Two scientists create a genetic creature based on human DNA, let the experiment go farther than planned and must find away to keep it a secret, while debating the questions of right and wrong of genetic experimentation.
Full Summary (Warning: May contain spoilers):
From the beginning of the title sequence, to seeing the cast names as veins, sets up that this movie is about experimentation and medical science. We're being born into the world at the beginning of the movie into the arms of our two characters of the movie, Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley). Only we are not human, we are a genetically spliced together creature, actually the second of two. Once pulled away from the point-of-view of the character, we are introduced to Fred and Ginger, two new life forms grown and designed to harvest proteins to later be used to fight disease in livestock. They are part of a larger on going genetic experiment with the goal of one day being able to splice it with human DNA and be able to solve human based diseases. The board of pharmaceutical representatives the duo report to, of course will not greenlight a human trial till more can be found out about the current critters.
Going behind the backs of their colleagues and against guidelines, they implant and generate an embryo based on Human DNA. What's unexpected is how fast the fetus will develop putting them in the position of questioning their choice of doing the experiment. The re-occurring questions of the movie right and wrong, moral and ethical are now being asked. Elsa cannot find it in herself to kill this creature, where Clive is hands on the button to gas it from the moment he sees it. Hidden away in the research lab they work in, Elsa has started to raise the creature (now given the name Dren) as if she was a child. Not able to keep her a secret any longer after Clive's brother Galvin comes upon their secret, they must move Dren down to a basement lab farther away from others. During the move Dren has developed a fever and Clive now sees his chance at an attempt to kill the experiment, only to find its gonna be a lot harder to kill Dren then he thinks.
Now, the objects of a huge presentation about genetics and the possibilities of their existence, Fred and Ginger make their first public appearance. Except Fred and Ginger instead of playing nice decide to annihilate each other. Discovering the reason for this sudden sign of aggression as a result of Ginger changing sex into a male, creates even more questions of what Dren may one day become. With this new result and aftermath of presentation, Dren is hidden away at an abandoned barn. All the time, Dren has been developing and becoming more and more aware of herself and her surroundings. She's tired of being locked away from the world and is shifting her feelings from Elsa as a mother figure to Clive as a love interest. Clive is not stupid, seeing the advances of Dren, knows that there is more to Dren than just generic DNA. Elsa has used herself as part of the experiment. Dren is getting slowly more and more violent in her behavior, especially towards Elsa as she finds her as competition for Clive. After attempting an attack on Elsa's life, Dren now finds herself strapped down and Elsa cutting out her defense mechanisms. Coming home to find a scared and defenseless Dren, Clive gives in to his urges, decides to have sex with Dren, only to have Elsa walk in on the two mid session. Chasing Elsa down after see runs off after catching them (I mean can you blame her, if you walked in on your boyfriend/girlfriend having sex with your science experiment), the argument of right and wrong once again is played out.
All their worries and concerns are about to be over though as Dren has developed another bad bout of a similar fever she had before. Only this time it ends with the two burying their experiment behind the barn and laying to rest the experiment gone too far. Until suddenly Dren is back, male and a lot more aggressive. The showdown will pit makers versus creature, resulting in the death of one of our leads and the final end of the experiment. Well...the end until we are set up for the premise for another movie.
Review:
If you saw the trailer for 'Splice', you probably like me, expected a science based horror film. You get that, but, only in the last five minutes of the movie. The rest of the movie is less about horror and creatures and more about a moral and ethical debate on the use of human DNA in science experimentation. Most of the movie is more focused on the two main characters and each of them debating the moral and ethical repercussions of their experiment. Leaving most of the movie feeling lackluster until the final showdown, where we finally get some creature feature horror. Having such a great creature, with such a broad range of abilities, its unfortunate the movie does not take advantage of it full horror potential. While it was not a horribly bad movie, I do feel like it was a waste of a great plot and good actors. With producers Guillermo Del Toro and Joel Silver on board you can't help wonder how it wandered off its horror path. Guillermo Del Toro's involvement does show through with its creature design bearing similarities with creatures from his 'Pan's Labyrinth' film. The end also should of been reserved for a Syfy Channel movie as its predictable and seen coming as a setup for a sequel (I'm betting a direct to DVD release). If this movie sounds and bears resemblance to 'Species' your not the only one thinking it. It's a shame this movie did not reach its full potential instead of getting side tracked on the morality of it all, it could of been a really good horror film.
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