Rating:  

Dark Castle Entertainment, Copperheart Entertainment, Gaumont and Warner Bros. Pictures.

Written By: Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant, and Doug Taylor

So often in the universe of movies, characters with the best of intentions seldom stop to think about their actions. Science fiction films tend to be the destination for those movie characters who wonder, often out loud, what on earth they’ve done. Actually, isn’t that a quote from every science fiction movie? I digress.

The latest in the “What have we done?” genre comes from director Vincenzo Natali. In 1997, Natali made one of the most original and jaw-dropping horror films I have ever seen in “Cube.” However, Vincenzo Natali seemingly dropped off the face off the earth in terms of movies being released in the U.S. He has apparently made a handful of Canadian-distributed films, but has finally landed a big studio feature. And, let’s just say I continue to be a fan of Vincenzo Natali.

“Splice” is an entertaining, intense, and surface scratching parable having to do with two scientists, at the top of their field, messing around in things they would be better served not messing around with at all. Clive and Elsa (Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley) are partners in science and life who have found the ability to make a new protein by splicing together genes from several different animals. After creating two new specimen creatures, dubbed Fred and Ginger, Clive and Elsa learn that the funding for their corporation is being shut down. Secretly, they begin work on a project where they incorporate human DNA into their splicing technique and end up with a successful “something.” Immediately, Clive and Elsa differ on what to do with their creation as it initially resembles something like a tadpole and soon develops into a human/animal hybrid with intellectual capabilities beyond anything heretofore believed possible.

As time goes by, the hybrid grows rapidly into a young girl and then a teenager and Clive and Elsa begin to care for her as if she were their child. In an interesting twist, the hybrid, later named Dren, is kept inside and completely under lock and key. When their secret runs the risk of getting out to the rest of their staff, Clive and Elsa relocate Dren to an old home Elsa grew up in. As Dren opines for independence and more freedom, Clive and Elsa start to realize that their “Dren” may not be capable of being the daughter-like being they desire her to be.

It is easy to laugh at the premise of “Splice”, I imagine. Thinking of the plot, it does admittedly scream of something that would end up on a cable channel’s episodic sci-fi/horror show. However, this is not your garden variety science-fiction movie. Vincenzo Natali knows how to deliver intensity and he and his co-writers have fashioned a film that raises lots of interesting questions. Now bear in mind, there is no deep message or heavy-handedness going on here. Quite the contrary as “Splice” avoids any oratorical stance. In Clive and Elsa, we have two scientists who because they could, did not consider whether they should, and now have to come to terms with what they have done. Simple and effective.

Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are great in their roles, playing the couple who substitute Dren to placate their disagreement on whether to have children. One risk that pays off is that Clive and Elsa are really not all that likable as characters. Where in most films that would interfere with the viewer’s ability to connect to the story, Natali juggles their selfishness, ego, and parental worries well enough to make you stay with them through this increasingly ridiculous experience they are having. And boy, does it gets ridiculous.

With approximately 20 minutes left in the film, things get odd. Cringe-inducing odd. Some laughed at my screening, others audibly gasped and uttered the phrase, “ewww!!!”. Suffice to say, characters cross some pretty shocking lines here and to say it is jaw-dropping is a rather fair assessment.

Natali ultimately gives us a film about a lot and says virtually nothing. Lots of potential issues get a blanket dusting and I am willing to give “Splice” a pass because of the uncomfortable tension present through virtually the entire film. Through much of “Splice”, I was unsure what was coming next. The college student sitting next to me sat for a good 10-12 minutes with his shirt pulled up over his chin and nose. And that was before the final 20 minutes.

“Splice” is an amalgam of several ideas and little substance. Yet, Vincenzo Natali’s talent is apparent through every frame. “Splice” is creepy, unsettling and one pretty crazy trip to the moviehouse.

And those last 20 minutes. Wow.

Should I See It?

“Splice” is unlike anything that has arrived at the big movieplex in recent memory, with the risks it takes and the shocks it shoots for.

Fans of tense, scary films, will be quite pleased. Unlike Natali’s previous efforts, this is less on the gore and more on the chills and thrills.

With only 6 or 7 characters in the entire film, the film has the feel of something smaller – like an independent feature.

The makeup and CGI work is stellar.

Clive and Elsa are not the most affable of couples and their “parenting” of Dren may make people feel as if certain abusive behaviors are trivialized.

The subject matter of gene splicing and cloning may be off-putting to some people.

I wish I could tell you about the places this goes. Let me say that if you are unable to go all in on the story, based on what I have shared, you probably should not watch the film.

Science-fiction/horror movies are of no interest to you whatsoever.