It draws upon, yet also subtly undermines, both extremes of opinion regarding these issues. Most obviously, Splice addresses our hopes and anxieties concerning the prospects of genetic engineering and transhumanism. In fact, Splice never departs from being a genre film but the way it twists genre conventions is powerful and original. I find this split to be symptomatic of a certain confusion on the part of viewers and critics who remain anxious about whether genre pieces can truly be embraced as works of art. Interestingly, reviewers’ complaints mostly have to do with the movie’s ending but where some critics dismiss the ending as a lapse into the most predictable and hoary genre cliches, others deplore it as being beyond the pale, absolutely reprehensible and unbearable. (For a representative sample of fan-based negative reactions, see the comments t o Annalee Newitz’s largely favorable review).
++1.jpg "splice 2009 barn scene")
It’s also gotten fairly mixed reviews, at best.
#SPLICE 2009 BARN SCENE MOVIE#
The movie seems not to have performed as well at the box office during its first weekend as the studio had hoped (it earned $7.4M, well below pre-weekend projections of $12M - figures from ). As often happens, Splice seems to be one of those cases in which my own enthusiasm is not generally shared either by the critics or the fanboys. Although narratively straightforward, thematically and emotionally it is very rich, and I am not sure how much of it I was able to grasp in just one viewing. Kim has a great discussion of the film, to which my own discussion here is greatly indebted. I can’t stop thinking about Vincenzo Natali’s new SF/horror film Splice.
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