The biological/psychological horror-thriller “Splice” reaffirms my belief that no one should read reviews or watch trailers prior to seeing any flick, much less a horror flick. I walked into this one completely cold, aware only of the poster art and that the guy from “The Piano” was the star. Thanks to this rare and fortunate circumstance, “Splice” never stopped surprising; and being constantly caught off guard while sitting in a movie theatre is always a good thing. Well, not always a good thing. There is that creepily memorable final turning point in “Splice” where the story goes there – where the “fuh-reek” is put in the “freak,” a moment that still requires processing three days on, which is certainly a compliment to the filmmakers regardless of my final verdict.
Most of the credit must go to director/co-writer Vincenzo Natali who, like he did with his incredible single-location, 1997 sci-fi debut “Cube,” takes a story that’s physically contained to offices, labs, storerooms and a barn, and gives it a much richer scope through the examining of big ideas. Through story and very little exposition, the moral tension that exists between those willing to do most anything to extend their lives and those who believe an ethical line must be drawn when it comes to playing god with human life, receives a full airing. With this theme and others so well fleshed out and a story that never stops turning in shocking and unexpected ways, Natali keeps the tension – to quote Pink Floyd — tight as a funeral drum as you sit on edge waiting for all hell to break loose.
Without spoiling anything, Klive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) – named after Colin Clive and Elsa Lanchester? — are in charge of a laboratory that develops proteins through the splicing of animal genes. The rebellious scientific duo is constantly at odds with their corporate overlords but only in the outcome department. Both share the same ambition when it comes to their own selfish pursuits. The corporation wants profits, but Klive and Elsa might even be more ruthless when it comes to their reckless desire to make scientific history.
Their first success is Fred and Ginger, two cat-sized, slug-like creatures made from various animal genes that represent both a scientific breakthrough and a likely cash cow of new chemicals and proteins. For Elsa, the obvious next step is to add human DNA to the experiment. The corporation, however, isn’t interested in the public relations storm such a project would surely create and Klive is only temporarily reluctant enough to speak for our own misgivings.
Brody and Polley (a terrific director in her own right) only get better as the story moves along. At first their rebelliousness feels a little programmed and self-conscious, like the script’s trying too hard to portray them as off-beat. Eventually, though, this works to the film’s advantage. We’re programmed by Hollywood to immediately assume that every character given that rather clichéd anti-corporate/punk vibe will be film’s moral conscious. Director Natali seems to intentionally play on this assumption with one counter-intuitive move after another until the very end. He did the same thing to great effect in “Cube.”
Back to that “going there” moment….
I read the Thomas Harris novel “Hannibal” – the sequel to “Silence of the Lambs” — prior to seeing the film that would eventually star Julianne Moore. The difference between where the novel eventually takes you and where the film ends up is night and day. At the close of the novel, Clarice Starling (the Jodie Foster character in “Lambs”), loses her psychological war with Hannibal Lecter and they end up becoming lovers. To say the least, this revelation is not only a shocker that makes deliciously perverse sense when you rewind all that came before, it is a moment of pure horror.
Fearing moviegoers would be turned off by such a thing, no one involved in “Hannibal” seriously considered ending the film that way. But if they had it would’ve been similar to the going there moment in “Splice,” which is also a moment of pure horror — but maybe too pure. Let me put it this way: the moment is so shocking that everyone in the audience was laughing their asses off because they had no idea how else to react.
Regardless of your own final verdict, “Splice” is impressive in every sense of the word and Natali is to be applauded for tackling large issues with intelligence and humor, staging every scene with intense precision, and sticking to his guns in the going there department. Right or wrong, he took a chance on what couldn’t have been an easy decision.
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