The film is a sci-fi horror movie directed by Vincenzo Natali. In the film there are two scientists Clive and Elsa who are working for a big pharmaceutical company. They splice genes of various animals and humans in order to uncover a protein that will be the key for treating world’s illnesses. Secretly, Clive and Elsa conduct their own experiments, blending human DNA with that of other animals. The film contains body horror and bloody scenes. They create a hybrid which seems to grow really fast, and they name it Dren. The backward letters of the company they work: N.E.R.D. However when the creature they have created is fully "born" they end up taking it out of the laboratory so as to not have it found. It continues to grow into at first a child at the abandoned house Elsa grew up in and eventually into a young 'woman' that is self-aware who they have named Dren. Dren has the feeling that Elsa is her mother. There is a basic parenting theme in the whole movie. Although the two scientists take care of Dren and examine her it seems that Dren has lacked childhood.
She was neglected in her birth and in her early stages of development. Dren starts to have predatory sexual desires and feelings. Things go out of control and chaos develops. “ What holds your attention throughout Splice is the changing sympathies you constantly have for Elsa, Clive and Dren as they all constantly shift from positions of being the aggressors to being the victims.” (Caldwell, 2010).
Clive has sex with Dren and due to the abuse Dren has suffered by her “mother” she attacks the scientists and her basic animal instincts for killing and escaping from the house she is locked go out. An obvious scene where Elsa is abusing Dren is the scene where she is not letting her keeping a cat. During the whole film we can see a metamorphosis over CG.
The special effects that have been used in order to produce Dren are really good. The two scientists have taken their names from Frankenstein’s film characters. Dren attacks the two scientists and kills their boss. Clive and Elsa realize that, Dren has spontaneously changed sex, and is now male. Dren then attacks Clive, wounding him, then hunts down Elsa and rapes her. In the end 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 and Clive is killed. Elsa then slams the rock down on Dren's head, killing her. ” What is notable about this horror movie is that because of the relatively talented cast (especially in the case of Brody as Clive and Polley as Elsa), viewers actually care about what happens to the characters.” (Bojangles, 2011).
In the end of the movie Elsa is being offered by her monstrous boss to carry on the experiment to the next level, while Elsa is pregnant. During the movie we can see who is really the animal. Dren is innocent and we can see that the humans are the real animals with their acts. Also the movie brings up a variety of points, what separates humans from animals and what are human capable of making. “Never construct an artificial intelligence that has the capacity of both becoming self-aware and destroying its human benefactors. And the second is: do mess with nature.” (David Lim, 2010).
Illustration List:
Figure 1: Splice 2009 Movie Poster
(Accessed 17/10/2011)
Figure 2: Splice 2009 Elsa Holding the hybrid like a baby
(Accessed 17/10/2011)
Figure 3: Splice 2009 Hybrid in adult stage
(Accessed 17/10/2011)
Bibliography:
Film Review by Clementine Bojangles (2011). Splice 2009,Vincenzo Natali
(Accessed 17/10/2011)
Film Review by Thomas Caldwell (2010). Splice 2009,Vincenzo Natali
(Accessed 17/10/2011)
Film Review by Jonathan David Lim (2010) Splice 2009, Vincenzo Natali
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