Review of "Splice," DVD version

Review of

Splice, DVD version


Five out of five stars

 The title of the movie is based on the actions of the two main characters, they are scientists and their specialty is splicing genetic material of different species to make hybrid and unusual creatures. They are a male-female couple and work for a major pharmaceutical organization. They are under great pressure to synthesis new compounds and when the movie opens, they have created slug-like creatures that move by amoebic-like shape alterations. It is hoped that their creations will synthesize the compounds they need.

 Pleased with their success, the two scientists decide to go for the ultimate creation, an organism that contains human DNA in combination with that from other animals. They are successful and when their major creation is “born,” it is just another large amorphous blob creature like the others. It grows rapidly, developing into something that is human-like above the legs, albeit with a tail with a stinger at the end. The legs are lizard-like and very powerful. The two “parents” are at first disturbed by their creation and ponder killing it, but they quickly develop affections and treat it like their child.

 There are many twists, unexpected and sometimes frightening events. Although the two creators treat the “child” as a human, it is not, even though it is intelligent and has human-like emotions. It has some of the predictability of humans but retains the unpredictability of creatures with intelligence that are not human. There is a climactic struggle near the end and the movie ends with a powerful visual cliffhanger.

 This is a great movie; genetic splicing is already a powerful technique and will grow more so in the future. It is accurate in the sense that no one really knows what will happen if gene splicing is successfully done with multiple species, one of which is human. There will be the natural desire to treat the results as human when they will not be.