Splice

With most films, you watch the trailer and can safely predict not only its tone but also the vast majority of the plot and central themes. Expecting a predictable modern day Frankenstein tale, I wandered naively towards the cinema to see Splice, which proved to be more than little different from the film its marketing team seemed so anxious to put forward, and also infinitely more disturbing than many standard horror releases.

Genetic researchers Elsa (Sarah Polley) and her husband Clive (Adrian Brody) create an illegal human/animal hybrid, something even a toddler could tell you can only end badly. Yet the film wisely steers clear of the greatly overused “monster on the loose” routine to create something rather different. The two leads are interesting and detailed characters. Even more unusually for the horror genre, Delphine Chaneac gives a wonderful, if heavily CGI augmented, performance as their creation Dren, creating enormous sympathy for her role.

The character development throughout is fascinating, with director Vincenzo Natali succeeding in leading it into very dark and unexpected territory where the vast majority of mainstream filmmakers would fear to tread. Indeed the film easily marks itself out as one of the year’s most disturbing films, and I do find it remarkable that it achieved a 15 certificate when much less horrific films have an 18 certificate. This does not necessarily make it a good or a bad film, but it is worth being aware of it prior to seeing the film.

Unfortunately, though, Splice does suffer from a few noticeable flaws, the most damaging being the fact it feels increasingly disjointed as it develops. At the end this becomes particularly problematic, as the film loses some of its originality and descends into predictable horror clichés, lessening the dramatic impact of the characters' nightmare as well as proving very disappointing. Furthermore, Splice does suffer overall from a failure to deliver many actual scares despite the concern for the characters and the truly horrific nature of many of the images displayed.

The creature they produce, however, is brilliantly designed, being sufficiently human and yet eerily not at the same time, successfully serving the needs of the story. The effects used to create it generally prove convincing, although at odd moments they do slip up. For me, however, the creation of Dren fails as a way of dealing with the issues surrounding human cloning – it works much better as a simple look at highly disturbing relationships and drama than as a comment upon modern science. Much of the film’s criticism is delivered through the naivety of its characters, which is shown through the scientists’ constant use of the phrase ‘what’s the worst that can happen’, making it impossible to look at a Doctor Pepper advert in the same way again.

Overall despite many problems, Splice does make for extremely interesting viewing, although entertaining is probably the wrong word for it. What we are left with is a shocking tale, one that is almost too shocking and should be approached with extreme caution.

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