Remember the alien big deal movie "Species" back in 1995? It did three things: introduce the world to snazzy CGI to depict gooey alien shape-shifting, made Natasha Henstridge an uberbabe, and reignited interest in the alien genre during a glut of sappy romantic comedies. It kinda changed the game for the 90s. And then as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared (discounting the horrible Species 2 and Species 3 which not only paled in comparison but sucked donkey nuts); so for a while the movie was overrun with horror in place of terror. And now we're in the Noughties. And what do we have to make up for lost time in terms of alien / weird flesh-thing? We have Splice...
The Skinny: Two young geneticist Clive (Brody) and Elsa (Polley) accidentally become instrumental in the creation of a new sentient being after splicing human and animal DNA together. What pops out on the other side of cooking pot is Dren (Delphine), a female human/alien-like creature which changes and develops rapidly in terms of age, size, strength and finally something else altogether. Clive wants her destroyed, but Elsa does not as a bond is forged between the two. In arriving at a middle ground they bring Dren to the countryside to allow her space. Big mistake, as Dren comes to her own out there in the wilderness and fulfills her full potential. Madness, mayhem and terror ensues ...
The Helmer: Vincenzo Natali - Paris je'taime (2006 - segment), Getting Gilliam (2005), Nothing (2003), Cypher (2002), Made in Canada: Volume 1 - Best of CFC (2002 v), Earth: Final Conflict (1998 - 1999 3 episodes TV), Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal (1998 1 episode TV), Cube (1997), Elevated (1997), Space Cases (1996 1 episode TV).
The Casts: Adrien Brody (Clive Nicoli), Sarah Polley (Elsa Kast), Delphine Chaneac (Dren), Brandon McGibbon (Gavin Nicoli), Abigail Chu (Child Dren)
The Verdict: An intense, highly intelligent and effective sci-fi horror thriller which works on two levels: cementing the view that there are some areas mere mortals should not tread, and scaring us in the process. This movie is executive produced by the now legendary monster-with-personality maker Guillermo Del Toro. And it makes sense, as Natali is on his own is already established as the helmer of the 1997 cult classic Cube which successfully messed with millions of minds with its pre-Saw single-room terror thriller.
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