Film Reviews: Splice (2009)

Ilmi Omar
Splice 2009

Vincenzo Natali’s take on ‘Splice’ released in 2009 has Frankenstein feel to it.
The story evolves around a young enthusiastic scientist couple Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) who want to combine their knowledge to create a treatment for cancer by splicing human DNA with animal genes. ‘A Frankenstein with a beating, gene-spliced heart and top-of-the-range performance.’ (NEWMAN, 2010). Their initial task is to create a new hybrid by slicing different animal genes for medical use. After another successful production of the hybrid, ‘Ginger’ the female version. The couple want to take it to the next level by adding human DNA into the experiment in a view of revolutionising science and medicine. After hearing that they wouldn’t be able to take that step by the people above, they take matters into their own hands.

The end result is Dren (Delphine Chaneac), an incredible creature with uncommon features. There’s a twist in the plot as we see the darker side of parental issues, as both Clive and Elsa some what play father/mother to Dren. There’s the abusive father in Clive who wants to get rid of this ‘spicemen’ from the moment it turns into a living form. Then comes the protective mother in Elsa who wants to see it develop as they a unique opportunity to see it complete its life circle as it’s aging at an accelerate rate. We even get an insight of what Elsa’s childhood was like when they eventually move to a nearby farm (Elsa inherited from her mother), as they are unable to keep this creation a secret. This is where it all starts to unfold, where secrets and untold mysteries come out. We learn that the DNA mixed in the creation was of Elsa’s. ‘We learn about Elsa’s need for a child and how her damaging childhood fed into the creation of Dren’ (SORESPORT MOVIES, 2010). We’re taken around by this farm by mysterious of Elsa’s childhood and how she was abused by her mother, which leads to her becoming abusive towards Dren.

This film forms it self from science fiction to family drama. ‘This could almost be a family of dysfunction’ (BITEL, 2009). To make matters worst we have some form of incest in the becoming of this film. After constants arguments with Elsa, Clive starts to develop feelings for this Creature that is Dren. Behind some awkward moments Clive takes out his sexual frustration on Dren, which leads to Elsa walking in on them in the process. It’s more or less a roller coaster ride watching this film there are so many sub plots niggling everywhere. You don’t know who to judge and who to feel sorry for. The most human person in the film is Dren the only difference is she is in a creature’s body, while all of the other characters show monstrous personalities.




List Of illustration
Image 01:
http://soresportmovies.blogspot.com/2011/01/splice-2009-horror-sci-fi-monster.html
Image 02:
http://www.empiremovies.com/2010/04/06/splice-trailer/
Image 03:
http://www.ugo.com/movies/splice-1


Bibliography
Kim Newman
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=135263
published July 22, 2010

Sorensport Movies
http://soresportmovies.blogspot.com/2011/01/splice-2009-horror-sci-fi-monster.html
Published January 15, 2011

Anton Bitel
http://www.film4.com/reviews/2009/splice
Published 2009