end. Think Hard Candy.

Okay, moving on.

I guess because I mentioned the pro at the start means that there are a lot of #fails making The Perfection far from perfect.

Marvin (whoever the hell that is), let’s hand that person a cookie. Well, I don’t have any cookies and I don’t share my popcorn. Just take pride in the fact that you were right.

Here’s why The Perfection fell short.

(1) Putting too much focus on certain key elements.

There is a difference between lingering the camera on certain objects and focusing the objects to the point where you’re telling the whole dang story.

I knew the moment they kept zooming in on the prescription medication that said medication was going to play a factor in the whole story. Also, the way Charlotte was looking blankly intense (I didn’t think those went together but she made it work) all throughout, as if she was constantly disengaged. Come on! If you have to practice your “cordial, friendly tone”, that means it’s not your normal and you’re up to something.

(2) Trying too hard with the girl-on-girl angle.

To me, it wasn’t organic. It felt like overkill. Sure, Elizabeth (Lizzie) could have been crushing on her from the beginning. But just because you crush on someone doesn’t mean it automatically lead to sex. Like, what if Charlotte didn’t roll that way? Then, Lizzie wasted those lingering glances and flirting for nothing. It just was overplayed. Then, inviting Charlotte on a road trip when it was really supposed to be a break from the music world. The glamorous life. I would have been like, “I know you, but I don’t know you, know you.” You know?

(3) Spelling out what you should’ve left the viewer to figure out

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What is it with these movies spelling out the play-by-play with the surprise? Have the viewers really gotten that stupid?

I figured out the pill angle by myself, but then they had to pause and show all the elements which led to what happened instead of letting the viewer be surprised. That takes all the fun out of the horror film if you ask me. Once they started doing that, I was livid.

After the first play-by-play, I really hung in there just to see what would take place with Lizzie. That was it. I didn’t care that much about Elizabeth, although the movie’s goal was to make the audience feel for her. Then, they had to do another play-by-play in the later part of the movie, although I also figured out that if Lizzie didn’t kill Elizabeth, then they were teaming up for a larger goal.

Overall, this was just a different version of Hard Candy, slightly combined with Jigsaw’s philosophy (“the hurt you to save you”). The aspect of music and religious cult like jargon was just to make the concept seem unique.

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Well, The Perfection, you tried.

I recommend this for the beginner paranormal drama watcher who needs slightly more kicks than the vanilla drama. To me, it isn’t really horror because it doesn’t have anything in it that’s a gross out, just elements that could have a bit of shock value.

For the hard core and those a bit more in touch with seemingly senseless elongated camera shots that are really dead giveaways, then it’s a definite pass. I am damn near hesitant to look at Veronica but I gave this person my word that I would, so when I do, I will share my views with the rest of you.

Oh well! Back to the drawing board!

P.S.: Hard Candy is a much better crafted movie, so if you haven’t seen Hard Candy, see that before looking at The Perfection if you want to do a comparison. Hell, you may not even want to see The Perfection once you see Hard Candy. Ellen Page is dynamite in the movie.

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