Film Review

Shapeshifters
Splice
Director: Vincenzo Natali

Figure 01. Poster: Splice

Release: 2009 Director: Vincenzo Natali Screenplay by: Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant, Doug Taylor Produced by: Steve Hoban Genre/subgenre: Science Fiction, Horror, Body Horror Country: Canada, France, USA Cast: Adrien Brodey (as Clive Nicoli), Sarah Polley (as Elsa Kast), Delphine Chanac (as Dren), Abigail Chu (as Child Dren)

The basic storyline of this film is about two scientists that genetically splice animals to generate a protein for human medicine, but they decide it wasnt good enough so try a hybrid using human DNA as well as all the previous animals. The subjects development accelerates at a speedy pace and before they know it the experiment named DREN has grown to puberty. This is when it all goes horribly wrong. Figure 02 shows the newly born stage of Dren. Here it is more visible of the animals in the mix, the face is quite rabbit looking. It doesnt take long however for this figure to develop arms, hands and more recognisable human anatomy. There are a vast number of metaphors to this film. One being the commonly known God Complex, where the creators, mainly the female scientist, refuses to admit the possibility of error, that this experiment was not wrong and cant be wrong, so by not respecting the boundaries they try to play god and create something new.

Figure 02. Newly born Dren.

Figure 03 is a screenshot of Dren and her father figure Clive about to kiss. This then leads further, crossing another of societys boundaries. However, this leaves a big space for some Freudian analysis. One point that quite obviously stands out here is Sigmund Freuds theory called the Oedipus Complex. This is where initially, there was love for the mother and jealous, hostile impulses toward the father but at a certain part of a childs development this scenario switches around and the love for the father becomes intense and the hostile feelings are for the mother (Freud, 2005:405). This is shown in the film where at the early stages of life she is clingy to her mother figure, the female scientist named Elsa, this continues until the point where even more psychological theories enter and punishment and aggression is used toward Dren, and she becomes hostile toward the mother figure and has love for her father figure, the male scientist names Clive. However, in this film it seems like his intelligence has disappeared while his character starts to make one bad judgment after another (Wong, 2010), meaning they actually have the intercourse, taking the psychology and the morals to an socially lower low.

Figure 03. Clive and Dren about to kiss

The transformation of humans into anything else is common place in stories and fairytales, but the used of human DNA into experiments is quite a recent field of story generation as the discovery of DNA was in 1953 which has given film makers just over 50 years to develop ideas to get into the creepy nerves of their audience. This film has also been referred to as using the religious Adam and Eve story, Elsa is the Eve who tempts lover-boy Clive to take a bite out of her apple (Travers, 2010) this again plays on morals, if its something they shouldnt do it seems all the more tempting.

Figure 04. Demonic Male Dren

This film could be described as a Freudian Sci-Fi. It has all the science advancement bits, the gore, but it also takes a dive into the psycho-analytical and moral depths of the human mind.

Film Goofs: from IMDb

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Real scientists, especially geneticists, would never use the word "evolve" to describe the development of an individual organism, as happens repeatedly in this film. Species evolve; individuals do not. Continuity: When Elsa finds Clive and Dren in the barn, she stands in the wide-open door. In the next shot, from outside, Elsa throws the barn door open and runs out. Revealing mistakes: When Dren hangs upside down from the rafter in the barn, her dress doesn't fall down around her shoulders. Revealing mistakes: In two separate scenes, an outdoor shot of the apartment building shows a gray snowy day, while the interior shot shows sun shining through the windows. Continuity: When Ginger and Fred meet in the case at the shareholders' meeting, they began to hiss and protract their claws and fangs. From behind, Ginger's fang is already out, and Fred begins to push his out. In the next shot, Ginger pushes her fang out for the first time. Revealing mistakes: Interior shots of the barn show the outer walls made of vertical boards with wide gaps letting light through. Exterior shots of the barn show it's outer walls made of horizontal boards. Continuity: In the first scene when Clive and Elsa take Dren to the barn, it is night, but when they go inside, there is sun streaming through the skylights.

List of Illustrations:
Figure. 01. Poster: Splice. (2009) From: Splice. Directed by: Vincenzo Natali [Film Still] Canada, France, USA: Gaumont, Copperheart Entertainment, Dark Castle Entertainment, Senator Entertainment Co. http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/movies/SpliceMovie-SpliceTrailer-SarahPolley.php (Accessed on: 13/10/2011) Figure 02. Newly born Dren. (2009) From: Splice. Directed by: Vincenzo Natali [Film Still] Canada, France, USA: Gaumont, Copperheart Entertainment, Dark Castle Entertainment, Senator Entertainment Co. http://static.indiemoviesonline.com/files/images/splice-top.jpg (Accessed on: 13/10/2011) Figure 03. Clive and Dren about to kiss. (2009) From: Splice. Directed by: Vincenzo Natali [Film Still] Canada, France, USA: Gaumont, Copperheart Entertainment, Dark Castle Entertainment, Senator Entertainment Co. http://img.thesun.co.uk/maultimedia/archive/01077/Splice_1077296a.jpg (Accessed on: 13/10/2011) Figure 04. Demonic Male Dren. (2009) From: Splice. Directed by: Vincenzo Natali [Film Still] Canada, France, USA: Gaumont, Copperheart Entertainment, Dark Castle Entertainment, Senator Entertainment Co. http://i50.tinypic.com/4khau0.jpg (Accessed on: 13/10/2011)

Bibliography:
Freud, Sigmund. (2005) The Essentials of PSYCHO-ANALYSIS. London:Vintage Travers, Peter (2010) Splice. In: Rollingstone.com 03.06.2010 [Online] http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/ splice-20100603 (Accessed on: 20.10.2011) Wong, Ray (2010) Splice. In: Reelreviews 06.06.2010 [Online] http://reelreviews.blogspot.com/2010/06/splice.html (Accessed on: 20.10.2011)