Splice (film)
Encyclopedia
Splice is a 2009 Canadian/French science fiction
horror film
directed by Vincenzo Natali
and starring Adrien Brody
and Sarah Polley
. The story concerns experiments in genetic engineering being done by a young scientist couple who attempt to introduce human DNA into their work of splicing
animal genes.
) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley
) hope to achieve fame by successfully splicing together the DNA of different animals to create new hybrid animals for medical use. They have just created the second in a pair of identical hybrids; the new male specimen, Fred, is intended as a mate for the original specimen, a female called Ginger.
After their success, Clive and Elsa want to use human DNA to create a hybrid that could revolutionize science and medicine, but are forbidden by the pharmaceutical company that funds their research, N.E.R.D. (Nucleic Exchange Research and Development), instead mandating that their department be re-organized to focus on finding and extracting certain proteins from the creatures they have already created. Secretly, Clive and Elsa conduct their own experiments, blending human DNA with that of other animals.
Although they initially decide not to bring the hybrid to full term, Elsa pushes the issue and persuades Clive to go along with it, in continued secrecy. The hybrid appears deformed and aggressive when it stings Elsa several times after "birth" with a retractable stinger in its tail. Clive and Elsa believe they have killed the hybrid only to find out that within the body was the true hybrid. After anesthetizing and examining the creature, they discover that she is aging at an accelerated rate. Clive is still adamant that the creature should be killed, but Elsa convinces him that it is too late, and points out that, since the hybrid is slowly dying anyway, they should take advantage of this unique opportunity to observe its complete life cycle.
Elsa eventually names the creature Dren (“nerd” backwards) because Elsa refuses to let Clive refer to her as a "specimen." Elsa immediately forms a motherly bond with Dren, as Dren grows and learns at an accelerated rate. As their lab becomes more and more crowded, and after Dren attacks Clive's brother (a fellow lab technician), they move Dren to Elsa's late mother's farm.
Due to Dren's demands on Clive and Elsa's time, they begin to neglect their work, failing to read the logs kept by the other lab technicians on the progress of their original animal hybrids, Fred and Ginger. At the highly publicized "unveiling" of the two specimens, instead of mating, as expected, Fred and Ginger violently kill each other, creating a public relations disaster for the NERD company. It is subsequently discovered that Ginger, the female hybrid, has spontaneously changed to a male, but Elsa and Clive had failed to notice because they have been so wrapped up in caring for Dren.
As Dren grows into adolescence, she becomes moody and petulant. She becomes bored being locked up in the barn, and wants to go outside, but Elsa and Clive refuse, as letting Dren outside could expose her to other people. Eventually, Dren lashes out, killing a pet cat out of spite and then assaulting Elsa. Elsa reacts by reverting back to the role of scientist. She ties Dren up, refuses to speak to her (referring to her only as "the specimen" again), and removing the stinger from her tail. She then uses the living tissue from the tail to finally isolate and synthesize the protein they had been searching for.
Soon after, Dren jumps naked on Clive, who initially refuses her sexual overtures. As Clive looks at Dren, however, he suddenly realizes that the human DNA used to make her was not from a "Jane Doe," as Elsa had told him, but from Elsa herself. Clive and Dren end up having sex, but are interrupted by Elsa. Clive follows Elsa back to their apartment and they have a heated argument, in which Clive confronts her about having used her own DNA to create Dren. He accuses Elsa of never wanting a normal child because she was afraid of losing control, which was why she had insisted on creating a creature in the context of a scientific experiment, where control could be assured. He says that the line between right and wrong has become blurred. The two finally decide to terminate the experiment, and presumably end Dren's life.
But when they return to the farm, they discover that Dren is dying. Some hours later, they bury her behind the barn. Minutes afterwards, their boss from the lab arrives with Clive's younger brother Gavin. Gavin is aware of Dren's existence and has confirmed Barlow's suspicions that some sort of human hybrid has been created (due to the human DNA he found present in the new protein Elsa synthesized). Just as Elsa is telling him that Dren is already dead, Dren attacks them, killing their boss and then Gavin. Clive and Elsa realize that, like Ginger, Dren has spontaneously changed sex, and is now male. Dren then attacks Clive, wounding him, then hunts down Elsa and rapes her. He is interrupted by Clive, who stabs Dren through the chest with a scythe. Dren attacks Clive again, but 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 (which has grown back), and Clive is killed. Elsa then slams the rock down on Dren's head, killing him.
