This occasionally effective creature feature seems to have been pitched on the basis of its beautifully horrific monster designs and the chance to examine the age-old argument of genetic engineering as a “playing God” parable. But while it has a more intelligent edge over the similarly themed Species and Deep Blue Sea, Splice’s scattered narrative elements are never, erm, spliced together to form a coherently enjoyable whole.
Elsa (Sarah Polley) and the excellently named Clive (Adrien Brody) are two rebellious scientists faced with the termination of their ethically dubious experiments involving the splicing of human and animal DNA. Defying their testing embargo and any moral coda, the duo creates “Dren”, a female chimera who rapidly ages to become an alluring offspring that’s as intriguing as she is deadly.
Splice hasn’t an original thread of DNA running through its story, which is quite surprising from the director of cult favourite Cube, but that’s not completely to its detriment. Producer Guillermo Del Toro’s fingerprints are all over the array of slug-like beasts and formaldehyde jars; the adult Dren has more than a hint of Giger’s Alien about her; and at times it veers tantalisingly towards Cronenberg body horror, before conforming to monster-of-the-week mechanics and ending in an underwhelming Jeepers Creepers style face-off.
The character motivations are all a bit slapdash too, with Brody and Polley making choices to propel the story along rather than ones that make any sense based on the little character development we’ve been afforded. The initial hook that sees the couple having widely differing parental ambitions juxtaposed with the desire to conceive this abomination is dropped about half way through for a series of twists and other formulaic horror conventions.
The real moments of delight and horror unsurprisingly come from Dren, or actress Delphine Chaneac. It’s an illuminating performance of physical movement that’s mostly mute, but the film elevates to a level above its B-movie ambitions when she shares a dance with Brody’s mad scientist. It’s the only time that the Frankenstein’s monster bond feels genuine, a few more instances of which might have made for a more empathic response to her plight.
As it stands, Splice is a seen-it-all-before slice of hokum that only just succeeds thanks to its creepily inventive animal aesthetics.
[etRating value=“ 2”]
Elsa (Sarah Polley) and the excellently named Clive (Adrien Brody) are two rebellious scientists faced with the termination of their ethically dubious experiments involving the splicing of human and animal DNA. Defying their testing embargo and any moral coda, the duo creates “Dren”, a female chimera who rapidly ages to become an alluring offspring that’s as intriguing as she is deadly.
Splice hasn’t an original thread of DNA running through its story, which is quite surprising from the director of cult favourite Cube, but that’s not completely to its detriment. Producer Guillermo Del Toro’s fingerprints are all over the array of slug-like beasts and formaldehyde jars; the adult Dren has more than a hint of Giger’s Alien about her; and at times it veers tantalisingly towards Cronenberg body horror, before conforming to monster-of-the-week mechanics and ending in an underwhelming Jeepers Creepers style face-off.
The character motivations are all a bit slapdash too, with Brody and Polley making choices to propel the story along rather than ones that make any sense based on the little character development we’ve been afforded. The initial hook that sees the couple having widely differing parental ambitions juxtaposed with the desire to conceive this abomination is dropped about half way through for a series of twists and other formulaic horror conventions.
The real moments of delight and horror unsurprisingly come from Dren, or actress Delphine Chaneac. It’s an illuminating performance of physical movement that’s mostly mute, but the film elevates to a level above its B-movie ambitions when she shares a dance with Brody’s mad scientist. It’s the only time that the Frankenstein’s monster bond feels genuine, a few more instances of which might have made for a more empathic response to her plight.
As it stands, Splice is a seen-it-all-before slice of hokum that only just succeeds thanks to its creepily inventive animal aesthetics.
[etRating value=“ 2”]
