How many science-fiction horror stories could be avoided by scientists not having their funding cut and resorting to self-testing out of desperation? Plenty. Yet, the genre as a whole, despite having this common golden goose as the source for the story’s tension, tends to strike an eerie note because there’s always an element of plausibility to the proceedings. Splice may take a few turns for the truly weird by the end, but it’s firmly rooted in today’s science of genetic manipulation as a source for medical miracles. In this case the miracle grows beyond either of the scientists’ expectations and generates a few interesting hypothetical situations for exploration.
To generate a rare protein, Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) bred a grotesque looking pair of slugs which a pharmaceutical company hopes to use as a constantly replenishing source. Unfortunately, at the shareholders meeting an unforeseen complication arises causing the once happy slug couple to turn hideously violent when the female suddenly changes gender and becomes a male, sparking a testosterone-fueled bloodbath. The company marks it up as a horrific failure and the two geneticists find their jobs imperiled. In a last ditch attempt to find a viable solution, they breed a new creation combined with human DNA. At first the creation resembles the slugs but with two hind legs. However, it evolves rapidly, eventually coming to resemble a human and gaining the ability to learn and speak. Their new splice child, which they name Dren (Delphine Chaneac), can no longer hide at the lab and so Clive and Elsa move her to the abandoned farm of a familial relation where the bizarre parent-child relationship takes a number of gut wrenching turns and eventually skews all the way into horror.
Cinematically the film reeks of nods to the filmmakers and features that inspired it. Elements of David Fincher and David Cronenberg permeate a majority of the frames, and you can’t help but feel the entire film is a giant wink to similar science-gone-wrong flicks like The Fly or Frankenstein. Once you get past spotting all the references, you’re left with a film that’s visually interesting through and through, and is never afraid to go to new and freakish levels with the progression of its story.
Where Splice fails is in the characterization, and this is an inherent issue in films of this ilk. The initial desperation of the characters which starts them down the wrong road with that first misstep always seems to get carried away. In the right hands, it doesn’t have to go overboard but just serves to drive the film’s message home; that’s not what happens in Splice. The aforementioned freakish levels of progression could stomached with a tongue-in-cheek suspension of disbelief, but the film crosses a line that takes it from engaging science-fiction to over the top satire, shortly before it becomes a monster-of-the-week horror film. The relationship between Clive and Elsa goes through an interesting evolution as the two cope with the introduction of Dren as the child they created but never really agreed to raise. It adds stress to some of the weakest parts of their relationship, only increasing the difficulty of it all as Dren matures to physical adulthood replete with daddy-issues, which ends in a startling and somewhat disturbing conclusion with Clive. It has a unique angle to add to the genre, but ultimately Splice’s characterization flummoxes as the story shifts from an intriguing “what if” sci-fi tale to an almost laughable reinvention of Frankenstein’s monster with a horror film’s finale.
Splice easily warrants a viewing, but the botched final third of the film makes repeat viewings a questionable option.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The combo pack comes loaded with a copy of the film on Blu-ray, DVD and a downloadable digital copy. After that though, the set is sparsely equipped with minimal extras, only offering an on-the-set discussion of the film’s creation with Director Vincenzo Natali.
"Splice" is on sale October 5, 2010 and is rated R. Horror, Sci-Fi. Directed by Vincenzo Natali. Written by Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant, . Starring Adrien Brody, Delphine Chanéac, Sarah Polley.
