Director Report Card: Vincenzo Natali (2009)

4. Splice

Five years between movies is not a ridiculously long amount of time. Yet, by the time “Splice” came out in 2009, it sure seemed like we hadn't seen a Vincenzo Natali movie in a while. This is probably because “Cypher” and “Nothing” were not widely released and didn't become cult phenomena on the level of “Cube.” Another reason it felt this way is because “Splice” was the first of Natali's films to get a truly wide release. (I saw it at my local shitty Regal.) It was distributed by Hollywood studios like Dark Castle and Warner Brothers. The film was executive produced by Guillermo del Toro, who it's easy to imagine what a big fan of Natali's work, and had a budget of 30 million dollars. In other words, it was easily the biggest movie of the filmmaker's career up to this point.

Elsa and Clive, two genetic engineers and a married couple, work to create life at N.E.R.D. (Nucleic Exchange Research and Development) Their latest creations are Fred and Ginger, male and female lifeforms made by splicing different genes together. Elsa hopes to splice human and animal DNA next but are forbidden from doing it by their bosses... But the two decide to do it anyway, under the radar and off the books. Their experiment unexpectedly comes to term, birthing a bizarre female creature. It survives longer than expect, growing at a fast rate, and eventually begins to display human-like behavior. Elsa names her Dren and begins to treat her like a daughter. Yet, as Dren grows and matures, her inhuman side shows more. And so does the flaws of her “parents.”

“Splice” is, knowingly, Vincenzo Natali doing his riff on the “Frankenstein” story. He nods towards this in several direct ways: Elsa and Clive are named after Elsa Lancester and Colin Clive. Shortly following Dren's birth, Elsa even shouts “she's alive.” The narrative veers towards the idea of man meddling in God's domain. However, the filmmaker attempts to update “the mad scientist creates monster” premise in his own clever way. Instead of stitching together dead bodies, Dren is made through near-future genetic engineering technology. At one point, the characters discuss the legality of cloning a human, before Elsa responds that their creation won't be human. This shows how “Splice” follows in “Frankenstein's” footsteps, expressing modern anxieties about advances like CRISPR the same way Mary Shelley was voicing fears about the science of her time. 

And like Mary Shelly's original novel, “Splice” is also about parenthood. The film is rift with pregnancy imagery. The artificial womb Dren is born from is subjected to ultrasounds, just like a regular pregnancy. Her arrival brings with it anticipation and anxiety, over the countless things that could go wrong. Elsa and Clive even openly discuss having a child before deciding to create life at their lab. The tank the semi-aquatic adult Dren frequently sleeps in invokes a womb-like feeling. Dren screeches in an ear-splitting fashion and keeps the parents up at all hours of the night, the same way a newborn does. The arrival of Dren also means an interruption of Elsa and Clive's sex life, as often happens with new parents. The movie bakes a number of deliberate parallels into its story.

Moreover, the movie is about how men and women approach child rearing. Clive is frightened by Dren at first. He frequently asks Elsa to kill the monsters they've made, bringing the idea of an uncertain father-to-be considering paying for an abortion to mind. Before Dren's unexpected birth, he even outright announces he's going to “kill it.” Elsa, meanwhile, is immediately attached to this small, vulnerable life form. It's not long before Elsa is dressing her little monster up in girly clothing and trying to teach it to read. Clive, meanwhile, remains resistant. When Dren has a panic attack following a move, Clive shoves the female creature under water... Ostensibly to activate the gills Dren has but also, it's suggested, to end the thing's life. While Elsa's maternal instincts kick in immediately, Clive is far more concerned about the consequences of what they've done. 

Of course, parenting skills don't appear in a vacuum. We learn how to raise children from our own parents. The legacy left to us by our own mothers visits itself on Elsa as “Splice” goes on. We learn more and more about her abusive childhood. How her mother forbid her from wearing make-up, how she made her sleep on a naked mattress on the floor. How she wouldn't let her have dolls. At first, Elsa is trying not to repeat the mistakes of the past on Dren, her symbolic child. As Dren grows older and tests the authority of her parents, like any teenager, Elsa quickly backslides towards her own abusive past. Clive says it himself: As long as Dren was something cute and small that Elsa could control, she loved her. The minute the monster becomes independent, Elsa exerts control in horribly abusive ways. This cycle of abuse is something many adult children struggle to escape and “Splice” puts a very interesting, personal riff on that idea.

