150 Word Review: 'Splice' (2009)
It's alive!
I like to think the horror thriller Splice happens in an alternate reality where Mary Shelley never wrote her book 'Frankenstein' in 1818, and that's why Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley's cocky geneticists create new life in the lab. The duo plays God, and we know not to do that in our timeline. Right?
Brody and Polley are believable tortured geniuses in director Vincenzo Natali's monster story. And the monster? Also believable, thanks to Delphine Chanéac's performance. She is pitiful and terrifying as a sexy winged scorpion-lizard who is constantly evolving. At one point, she turns into he. This mutant mixes prosthetics and CGI, but the real special effect is Chanéac's child-like innocence and graceful physical power.
This low-blood pressure nightmare spikes twice—a gory fight between two genetically engineered crimes against nature and a genuinely disturbing sex scene. Both moments are wonderfully ick, with the latter shattering multiple taboos simultaneously.