Splice - Splice, Splice, Baby!

I’ve just watched ‘Splice’ for the second time.  The first time I saw it, I hired it on DVD.  After that viewing, I bought it and have now seen it again.  So, basically, I do think it’s a good enough film to watch more than once.  However, now I’ve decided to write a review, no sooner have I logged on to see what other people thought, did I read another review’s title saying something like, ‘Good beginning, not so good end.’ That pretty much sums up my thoughts on the film.

I enjoyed the first two thirds, but I didn’t feel that it fell apart towards the end.  I would definitely say that it’s worth watching for the most part.  Adrian Broody and Sarah Polley play a couple of scientists who create a creature in a lab, but, in the tradition of all mad scientists, they take things a little too far.  In this case they even take their creation home with them and it grows into quite an interesting beast.

You can probably guess that their new ‘addition’ to their family is hardly a glowing success (otherwise it would be a pretty dull film!), so I won’t say too much.  It’s a sort of sci-fi/horror film that does its best to throw in a few moral dilemmas that scientists have to face when it comes to how far they take their work in the lab.

What makes it worth watching are the two leads.  In what could have been just another B-movie the cast elevates it to something a little more.  They have good chemistry and their acting talent certainly makes the script better than your average slasher flick.  Then you have the creature itself.  Yes, for its infancy it is computer generated.  And you probably would be forgiven for thinking that the effects might look a bit ropey.  Actually, they’re pretty good.  And, once the creature is fully-grown it gets replaced by a live actor (in make-up) who is equally as ‘interesting’ (for use of a better word) to look at.

Like I say, ‘Splice’ has a lot going for it.  The first two thirds are up there with the best of them when it comes to creepy horror.  The final act does tend to degenerate into something a little more clichéd that doesn’t do the build-up justice.  But the first two thirds were good enough for me to invest in the film.  And I’ll probably watch it a few more times, too.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that