In the final scene, Elsa is seen in an office with the head of the NERD pharmaceutical company. The latter tells Elsa that Dren has turned out to be quite valuable, as his body apparently contains countless chemical compounds and genes that have never been seen before. The company, she says, will be filling out patents for years. She refers to the "very generous" amount of money that Elsa has been offered in exchange for her silence over Dren, and for taking the experiment to the "next stage." Elsa appears to have already accepted the offer. She stands up and is revealed to be pregnant, saying "What's the worst that could happen?"
(1997), but the budget and restricted technology hindered the project. In 2007, the project entered active development as a 75% Canadian and 25% French co-production, receiving a budget of $26 million. The director described the film: "Splice is very much about our genetic future and the way science is catching up with much of the fiction out there. [This] is a serious film and an emotional one. And there's sex... Very unconventional sex. The centerpiece of the movie is a creature which goes through a dramatic evolutionary process. The goal is to create something shocking but also very subtle and completely believable."
In October 2007, actors Brody and Polley were cast into the lead roles. Production began the following November in Toronto, Ontario. It was aided by Telefilm Canada
's funding of US$2.5 million. Filming took place in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario
and concluded in February 2008.
In an interview, when asked if there would be any sequels, Natali responded "I don't think so. It could happen, but it would have required the movie to make a lot of money in the States, but even though the ending of the film appears to be setting up a sequel that was never my intention. All of my films end with a question, and somewhat ambiguously, and they always imply the beginning of another story, I like to leave the audience with something to ponder."
in Park City, Utah
. After a bidding war with Apparition
, The Weinstein Company
, Newmarket Films
, First Look Studios
, and Samuel Goldwyn Films
, Dark Castle Entertainment purchased the film in February 2010. The film received a wide release in the United States on June 4, 2010, with Warner Bros.
as distributor. The trailer was attached to The Losers
and A Nightmare on Elm Street
.
reports that 75% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 178 reviews, with an average score of 6.6/10. The critical consensus is: "It doesn't take its terrific premise quite as far as it should, but Splice is a smart, well-acted treat for horror fans."
Review aggregate Metacritic
awarded the film an average score of 65 out of 100 based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."
The Flick Cast said "Splice is funny, frightening, and shocking all at once. It's a disturbing commentary on where science is heading, and it is not easily shaken off once you leave the theatre."
Nevertheless, Richard Roeper
panned Splice, calling it one of the worst movies of 2010. He gave the film a D+ calling it "ridiculous" but giving it credit for trying to be different.
to a $7.4 million opening weekend in 2,450 theaters, averaging $3,014 per theater.
Golden Box Office Award, CAD
$40,000, for being the highest-grossing Canadian feature film in English in 2010.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Vincenzo Natali
Vincenzo Natali
Vincenzo Natali is an American-Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing science fiction films such as Cube, Nothing and Splice.-Early life:...
and starring Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist . Winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 at age 29, he is the youngest actor to do so...
and Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley is a Canadian actress, singer, film director, and screenwriter. Polley first attained notice in her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series, Road to Avonlea...
. The story concerns experiments in genetic engineering being done by a young scientist couple who attempt to introduce human DNA into their work of splicing
RNA splicing
In molecular biology and genetics, splicing is a modification of an RNA after transcription, in which introns are removed and exons are joined. This is needed for the typical eukaryotic messenger RNA before it can be used to produce a correct protein through translation...
animal genes.
Plot
Genetic engineers Clive Nicoli (Adrien BrodyAdrien Brody
Adrien Brody is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist . Winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 at age 29, he is the youngest actor to do so...
) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley is a Canadian actress, singer, film director, and screenwriter. Polley first attained notice in her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series, Road to Avonlea...
) hope to achieve fame by successfully splicing together the DNA of different animals to create new hybrid animals for medical use. They have just created the second in a pair of identical hybrids; the new male specimen, Fred, is intended as a mate for the original specimen, a female called Ginger.
After their success, Clive and Elsa want to use human DNA to create a hybrid that could revolutionize science and medicine, but are forbidden by the pharmaceutical company that funds their research, N.E.R.D. (Nucleic Exchange Research and Development), instead mandating that their department be re-organized to focus on finding and extracting certain proteins from the creatures they have already created. Secretly, Clive and Elsa conduct their own experiments, blending human DNA with that of other animals.
