Hal MacDermot [Celluloid 03.25.08] movie news scifi



I've always liked films where people play God but end up creating their own worst nightmare. Kind of makes me wonder if we're a good dream or a bad one. Splice, the latest movie from Cube director Vincenzo Natali, falls into this category. A world of human/animal genetic experimentation, and according to Twitch, the results are impressive. This medium-budget sci-fi horror began as a mere twinkle in Natali's eye right around the time of Cube, but a combination of lawyers and funds conspired against him. Luckily, with a little help from Gaumont, producer Steve Hobon and E.P. Guillermo Del Toro, the baby was allowed to develop.

Two young scientists, Adrien Brody and Sara Polley, spit in the face of the law and morality and create life from animal and human DNA. Their creation Dren, played by the spooky looking French actress Delphine Chaneac, quickly grows up to be more than they had dreamed of, and not really in a good way. From the hints given away in Twitch interviews, I have the impression that at least one of the creators become rather more intimate with the creature than parental code usually dictates, if you get my drift.


Splice has recently gone to post, with theatrical release slated for early 2009. BTW if the premise sounds familiar, perhaps it's because you read the news story in real life. In the UK last year, the government gave the green light for scientists to create animal-human embryos.

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agentorange (14 years ago) Reply

Can't wait to see this. Cube and Cypher were both great scifi films with Dickian overtones. Natali is quickly becoming one of my favorite filmmakers.

Marina (14 years ago) Reply

I've been a Natali fangirl from the start and wow, I love the way this is looking and more than that, the fact that he's getting so much attention these days!

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