Recommended For: Sci-fi fans, especially those of the particular subject matter at hand (biological engineering)

Splice is a movie impossible to recommend well without spoiling it.  Simply stating the fact that there are important spoilers is a spoiler in itself.  I didn’t read any reviews before seeing the film, and was consistently surprised with how far Splice took its premise.

Two genetic engineers create something half-human, half-animal.  Nothing new there.  Most of the story could have been inspired by Weekly World News articles.  But that’s exactly what sets Splice apart – not once does the film seem cheesy or needlessly contrived.

Splice is not the sort of horror film that relies on Scary Noises Coming Suddenly or simple scenes of grossness.  It’s truly, genuinely horrifying.  And it’s horror with a purpose – throughout the movie and especially at the end, we are find ourselves in disgust over what the two scientists dared to do.

Like any good film, it has 2 great scenes and no bad ones.

Vincenzo Natali (Cube) has never been much of a commercial success.  He makes very good films that a small audience loves and no one else really cares for.  He’s a cult director, but without the camp.