Although they initially decide not to bring the hybrid to full term, Elsa pushes the issue and persuades Clive to go along with it, in continued secrecy. The hybrid appears deformed and aggressive when it stings Elsa several times after "birth" with a retractable stinger in its tail. Clive and Elsa believe they have killed the hybrid only to find out that within the body was the true hybrid. After anesthetizing and examining the creature, they discover that she is aging at an accelerated rate. Clive is still adamant that the creature should be killed, but Elsa convinces him that it is too late, and points out that, since the hybrid is slowly dying anyway, they should take advantage of this unique opportunity to observe its complete life cycle.
Elsa eventually names the creature Dren (“nerd” backwards) because Elsa refuses to let Clive refer to her as a "specimen." Elsa immediately forms a motherly bond with Dren, as Dren grows and learns at an accelerated rate. As their lab becomes more and more crowded, and after Dren attacks Clive's brother (a fellow lab technician), they move Dren to Elsa's late mother's farm.
Due to Dren's demands on Clive and Elsa's time, they begin to neglect their work, failing to read the logs kept by the other lab technicians on the progress of their original animal hybrids, Fred and Ginger. At the highly publicized "unveiling" of the two specimens, instead of mating, as expected, Fred and Ginger violently kill each other, creating a public relations disaster for the NERD company. It is subsequently discovered that Ginger, the female hybrid, has spontaneously changed to a male, but Elsa and Clive had failed to notice because they have been so wrapped up in caring for Dren.
As Dren grows into adolescence, she becomes moody and petulant. She becomes bored being locked up in the barn, and wants to go outside, but Elsa and Clive refuse, as letting Dren outside could expose her to other people. Eventually, Dren lashes out, killing a pet cat out of spite and then assaulting Elsa. Elsa reacts by reverting back to the role of scientist. She ties Dren up, refuses to speak to her (referring to her only as "the specimen" again), and removing the stinger from her tail. She then uses the living tissue from the tail to finally isolate and synthesize the protein they had been searching for.
Soon after, Dren jumps naked on Clive, who initially refuses her sexual overtures. As Clive looks at Dren, however, he suddenly realizes that the human DNA used to make her was not from a "Jane Doe," as Elsa had told him, but from Elsa herself. Clive and Dren end up having sex, but are interrupted by Elsa. Clive follows Elsa back to their apartment and they have a heated argument, in which Clive confronts her about having used her own DNA to create Dren. He accuses Elsa of never wanting a normal child because she was afraid of losing control, which was why she had insisted on creating a creature in the context of a scientific experiment, where control could be assured. He says that the line between right and wrong has become blurred. The two finally decide to terminate the experiment, and presumably end Dren's life.
But when they return to the farm, they discover that Dren is dying. Some hours later, they bury her behind the barn. Minutes afterwards, their boss from the lab arrives with Clive's younger brother Gavin. Gavin is aware of Dren's existence and has confirmed Barlow's suspicions that some sort of human hybrid has been created (due to the human DNA he found present in the new protein Elsa synthesized). Just as Elsa is telling him that Dren is already dead, Dren attacks them, killing their boss and then Gavin. Clive and Elsa realize that, like Ginger, Dren has spontaneously changed sex, and is now male. Dren then attacks Clive, wounding him, then hunts down Elsa and rapes her. He is interrupted by Clive, who stabs Dren through the chest with a scythe. Dren attacks Clive again, but 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 (which has grown back), and Clive is killed. Elsa then slams the rock down on Dren's head, killing him.
In the final scene, Elsa is seen in an office with the head of the NERD pharmaceutical company. The latter tells Elsa that Dren has turned out to be quite valuable, as his body apparently contains countless chemical compounds and genes that have never been seen before. The company, she says, will be filling out patents for years. She refers to the "very generous" amount of money that Elsa has been offered in exchange for her silence over Dren, and for taking the experiment to the "next stage." Elsa appears to have already accepted the offer. She stands up and is revealed to be pregnant, saying "What's the worst that could happen?"
Cast
- Adrien BrodyAdrien BrodyAdrien Brody is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist . Winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 at age 29, he is the youngest actor to do so...
as Clive Nicoli - Sarah PolleySarah PolleySarah Polley is a Canadian actress, singer, film director, and screenwriter. Polley first attained notice in her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series, Road to Avonlea...
as Elsa Kast - Delphine ChanéacDelphine ChanéacDelphine Chanéac is a model, actress, and DJ. She was born in Rueil-Malmaison, France.Chanéac worked on the French screen, appearing in European films and TV in the late 90s and 2000s....
as Dren - Brandon McGibbon as Gavin Nicoli
- Simona Maicanescu as Joan Chorot
- David HewlettDavid HewlettDavid Ian Hewlett is an English-born Canadian actor best known for his role as Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay on the science fiction television shows Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis.-Early life:...
as William Barlow - Abigail Chu as Child Dren
Production
Splice was written by director Vincenzo Natali and screenwriters Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor. The script was originally meant to follow up Natali's CubeCube (film)
Cube is a 1997 Canadian science fiction psychological thriller/horror film directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film was a successful product of the Canadian Film Centre's First Feature Project....
