Splice
“Splice” isn’t the sort of horror movie where things jump out at you, accompanied by deafening sound effects. It doesn’t pit good against evil or, in the case of many slasher pics, evil against banal. The monster isn’t the bad guy, or girl in her case, and the movie plumbs her complex relationship with her antiheroic creators, as in “Frankenstein.” “Splice” is provocative and unsettling, with sexual taboo-breaking that provokes discomfort more than visceral terror. No wonder it seems to have gained more traction with critics than with the moviegoers who favor the “Saw” series. Its seriousness is evident from the casting of Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as geneticists who create a new species in a bid for pharmaceutical riches. They deliver nuanced performances, even when their characters show laughably bad judgment, recklessly adding human DNA to their stew and hatching a fast-growing girl they call Dren. She’s smart, physically imposing and increasingly easy on the eye, and her development is fraught with moral dilemmas and Freudian psychodrama. “Splice” is never dull, but it’s not always surehanded. Director and co-writer Vincenzo Natali has a few independent genre films under his belt, and he clearly knows how to stay under budget: He uses a mere handful of sets and locations, and only five actors get speaking parts. The movie needs a more expansive third act, but that’s not possible under those limitations, and Natali’s filmmaking disappoints in the crucial final reel. Even so, “Splice” is one of the year’s most interesting and rewarding major-studio releases.