Part of why teenagers start acting out against their parents, start demanding more freedom, is because they're starting to develop a sex drive. The way “Splice” handles that particular idea is probably the plot point people have the most trouble with. The only male Dren has ever been exposed to is Clive, her “father.” She draws crayon sketches of him, the same way a growing girl might express a childish crush... Yet Dren is also a half-human entity without the built-in societal taboos or conditioning people have. This is probably why Dren attempts to seduce Clive. What I think rubs a lot of the viewers the wrong way about this is how easily Clive gives in. Maybe it does come a bit out of nowhere but I sort of love the movie taking this wild swing, designing a strangely erotic monster and allowing the story to explore that. 

“Splice” does contribute an interesting addition to the cinematic legacy of monsters. Dren begins life as a squirming tadpole creature, before something that resembles a hairless rat with kangaroo legs jumps out. She grows more human-like but retains those springy-legs, with feet that resemble a second pair of hands. She has that unnervingly fleshy tail, outfitted with a deadly stinger. The way Dren evolves as a creature, sprouting wings in a nice moment, is one of “Splice's” best surprises. Delphine Chaneac, her face and eyes made more uncanny with clever CGI, makes Dren a real character to with personality quirks. The way she becomes excited at dancing is honestly cute. 

As interested as it is in science and parenthood, “Splice” is still a horror movie. Natali knows it too. The scare sequences are often filmed with shotgun intensity. Dren's birth, with Elsa's arm being caught in the artificial womb by something, is fittingly tense. The best shock in the movie concerns Fred and Ginger suddenly, violently turning against each other. The weird little critters, resembling both worms and organs, suddenly stabbing one another – splattering blood all over their cage – is pretty shocking. The shocks are piled on, with the scene growing even more outrageous from that point. 

That moment foreshadows “Splice's” last act, which is when the film most resembles a tradition “monster on the loose” narrative. Dren's revenge on their parents certainly contains some moments that shock or disgust. Yet “Splice,” which was so exciting and clever up to this point, also because pretty predictable after this twist. As a horror director, Natali does his best work when catching the audience off-guard. That's why Fred and Giner's blood-splattered demises earlier works so well. And why Dren's last act rampage feels like a foregone conclusion, like the film limply cycling towards its cynical denouncement.

That epilogue is especially important and ends “Splice” on a chilling note. Throughout the film, Elsa and Clive's corporate backers have demanded they abandon their research into human/animal splicing. Instead, they want them to get to work growing DNA strands that can be used in protein and food production. The idea of corporation's disregarding the people behind the things they own, and focused only on the profits they can make from them, continues the thread of anti-corporate themes we've seen in Natali's past films. It's also makes for a hell of an “Or is it?” ending, which also connects back to the kind of classic monster movies “Splice” pays homage too.

Really holding “Splice” together is a strong set of lead performances. Sarah Polly as Elsa and Adrien Brody as Clive were, apparently, the director's only choices for the roles. Both are really good. Even if the script bends her character in some unexpected directions, Polly maintains Elsa's humanity. She is ultimately a tragic person, trying to escape her destiny as another child abuser but hopelessly drawn back towards it anyway. Brody, meanwhile, somehow keeps Clive from coming off as an impulsive, insensitive asshole. Despite the obviously morally objectionable things he does, he still seems like someone the audience can like and root for. Like a guy caught up in something he really can't control. (And just in case you forgot this was a Vincenzo Natali movie, he finds a small supporting role for David Hewlett too.)

“Splice” would be the first Dark Castle production to actually be well received by critics. It would also, funny enough, be one of the few outright flops the company would make, grossing only 27 million at the box office. I guess this goes to show you that audiences and critics have very different expectations for monster movies. This is also apparent in the reactions to “Splice” I've seen, which tend to be wildly mixed. Yet the film has found more than a fair share of defenders. It's an extremely interesting riff on the monster movie premise, exploring deeper ideas among a number of decent shocks and surprise plot twists. [Grade: B+]