A horrifying monster movie had no chance against "Toy Story 3." Here's why "Splice" was never going to be the next big horror franchise.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00A horrifying monster movie had no chance against Toy Story 3, especially not this monster movie.
00:07Here's why Splice was never going to be the next big horror franchise.
00:12Director Vincenzo Natale has shown a knack for being tuned into the zeitgeist when it
00:16comes to horror and sci-fi.
00:18His 1997 feature film debut, Cube, preceded the Saw franchise by pitting strangers against
00:23sadistic traps meant to test their wits and will to live.
00:27His second film, 2002's Cipher, features the same paranoid atmosphere and cyberpunk
00:32noir aesthetics as The Matrix, and other sci-fi thrillers from the same time.
00:37Even when he shifted to working in TV, Natale found himself directing trailblazing genre
00:41series like Hannibal and Westworld.
00:43However, Natale's 2010 film Splice didn't fare quite so well.
00:48The movie was picked up by The Matrix producer Joel Silver and Warner Bros. at the Sundance
00:52Film Festival in 2010.
00:55The pair had high hopes for Natale's mid-budget sci-fi horror movie, with reports at the time
00:59claiming they thought they'd found the next paranormal activity.
01:03But in spite of its positive reviews and heavy marketing push, Splice failed to make much
01:07of an impression on the movie-going masses.
01:09Adrian Brody and Sarah Pauly star in Splice as a pair of geneticists who decide to throw
01:14caution to the wind and splice together different types of animal DNA to create a human-animal
01:19hybrid.
01:21Their creation, Dren, is a rapidly-developing human-like creature that has gills, retractable
01:26wings, a large tail with a stinger, and other traits that make it very dangerous.
01:31Things take a turn for the twisted, as the movie blends disturbing acts of sex and violence
01:36while exploring the deeper themes of creator-creation relationships and humankind's arrogance.
01:41"'Human cloning' is illegal.
01:43This won't be human."
01:44Unsurprisingly, Guillermo del Toro was attracted to this Frankenstein-style tale early on,
01:49and served as an executive producer.
01:51In fact, the relevancy of Splice wasn't lost on anyone, with Roger Ebert writing in his
01:56review,
01:57"'Well-timed' to open soon after genome pioneer Craig Venter's announcement of a self-replicating
02:02cell, here's a halfway-serious science-fiction movie about two researchers who slip some
02:07human DNA into a cloning experiment."
02:09Comparisons to David Cronenberg's body-horror work were also unavoidable, as were those
02:14likening the film to a more self-serious riff on Roger Donaldson's 1995 sci-fi thriller
02:19Species.
02:20However, the dour tone and nasty plot twists in Splice made it divisive among critics,
02:26with some slamming the film as being little more than a lewd B-movie hiding beneath a
02:30slick surface.
02:32Audiences weren't exactly wowed by Splice, giving it a D CinemaScore when it opened in
02:36theaters on June 4, 2010.
02:39The film went on to gross $28.5 million at the box office against a $30 million budget.
02:44Joel Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment label perhaps took the biggest hit after it committed
02:49upwards of $35 million to purchase and promote the movie following its run on the festival
02:53circuit.
02:54It seems that Splice simply couldn't live up to its expectations.
02:58Where Paranormal Activity has an accessible premise and ample jump scares lending itself
03:03to box office success, Natalie's tale of parentage and playing god is far too twisted and grisly
03:08to appeal to mainstream tastes.
03:10The movie was never intended to launch a franchise, either.
03:14As Natalie explained around the time of its release, the film's ominous, open-ended final
03:18scene was meant to encourage people to think deeper about the themes at the heart of Splice,
03:22not launch a franchise.
03:24It's also worth noting that Warner Bros.' decision to release Splice in the middle of
03:28the 2010 summer movie season likely impacted its success.
03:32Unfortunately, Splice was forced to go head-to-head with the biggest blockbusters of the year,
03:37and was quickly pushed aside to make room for crowd-pleasers like Toy Story 3 and Despicable
03:41Me.
03:42As for Natalie, Splice bombing wasn't necessarily bad for the director's career.
03:47Near the time of the film's release, Natalie was linked to some major studio projects.
03:52He ended up moving on with Netflix's successful adaptation of Stephen King and Joe Hill's
03:56In the Tall Grass, as well as Lock and Key.
03:59Essentially, the streaming revolution has afforded Natalie more freedom to continue
04:03telling the creepy and unsettling stories he's always been most drawn to, which can
04:08only be a good thing.