Splice

WARNING: Spoilers ahead.

It would be cool to be able to say that between Splice and David Cronenberg's back catalogue that the Canadians might just have the biological horror market cornered, but despite it's trimmings and potential, Splice isn't really much of a horror film. Sure, it has the requisite monster-on-the-loose climax, but the film takes a long time to get there - preferring instead to (kind of) focus on the ethics behind genetic engineering. Unfortunately, I think it would've been a better horror film than a cerebral sci-fi drama... the vague politicking lacks spark, and the two lacklustre leads (Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley) make it feel thoroughly B-grade.

Clive (Brody) and Elsa (Polley) are married geneticists chasing a dream that would theoretically mean an end to all disease. Their experiments are curtailed and restrained by their financers though, so Elsa takes it upon herself to create a weird human/animal hybrid. Clive is reluctant to go along with it at first but together they form a parental attachment to the mutant they create (nicknamed 'Dren'). Clive wants children of his own but Else doesn't want to stall her career as a scientist, and so they become a parody of a family with their rapidly-developing creation.

Elsa is an almost Lady Macbeth-like figure, calling to mind Old Testament images of Eve and the apple or a Frankenstein-like obsesssion to artificially create life. There are a few suggestions that Elsa has serious mother-issues but it's not really explored in a sufficiently intelligent way, instead it comes across as slightly vague and hackneyed. This is because the script often feels amateur-ish or too much like a first draft. I mean, they have these big plot developments like Clive committing adultery with their surrogate daughter (which is incredibly creepy, by the way) only for Elsa to forgive him without any real discussion. It just doesn't ring true in the least, not when you have a film that has ambitions of setting up a serious moral debate. Also, it's far too easy for Dren to grow up without the slightest outside influence like a television, radio or computer - it feels like a cheat designed to make the creature's development easier to script. I know it makes the film tighter, but it's too simplistic to just pretend that TV doesn't exist or not even have the character acknowledge it... this lack of reference to a larger world only serves to further highlight that claustrophobic feeling you sometimes get with cheaply made films.

The only thing this film has going for it is it's effective and near-seamless use of CGI. It wants to be a cautionary tale about playing God ala Frankenstein but it takes far too long to get to the action-horror stuff (last ten minutes in fact). Brody doesn't really try enough and the crappy scripting doesn't help him either (EG. His seedy feelings towards Dren are awkwardly telegraphed and feel too much like a subplot... if you're gonna have a guy have sex with something that is both another species and a daughter-figure then you kind of have to deal with it in a bit of detail, not gloss it over. Brody seems to think he is playing a fairly regular and sympathetic guy most of the time - he isn't, he's playing a dude who partakes in both beastiality and pedophilia!). Polley on the other hand is just a poor actress, and irritating to boot.

DIRECTOR: Vincenzo Natali
WRITER/SOURCE: Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor
KEY ACTORS: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chaneac, Brandon McGibbon

RELATED TEXTS:
- The main comparison to be made is with the classic novel Frankenstein, and to a lesser extent the ITV telemovie that reimagines the story a modern day comment on stem cell research.
- Writer-Director Vincenzo Natali was also responsible for Cube and Cypher, both of which were fairly well-recieved low budget sci-fi films.
- The medical-science angle and the quest to end death reminded me of parts of The Fountain.
- I was also put in mind of the David Cronenberg remake of The Fly.