| Splice | |
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Final theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Vincenzo Natali |
| Produced by | Steven Hoban Executive Producers: Guillermo del Toro Don Murphy Joel Silver |
| Screenplay by | Vincenzo Natali Antoinette Terry Bryant Doug Taylor |
| Story by | Vincenzo Natali Antoinette Terry Bryant |
| Starring | Adrien Brody Sarah Polley Delphine Chanéac |
| Music by | Cyrille Aufort |
| Cinematography | Tetsuo Nagata |
| Editing by | Michele Conroy |
| Studio | Copperheart Entertainment Gaumont[1] |
| Distributed by | Dark Castle Entertainment (United States) Warner Bros. (United States) Optimum Releasing (United Kingdom) Madman Entertainment (Australia & New Zealand) |
| Release date(s) | October 6, 2009 (Sitges Film Festival) June 4, 2010 (United States & Canada) |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | Canada France |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million[2] |
| Box office | $26,857,459 [2] |
Splice is a 2009 Canadian/French science fiction horror film directed by Vincenzo Natali and starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley. The story concerns experiments in genetic engineering being done by a young scientist couple who attempt to introduce human DNA into their work of splicing animal genes.[3]
Contents |
Genetic engineers Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) hope to achieve fame by successfully splicing together the DNA of different animals to create new hybrid animals for medical use. They have just created the second in a pair of identical hybrids; the new male specimen, Fred, is intended as a mate for the original specimen, a female called Ginger.
After their success, Clive and Elsa want to use human DNA to create a hybrid that could revolutionize science and medicine, but are forbidden by the pharmaceutical company that funds their research, N.E.R.D. (Nucleic Exchange Research and Development), instead mandating that their department be re-organized to focus on finding and extracting certain proteins from the creatures they have already created. Secretly, Clive and Elsa conduct their own experiments, blending human DNA with that of other animals.
Although they initially decide not to bring the hybrid to full term, Elsa pushes the issue and persuades Clive to go along with it, in continued secrecy. The hybrid appears deformed and aggressive when it stings Elsa several times after "birth" with a retractable stinger in its tail. Clive and Elsa believe they have killed the hybrid only to find out that within the body was the true hybrid. After anesthetizing and examining the creature, they discover that she is aging at an accelerated rate. Clive is still adamant that the creature should be killed, but Elsa convinces him that it is too late, and points out that, since the hybrid is slowly dying anyway, they should take advantage of this unique opportunity to observe its complete life cycle. The scientists discover the creature is capable of breathing amphibiously and can live underwater too.
Elsa eventually names the creature Dren ("nerd" backwards) because Elsa refuses to let Clive refer to her as a "specimen." Elsa immediately forms a motherly bond with Dren, as Dren grows and learns at an accelerated rate. As their lab becomes more and more crowded, and after Dren attacks Clive's brother (a fellow lab technician), they move Dren to Elsa's late mother's farm. The audience learns that Dren has become carnivorous as she attacks and consumes a rabbit near the farm.
Due to Dren's demands on Clive and Elsa's time, they begin to neglect their work, failing to read the logs kept by the other lab technicians on the progress of their original animal hybrids, Fred and Ginger. At the highly publicized "unveiling" of the two specimens, instead of mating, as expected, Fred and Ginger violently kill each other, creating a public relations disaster for the NERD company. It is subsequently discovered that Ginger, the female hybrid, has spontaneously changed to a male, but Elsa and Clive had failed to notice because they have been so wrapped up in caring for Dren.
As Dren grows into adolescence, she becomes moody and petulant. She becomes bored being locked up in the barn, and wants to go outside, but Elsa and Clive refuse, as letting Dren outside could expose her to other people. Later on that week during a visit to Dren Clive looks at her and he suddenly realizes that the human DNA used to make her was not from a "Jane Doe," as Elsa had told him, but from Elsa herself. Eventually, Dren lashes out, killing a pet cat out of spite and then assaulting Elsa. Elsa reacts by reverting back to the role of scientist. She ties Dren up, refuses to speak to her (referring to her only as "the specimen" again), and removing the stinger from her tail. She then uses the living tissue from the tail to finally isolate and synthesize the protein they had been searching for.
Soon after, Dren jumps naked on Clive, who initially refuses her sexual overtures. Clive and Dren end up having sex, but are interrupted by Elsa. Clive follows Elsa back to their apartment, and they have a heated argument, in which Clive confronts her about having used her own DNA to create Dren. He accuses Elsa of never wanting a normal child because she was afraid of losing control, which was why she had insisted on creating a creature in the context of a scientific experiment, where control could be assured. He says that the line between right and wrong has become blurred. The two finally decide to terminate the experiment, and presumably end Dren's life.