(1997), but the budget and restricted technology hindered the project. In 2007, the project entered active development as a 75% Canadian and 25% French co-production, receiving a budget of $26 million. The director described the film: "Splice is very much about our genetic future and the way science is catching up with much of the fiction out there. [This] is a serious film and an emotional one. And there's sex... Very unconventional sex. The centerpiece of the movie is a creature which goes through a dramatic evolutionary process. The goal is to create something shocking but also very subtle and completely believable."
In October 2007, actors Brody and Polley were cast into the lead roles. Production began the following November in Toronto, Ontario. It was aided by Telefilm Canada
Telefilm Canada
Telefilm Canada or Téléfilm Canada is a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Canada.It is the primary federal cultural agency dedicated to the development and promotion of the Canadian audiovisual industry....
's funding of US$2.5 million. Filming took place in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
and concluded in February 2008.
In an interview, when asked if there would be any sequels, Natali responded "I don't think so. It could happen, but it would have required the movie to make a lot of money in the States, but even though the ending of the film appears to be setting up a sequel that was never my intention. All of my films end with a question, and somewhat ambiguously, and they always imply the beginning of another story, I like to leave the audience with something to ponder."
Release
The film premiered on October 6, 2009 at Sitges Film Festival, where it won "Best Special Effects" and was in the running for "Best Film", and was part of the 2010 Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
in Park City, Utah
Park City, Utah
Park City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
. After a bidding war with Apparition
Apparition (company)
Apparition is a Los Angeles-based film distribution company founded by Bob Berney and Bill Pohlad in 2009. It purchases, distributes and markets films of a more "art house" and "cutting-edge" flavor than do major studios...
, The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
, Newmarket Films
Newmarket Films
Newmarket Films is an American film production and distribution company which is a subsidiary of Newmarket Capital Group. It was founded in 1994.-Brief summary:...
, First Look Studios
First Look Studios
First Look Studios was an independent American film studio that specialized in home video releases of films and TV series. It purchased the Blockbuster subsidiary, DEJ Productions, in 2005...
, and Samuel Goldwyn Films
Samuel Goldwyn Films
Samuel Goldwyn Films is an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn...
, Dark Castle Entertainment purchased the film in February 2010. The film received a wide release in the United States on June 4, 2010, with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
as distributor. The trailer was attached to The Losers
The Losers (film)
The Losers is a 2010 American action based on the adaptation of the Vertigo comic book series of the same name by Andy Diggle. Directed by Sylvain White, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans....
and A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010 film)
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 2010 American slasher film directed by Samuel Bayer, and written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer. The film stars Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker and Kellan Lutz...
.
Home media
Splice was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 5, 2010 in the USA and on November 29, 2010 in the UK.Critical reception
The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregate Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 75% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 178 reviews, with an average score of 6.6/10. The critical consensus is: "It doesn't take its terrific premise quite as far as it should, but Splice is a smart, well-acted treat for horror fans."
Review aggregate Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
awarded the film an average score of 65 out of 100 based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."
The Flick Cast said "Splice is funny, frightening, and shocking all at once. It's a disturbing commentary on where science is heading, and it is not easily shaken off once you leave the theatre."
Nevertheless, Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
panned Splice, calling it one of the worst movies of 2010. He gave the film a D+ calling it "ridiculous" but giving it credit for trying to be different.
Box office
The film opened on June 4, 2010 in wide releaseWide release
Wide release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing nationally . Specifically, a movie is considered to be in wide release when it is on 600 screens or more in the United States and Canada.In the US, films holding an NC-17 rating almost never have a...
to a $7.4 million opening weekend in 2,450 theaters, averaging $3,014 per theater.
Accolades
Splice won the 2011 TelefilmTelefilm Canada
Telefilm Canada or Téléfilm Canada is a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Canada.It is the primary federal cultural agency dedicated to the development and promotion of the Canadian audiovisual industry....
Golden Box Office Award, CAD
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
$40,000, for being the highest-grossing Canadian feature film in English in 2010.