Full disclosure: If you’ve read the “About” page of this blog, then you’ll know that I hold a degree in bioinformatics and I’m currently taking courses in bioscience technology. I’ve been studying genetics and molecular biology for five years running, so the scientific and ethical premises of this movie are naturally very intriguing to me.

I’m not going to authenticate or debunk the movie’s science in regards to inter-species splicing, since I don’t consider myself properly qualified to do so (yet). Plus, the scientific work here is so loosely defined that I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on either way. I do know that a one-celled organism with 100% synthetic DNA was recently built, but there’s a huge leap from replacing the nucleus of a pre-existing cell to building a whole humanoid entirely from scratch. The science of this movie also revolves heavily around an artificial uterus, which I’m certain does not exist (currently).

In short, the technology to make this movie nonfiction is still a ways off, if it’s coming at all. But if we’re going to start talking about the potential consequences, we’d better start talking about them now. Which brings me to Splice.

To start with, it’s a very well-crafted movie. The pacing is excellent, the score is wonderful and the tension is thick. This is a movie that manages to be threatening and scary, all with a near-absence of jump scares. I think it helps that this movie has two leads that we can grow attached to instead of six to ten leads that are picked off one by one. The screenplay is also rather clever in its use of set-ups and payoffs, though there are still multiple times when the characters act very stupidly. On the other hand, I suppose that 90% of all horror movies would be over rather quickly if the characters always took the smartest possible option.

Then we have the creature effects. Yes, the main creature is Dren (spell it backwards), but she goes through various phases of development as the movie progresses and they’re all superlatively crafted. We also have Dren’s forebears, Fred and Ginger, who effectively set the movie’s creepy/icky tone right off the bat. Kudos also to the sound designers, who must have worked long and hard to establish such an integral part of what makes the creatures work.

But let’s stick with Dren. Specifically, let’s talk about Delphine Chaneac, the French actress who plays Dren through most of her screentime. I have no doubt that Dren would not have worked half as well if she was played by a less capable actress or done entirely with CGI. And what a character she had to play! You think life is hard enough as it is? Try going from cradle to grave in the space of two or three months. Dren is equal parts alien and child, stuck in constant mutual misunderstanding with the world and people around her. At all times, she’s half sympathetic and half terrifying. It’s an exceptionally difficult character with layers upon layers of nuance and Chaneac fucking nails it without a single line of dialogue. There’s no chance in hell that she’s going to get an Oscar nod for it, but she totally deserves it.

Then we have Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as Clive and Elsa, Dren’s creators. To start with, it was a novel move to take the story’s “Dr. Frankenstein” role and divide it between a childless married couple. It takes the “father/son” dynamic of the original story and makes it a broader “family” dynamic, which is much more emotionally rich. Their chemistry falters at times, but they play off each other nicely for the most part. I also appreciate that as the movie went on, it became increasingly clear that these two were morally compromised from the start.

The movie has some bright spots (the dance sequence), but it also goes to some dark places (the fates of Fred and Ginger) and has moments that are surprising and uncomfortable (what Clive ultimately does about Dren’s fever). There’s one storyline in particular that made me want to stand up and scream “Are you fucking serious?!” But then I remembered this Robot Chicken sketch and realized that maybe it was indeed a bioethical issue that needs to be addressed.

The bottom line is that Splice is a very good movie, but man is it weird. It candidly addresses all manner of molecular bioethics, doing so with great acting and superb VFX, but this makes it all the more difficult to watch at times. It may disturb you and it may not be your cup of tea, but I’d still advise anyone reading this to check it out for yourself. In fact, I’d consider it required viewing for horror fanatics and anyone remotely interested in science.