Director: Vincenzo Natali
Writers: Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant, Doug Taylor
Cast: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chanéac
Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists, defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named "Dren", the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators - only to have that bond turn deadly.
Plots about a pair of genetic scientists Elsa 'Polley' & Clive 'Brody' (they're also a couple and live together), who've spent years on a project involving splicing various animal genes, with the hope at creating a unique stable lifeform. Due to falling funds and failing to see concrete results on paper, the medical company they work for Nucleic Exchange Research & Development (acronym is NERD) wants to shut down their experiment and close their laboratory. Elsa decides to go against all medical ethics and take what they currently know about animal genes and splice in human genes. This leads to a new female lifeform DREN (the Labs name backwards) only its got an accelerated growth rate and quickly grows from a chicken like thing with legs, into a more human looking girl and then young woman (anyone who remembers Sinead O'Connor will be on the right track looks wise). Not wanting to be found out due to the fact Drens grown so much Elsa & Clive take her to a barn they own. Only things take a disturbing turn when Dren wants her freedom....
I wrongly put off watching Splice for at least 6-8 months, maybe due to Brody being in the cast, I'd prejudged it expecting some mild family friendly ethical science-fiction yarn. It's thankfully a touch deeper and far more twisted than that. Director Vincenzo Natali scored a huge hit back in the 90's with the fantastic and original Cube, since then he's made two lesser known but equally respected movies Cypher & Nothing. With Splice he goes for an hybrid of a more science-fiction toned Frankenstein/Dr. Moreau tale, crossed with the perverse psychological body horror of Cronenberg.
The acting is good throughout espeically by Delphine Chaneac who plays Dren (gives a new meaning to the word MILF....'Mutant I'd Like to F*ck'). Does sadly have a few downsides, starts to get very far fetched towards the end demanding the viewer to give too much disbelief. Also the ending isn't as much a shock as it should of been, due to the fact the story gives a massive hint at Drens outcome earlier on. Ultimately as much as I enjoyed it and recommend it to others its hard to know who the films really aimed at, as I'd guess its too sleazy for the mainstream, yet for at least two thirds of the movie its going to be too cute for horror fans.
(7½ out of 10)I wrongly put off watching Splice for at least 6-8 months, maybe due to Brody being in the cast, I'd prejudged it expecting some mild family friendly ethical science-fiction yarn. It's thankfully a touch deeper and far more twisted than that. Director Vincenzo Natali scored a huge hit back in the 90's with the fantastic and original Cube, since then he's made two lesser known but equally respected movies Cypher & Nothing. With Splice he goes for an hybrid of a more science-fiction toned Frankenstein/Dr. Moreau tale, crossed with the perverse psychological body horror of Cronenberg.
The acting is good throughout espeically by Delphine Chaneac who plays Dren (gives a new meaning to the word MILF....'Mutant I'd Like to F*ck'). Does sadly have a few downsides, starts to get very far fetched towards the end demanding the viewer to give too much disbelief. Also the ending isn't as much a shock as it should of been, due to the fact the story gives a massive hint at Drens outcome earlier on. Ultimately as much as I enjoyed it and recommend it to others its hard to know who the films really aimed at, as I'd guess its too sleazy for the mainstream, yet for at least two thirds of the movie its going to be too cute for horror fans.
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