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Splice Review
19 Jul 2010
Critics rating: 5 stars out of 5
Reviewed by Tom Charity , LOVEFiLM
Splice

David Cronenberg may have gone respectable on us but the transgressive spirit of the Canadian's earlier, gorier horror films is resurrected in this gross but brainy chiller by Vincenzo Natali (Cube).

It begins with a fabulous point of view shot as a brand new artificially-produced creature enters the world. Mommy and Daddy are proud genetic scientists Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley). A hybrid derived from several other animals’ DNA, “Fred” looks like a cross between a large lump of lard and a gnarly phallus – but inside, he offers up a treasure trove of new proteins, a potential goldmine for the drug company sponsoring this scientific breakthrough.

Cast details

While their paymasters are intent on reaping immediate profits, Clive and Elsa are impatient to take the next step: to add human DNA into the mix. Proceeding in secret, they tiptoe towards an ethical precipice, then fall headlong into the abyss when this experiment produces “Dren”, an evolutionary leap the world surely isn’t ready for…

Although they are named from the actors in James Whales’s early 1930s classic Bride of Frankenstein (Colin Clive and Elsa Lanchester), Clive and Elsa are hardly your typical movie scientists. Far more personable, Brody and Polley are effortlessly smart, and we root for them even as we realize these scientists are on heading down a very dangerous path. They are young, witty and trendy – they’re on the cover of Wired magazine even before their latest breakthroughs have been made public.

They’re also a couple – in fact Clive would like to have kids of his own, but of the more conventional sort. Elsa immediately connects with Dren, whose rapid growth spurts telescope years of human development into a few weeks. She increasingly comes to resemble a real daughter in her affections – she has a certain Sinead O’Connor quality – despite several unusual attributes, like the lethal spiked tail she brandishes nonchalantly, her fish-like eyes and… well, you should find out for yourself.

Splice

Let’s just say that Natali, who also cowrote the screenplay, keeps pushing things further than you would expect. So that what starts out as a film about the ethics of genetic science mutates into a gripping psycho-sexual drama, a movie in which Clive and Elsa’s relationship and their fitness as parents is pivotal to the unfolding horror. (Possible alternate title: “Spawn of Frankenstein”.)

French actress Delphine Chaneac imbues the fully-grown (we assume) Dren with marvelously expressive gestures – it’s a virtually silent performance that stands comparison with the some of the great movie monsters of yore, like Charles Laughton’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera and Boris Karloff’s creature. Dren vocalizes in dolphin-like clicks and trills  (I also thought of Gremlins).

Does the movie go over the top? Oh, yes, for sure. That's the fun of a horror movie.

Does the movie go over the top? Oh, yes, for sure. That’s the fun of a horror movie. Is it ridiculous? Frequently. Tasteless? Uh-huh. But this B movie is more honestly provocative than most – it gets an A from me.

Splice Reviews

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