The realization of this character by French actress Delphine Chanéac, is another of the film's triumphs. Besides the tail and the pronounced facial cleft, test-tube baby Dren ('Nerd' backwards, heh) is essentially human, and a big part of 'Splice's' inherent creepiness is that she's treated in turn as a subject and a child-Warmly received, but caged and abandoned for significant stretches of time. 'Splice' isn't about a monster- It's about parenthood, and like with 'Rosemary's Baby' or 'Eraserhead,' taking the associated fears and filtering them through a horror lens. What's so interesting about the story, in spite of what the trailer suggests, is that the creature artificially spawned by genetic engineers Clive and Elsa (Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley) is not an antagonist for the vast majority of the film. That it remains intellectually stimulating, even when the surface-area film dips into more traditionally hokey horror territory, is its greatest strength. It's a thinking man's B picture, which plays with the idea of morality on both a scientific and personal level. So expecting the tasteless creature feature from the trailer, 'Splice' impressed me in its pursuit of a more complex emotional response than fear, and is successful in burrowing into your subconscious and picking at your psyche. 'Hard sci-fi parenting metaphor' is, after all, a much tougher pitch. From a marketing standpoint, its scare-tactics are clearly the easy sell, despite their comprising only a tiny percentage of its thematic intent. Every so often, I find myself pleasantly surprised by intentionally misadvertised entertainment, and writer/director Vincenzo Natali's genetic genre mash-up is the latest such example. 'Splice' is a step in the right direction for horror. By the way, y'ever notice how aliens & evolved humanoids always look just like Bjork? Just sayin. If you like scifi satires like 'Starship Troopers', 'District 9', or scifi morality plays about the creation of new lifeforms as in 'Solaris', 'Moon', 'Alien Resurrection', or the one that started them all, 'Frankenstein' (2004 miniseries, the best version), maybe with a bit of 'Species' eroticism & 'Rosemary's Baby' & 'The Omen' & 'Mommy Dearest' & 'Flowers in the Attic' thrown in, then this is for you. Most likely the filmmakers deliberately used elements of both. But like I said, I have no clue if this is masterpiece material or just plain cheese. Much like 'Starship Troopers' was a deep socio-political satire disguised as a campy action flick, I think SPLICE gives us a techno-moral satire disguised as a thriller. The more I think of it, I think this film is brilliant. It would make him go crying to his momma. You think Oedipus had problems? Hahaha Oedipus never saw SPLICE. Parts of this story seemed ridiculous & comic booky, but just when I'm about to write it off as childish tosh it introduces some incredibly complex themes like a Greek play. You'll see an end to vivisection overnight. Like seriously, my hippie brethren, put down your picket signs and just show this movie on street corners. The point being, I'm sure, to show just how morally wrong it is for scientists to engage in vivisection & the creation of life. The whole experience is like a voyeuristic romp, testing the limits of how screwed-up the writers' (and your own) imagination can get. Normally I would say predictability is a flaw, but in this case it's thrilling. I found myself, in the depths of my twisted mind, thinking 'woah, wouldn't it be crazy if (such and such) happens.' and sure enough it does, only to be followed by 'oh but they wouldn't dare let (such and such) happen.' and sure enough it does again. Just to throw some words out there: incest, bestiality, rape, science, incest. Like if you thought 'Species' was perverse, it looks like 'The Flying Nun' compared to this. What makes this story so memorable is that the writers aren't afraid to take it wherever it needs to go. As you can guess from the movie posters, the story is about an artificially-engineered humanoid who's pretty hot. I'm not sure if you'll love or hate this flick, but if you will definitely NOT forget it. Seriously, what did I just watch? I can't decide if this movie is brilliant, cheezy, profound, juvenile, disgusting or the biggest turn-on since 'I Spit On Your Grave'.

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