But when they return to the farm, they discover that Dren is dying. Some hours later, they bury her behind the barn. Minutes afterwards, their boss from the lab arrives with Clive's younger brother Gavin. Gavin is aware of Dren's existence and has confirmed Barlow's suspicions that some sort of human hybrid has been created (due to the human DNA he found present in the new protein Elsa synthesized). Just as Elsa is telling him that Dren is already dead, Dren attacks them, killing their boss and then Gavin. Clive and Elsa realize that, like Ginger, Dren has spontaneously changed sex, and is now male. Dren then attacks Clive, wounding him, then hunts down Elsa and rapes her. He is interrupted by Clive, who stabs Dren through the chest with a scythe. Dren attacks Clive again, but Elsa hits Dren on the head with a large rock, knocking him to the ground. Just as she raises the rock again to deliver the fatal blow, Dren meets her eye, and she hesitates. In Elsa's moment of hesitation, Dren quickly stabs Clive through the heart with his tail stinger (which has grown back), and Clive is killed. Elsa then slams the rock down on Dren's head, killing him.
In the final scene, Elsa is seen in an office with the head of the NERD pharmaceutical company. The latter tells Elsa that Dren has turned out to be quite valuable, as his body apparently contains countless chemical compounds and genes that have never been seen before. The company, she says, will be filling out patents for years. She refers to the "very generous" amount of money that Elsa has been offered in exchange for her silence over Dren and for taking the experiment to the "next stage." Elsa appears to have already accepted the offer. She stands up and is revealed to be pregnant, saying "What's the worst that could happen?"
Splice was written by director Vincenzo Natali and screenwriters Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor.[4] The script was originally meant to follow up Natali's Cube (1997), but the budget and restricted technology hindered the project. In 2007, the project entered active development as a 75% Canadian and 25% French co-production, receiving a budget of $26 million.[5] The director described the film: "Splice is very much about our genetic future and the way science is catching up with much of the fiction out there. [This] is a serious film and an emotional one. And there's sex... Very unconventional sex. The centerpiece of the movie is a creature which goes through a dramatic evolutionary process. The goal is to create something shocking but also very subtle and completely believable."[6]
In October 2007, actors Brody and Polley were cast into the lead roles. Production began the following November in Toronto, Ontario.[4] It was aided by Telefilm Canada's funding of US$2.5 million.[7] Filming took place in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario and concluded in February 2008.[5]
In an interview, when asked if there would be any sequels, Natali responded "I don't think so. It could happen, but it would have required the movie to make a lot of money in the States, but even though the ending of the film appears to be setting up a sequel that was never my intention. All of my films end with a question, and somewhat ambiguously, and they always imply the beginning of another story, I like to leave the audience with something to ponder."[8]
The film premiered on October 6, 2009 at Sitges Film Festival,[9] where it won "Best Special Effects" and was in the running for "Best Film", and was part of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.[10] After a bidding war with Apparition,[11] The Weinstein Company,[12] Newmarket Films, First Look Studios, and Samuel Goldwyn Films,[13] Dark Castle Entertainment purchased the film in February 2010.[14] The film received a wide release in the United States on June 4, 2010, with Warner Bros. as distributor.[15][16] The trailer was attached to The Losers and A Nightmare on Elm Street.[17]
Splice was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 5, 2010 in the USA and on November 29, 2010 in the UK.[18]
The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 75% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 178 reviews, with an average score of 6.6/10.[19] The critical consensus is: "It doesn't take its terrific premise quite as far as it should, but Splice is a smart, well-acted treat for horror fans."[19] Review aggregate Metacritic awarded the film an average score of 65 out of 100 based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[20]
The Flick Cast said "Splice is funny, frightening, and shocking all at once. It's a disturbing commentary on where science is heading, and it is not easily shaken off once you leave the theatre."[21]
Nevertheless, Richard Roeper panned Splice, calling it one of the worst movies of 2010. He gave the film a D+ calling it "ridiculous" but giving it credit for trying to be different.[22]
The film opened on June 4, 2010 in wide release to a $7.4 million opening weekend in 2,450 theaters, averaging $3,014 per theater.[2]
Splice won the 2011 Telefilm Golden Box Office Award, CAD$40,000, for being the highest-grossing Canadian feature film in English in 2010.[23]
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