A failed attempt at appropriating the clever, chilly temperature of something like Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave in its odd hybrid of bloodshed and gallows humor, Beautiful Creatures has moments of well-observed perverse wit, but not nearly enough to sustain an entire feature. The female leads, Rachel Weisz and Susan Lynch, seem to be in the spirit of the shenanigans, but are led astray by the movie's obtuse handling. Director Bill Eagles rarely finds the punch lines of the more provocative scenes, leaving viewers feelings uninterested and quite possibly disgusted, especially with the movie's glossy treatment of female abuse, a subject that requires a much sharper vision. Additionally, the musical score seems more apropos to a John Hughes film, presenting an often jarring inconsistency with what is happening onscreen. The film plays like a blackly comic version of the 1990 Demi Moore-Bruce Willis film Mortal Thoughts, but shares that picture's problems with structure and tone.