HARDLY original, but there's life in the old dog yet, as this new British feature demonstrates.

Keen to escape her Glasgow high-rise life but even keener to rid herself of violent scumbag boyfriend Tony (Iain Glenn), Dorothy (Susan Lynch) hocks his golf clubs and plans a runner with her dog Pluto.

Moments before her bus leaves she witnesses a lovers' fight and intervenes. Fatal mistake!

One thing leads to another and before she knows it she is back in her flat with a dead body in the bathroom and glamorous airhead Petula (Rachel Weisz) for company. By the next morning she can add a dead man's amputated finger to her collection of strange items.

It's like this... Petula was on the point of being killed by her psycho boyfriend Brian, the brother of Glasgow mobster Ronnie (the ever-intimidating Maurice Roeves) when Dorothy stepped in with a scaffolding pole.

In the cold light of day, and with a bent copper interviewing Petula, Dorothy hits on the idea of ransoming Brian's body for a million quid.

The copper duly relays this information to his golf club pal Ronnie, only he makes the fee two million. With me?

The story then continues in ever-decreasing circles until Dorothy's flat is covered in claret and there are bodies everywhere.

Director Bill Eagles executes the whole thing with a lively touch, extricating enough dry, dark humour from the proceedings to keep it fresh, but studiously avoiding the moral issues as to whether or not the plotters should get away with it.

Beautiful Creatures is a frothy, glossy and (just about) effective black comedy that's over and done with in a tidy 87 minutes.