What came as a surprise was how readily they dealt with the humour of the film, most notably in an early scene which hammered home the B-movie roots of Splice, as a moment of over-the-top slapstick plays out when Polley’s character finds herself trapped in a lab room with ‘something’.Īdrian Brody is a notable actor and much more on the geek radar after the likes of King Kong and, more recently, Predators, whereas Sarah Polley, despite Go and the Dawn Of The Dead remake, still seems to be a massively underappreciated and underused actress in Hollywood. It was an incredibly savvy move, as both actors are known for effortlessly dealing with dramatic content, so between them they easily ground and realise the more preposterous parts of the story. While the KNB EFX group go to work, it remains for the emotional and comedic core of Splice to be divided between Brody and Polley. Since their Evil Dead days they really have become the kings of special effects, and their work is so good in Splice that they effectively sell the reality of the situation.Īnd by making Dren such a masterwork – a mix of the beautiful, innocent, deadly and ethereal – you don’t ever question what’s on screen.
It came as no surprise to see Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger’s names in the opening credits, though I’m a little confused as to how they seem to be able to do the effects for about ninety percent of the films I watch. I knew within the first five minutes that I was onboard with Splice, as it ably showed a great sense of comedy, mixed in with some suitably disgusting effects. Many of the film’s shocks come from seeing what will develop next, and Natali holds an incredible feeling of unease and tension over the entire film, so much so that my usual note taking was kept to a bare minimum as I sat enthralled by it. The film is given an incredible strength from its premise, as the results of their work mean that any organism we’re shown in the film is entirely new and therefore, entirely unpredictable. Frankenstein in their quest to create new, genetically engineered life. Splice treads a very similar path, as we follow the scientific journey that Clive Nicoli and Elsa Kast (played by Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, respectively) take, as they pay no heed to the lesson learnt by Dr. Paul Verhoeven started the film with a visceral, gory punch, before taking the elements that interested him the most (never underestimate the man’s love of breasts, Verhoeven’s that is) and straining them through Hollywood’s cookie cutter to make his film conform to their monster movie conventions. Whether you liked Hollow Man or not, you should appreciate that it involved a fearsomely talented director, essentially, trying to make a studio movie with interesting results.
Rather than Species, I’d compare Splice to Hollow Man in terms of how the movie feels, without trying to be too descriptive and give anything away, as I’d avoided reading or watching anything to do with the film, and the pay off was immense.