Splice

SPLICE
OPTIMUM RELEASING
RELEASED 23 July 2010
Genetic engineering is never far from the news. At this very moment, infertile women with genetic defects in their mitochondria are being given healthy human eggs from a second mother, producing a child with genetic information from two mothers and one father. These changes will likely be passed down from generation to generation, thus making a permanent change to the human genome. So future science is fertile ground for horror movies looking to explore all sorts of possibilities and the resulting rammifications.
Taking genetic splicing to ‘Frankenstein’ levels, privately-funded scientists Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) and Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) combine genetic components from different species into hybrids to create a new form of life (codenamed H-50) that appears to be mainly human with amphibious, avian and feline elements. Possessing accelerated aging, ‘H-50’ develops from a cute (but incredibly agile) baby into a young adult girl in a matter of weeks. Almost human-looking, she lacks one finger on each hand, has pretty eyes that are closer to the sides of her head, and powerful legs that resemble those of a mythological faun. Oh, and she has a tail. With a retractable spike at the end. When ‘Dren’ (as the proud ‘parents’ rename her – Nerd backwards) shows signs of intelligence, all the problems of parenthood are thrust into the laps of Elsa and Clive, only this time they’re dealing with a troubled teenager who is something more-than-human.
‘Splice’ is a nightmare scenario of what might happen when scientists play with fire. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors in some of the world’s top labs? Scientists might be pushing far beyond the boundaries of ethical laws just to see what they can achieve. At one point, Elsa says to Clive, ‘Nobody’s going to care about a few rules after they see what we’ve made. To which Clive replies, ‘Nobody can see what we’ve made.’
The film throws up all sorts of ethical questions, but doesn’t get overburdened by them, keeping the entertainment level high throughout. Events descend into B-movie territory towards the end, but it’s all carried off with such a good sense of humour that you can forgive Vincenzo Natali (director and co-writer) for that.
The three main characters are wonderfully flawed individuals. Just as Elsa exhibits motherly instincts from the creature’s birth which later echo her own problematic childhood, so does Clive initially fear what they’ve created, before developing deeper feelings for his ‘daughter’. As for Dren, it’s never certain how much of her behaviour is down to genetics and how much can be attributed to her upbringing. Elsa and Clive’s conflicting duties as scientists and parents hardly make them qualified, as sheltering Dren alone in a locked, remote barn can only testify to. Brody, Polley and newcomer Delphine Chanéac as Dren all do sterling work with their roles.
There’s a gothic score from Cyrille Aufort, and the special effects work is seamless.
In a time of lousy horror remakes (Nightmare on Elm Street) or endless sequels (Saws 1-7), it’s always a pleasure to watch something that feels fresh and original. ‘Splice’ obviously owes a debt to ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, ‘The Fly’, and ‘Frankenstein’, but it remixes elements of those films and spins them into a movie for our times, with genetic engineering as the terrifying monster in the closet.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE