Rating of
2/4
"Splice" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 03/02/13
A pair of genetic biologists succeed in splicing the DNA of various creatures with that of a human being and the resulting life form begins to take over their lives as they try to hide their secret experiment. Splice is very much in the old “mad scientists play God and reap the consequences” school of horror stories, giving the Frankenstein formula a modern sci-fi spin. In fact the story interestingly stays away from the man makes monster idea for the early stages, preferring David Cronenberg style psychological horror, particularly during the rather disturbing Mommie Dearest sequence and when the bizarre sexual ambiguity of their creation becomes apparent. Disappointingly it soon settles back into the usual creature feature for an overly predictable finale which is a shame because it was actually starting to explore some interesting ideas. The production design is a little suspect (baby Dren looks suspiciously like an oven ready chicken with a rabbit's head) but Brody and Polley are as watchable as always and it's weird enough to maintain the attention for the duration, but it's nowhere near as inventive as Prometheus which covered a lot of the same ground.
