Computer Animation Arts

Summary: A Frankenstein-like tale of Oedipal and Electra complexes. Two genetic scientists secretly splice together the genes of a human and those of a number of animals in an attempt to uncover a protein they believe will be the key treating the world’s illnesses. Their experiment works but the quickly aging, locked up Dren becomes uncontrollable. Analysis: “The characters in Splice are named after actors in James Whale’s Bride Of Frankenstein; an indication of the approach writer/director Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Cypher) took to the subject of artificial life. Like Mary Shelley, Natali is concerned with scientific ethics — intensified in the 21st century by corporate sponsorship and demand for profitable products from expensive research — but equally troubled by the unique relationship Frankenstein and the monster may have. Signalled by a mid-film location shift from antiseptic corporate lab to run-down Gothic farm, sci-fi turns to horror as the personal failings of the creators and t...