"What's the worst that can happen?": Splice

A sci-fi/horror riff on the dangers of science - and, more specifically, the ethical minefield associated with genetic engineering and particularly human DNA - Splice has some shocks up its sleeve, delivered in a lowish budget but consistently unnerving frame. People who saw it at MIFF last year talked it up, and the presence of Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley was also promising, and it pretty much comes through - the premise is intriguing, if not fully developed, and it goes to some uncomfortable places while forcing the viewer to retain at least some sympathy for its three central protagonists (not least the alien, uncanny Dren).