![]() ![]() Like other creatures who ultimately wreak havoc (Frankenstein's monster, King Kong), Dren is not intrinsically evil the audience feels her loneliness and frustration at being held captive by people who want to exploit her. I liked the fact that there was a legitimate medical reason for splicing DNA, as opposed to many films where the scientist is an egomaniac who simply wants to play God. Splice could have been special but became a bit risque! Explicit sex scenes make SPLICE inappropriate for children, which is a shame because otherwise this is a thought-provoking film that raises valid, intriguing moral and ethical questions. Not knowing what to expect from this film, I was drawn to it at the video store mainly due to the exotic nature of the cover. This supposedly benign creature that was to be somehow genetically engineered, totally fascinated my intellect since I've always been curious about the possibility of certain types of creatures being created brand new in lieu of extremely slim odds. Take, for instance, the Island of Doctor Moreau & Frankenstein. Our director Vincenzo Natali, who may best be known for his eerie sci-fi thriller Cube, had really kept me guessing as to where the film might take you. I'll certainly say that he did succeed here. ![]() The main characters, Elsa (Sarah Polley) & Clive (Adrien Brody), were both likable, yet quite detestable at times. The main characters enc ompass an unlikeable peculiarity by bypassing a normal mindset in morality. I’m not going to give away anything more except to warn that the film includes various combinations of incest, bestiality and rape - though the gore and violence are relatively modest by contemporary horror film standards.īrody and Polley’s performances keep the film grounded in a semblance of reality even when it threatens to go over the top near the end, and director Natali infuses the proceedings with a consistent sense of nail-biting dread.This moral dilemma doesn't necessarily automatically present itself, unless we see the full blown aspects of what creating a new life form from human DNA really represents. Dren (now played by a digitally enhanced Delphine Chanéac) begins to resemble a cross between a bald supermodel and a rabbit with wings.Įven Clive has developed paternal feelings at this point, which Dren very unfortunately mistakes for an entirely different kind of love. Then they move her to a barn on Elsa’s old family farm, where Elsa starts putting Dren in dresses and makeup. The childless Elsa is so captivated by Dren’s capacity for learning that she’s willing to overlook her offspring’s increasingly homicidal tendencies - another mistake when your “daughter” has a lethal stinger in her tail.Įlsa’s boyfriend, meanwhile, tries to drown Dren after some particularly nasty misbehavior - but, wouldn’t you know it, she’s sprouted a set of gills. The couple is so preoccupied with their latest hybrid - which they hide from their colleagues - that Fred and Ginger end up giving investors a demonstration that’s unforgettable in ways that are entirely unforeseen, and quite hilarious.Ĭlive and Elsa are busy in the basement raising the rapidly growing, feral creature (Abigail Chu, with lots of help from computer-generated images) that Elsa names Dren (spell it backward). Needless to say, keeping this particular baby turns out to be a huge mistake.Ĭlive and Elsa (amusingly named for the stars of “Bride of Frankenstein”) work for a bio-med company that’s pressing them to monetize their earlier gene-splicing experiment - a pair of tongue-like creatures they’ve dubbed Fred and Ginger - before it goes belly up. ![]() Brody’s Clive, whose ethical concerns have been pushed away by his girlfriend, wants to destroy the hybrid embryo before it comes to term, as they previously agreed.īut her burgeoning maternal instincts prevail. The fetus in question has been engineered from the genes of various animals - as well as Polley’s character, Elsa. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley play a superstar geneticist couple who at one point debate abortion in Vincenzo Natali’s smart, scary - and at times very funny - horror movie “Splice.” ![]()
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