Exclusives
Vincenzo Natali on Potential ‘Splice’ Sequels
During our exclusive chat with Vincenzo Natali about Splice, his sci-fi thriller debuting at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend, he revealed that there is a chance we might one day see a sequel. In the film Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) are young, brilliant and ambitious. The new animal species they engineered have made them rebel superstars of the scientific world. In secret, they introduce human DNA into the experiment. The result is something that is greater than the sum of its parts: a female animal-human hybrid that may be a step up on the evolutionary ladder. They think they may have created the perfect organism, until she makes a final shocking metamorphosis that could destroy them … and the rest of humanity.
“You know it’s funny, because without giving anything away, the film ends as though we’re trying to set up a sequel,” Natali told BD in an exclusive interview adding that it wasn’t his intention. “And I want to make it very clear that that was not my intention whatsoever. It just happens that I believed it was the best way to end the story. Like all my films actually are somewhat open-ended, so I think they invite that question. I really just want this movie to be released. (Laughs)”
He continues, “Here’s what I will say: after CUBE, which did have two sequels, of which I had no involvement whatsoever, I would not allow a second film to be made without my involvement. Simply because I want to protect that merchandise, as it were. I just felt that with CUBE, for better or worse, I wasn’t a part of that, and I wouldn’t have made some of the decisions that I think were made with the sequels. I would have done them a little differently. That’s not to say that they weren’t worthy sequels, but it’s just not the way I would have gone personally. So I think the same would be true with SPLICE, if that were in fact to happen.”
A gnarly infection threatens to claw its way out of a moving camper in the first trailer for Shudder’s claustrophobic Hellcat.
The feature debut of writer/editor/director Brock Bodell, who previously edited the Fantasia title Ultrasound, makes its debut on Shudder on August 14.
In Hellcat, “Lena wakes up in a moving camper trailer with a horrifying wound. She’s warned by the driver that they have one hour to get to a doctor, or she’ll succumb to an unimaginably awful fate. As the pain sets in and reality begins to fray, who should really be afraid?”
Dakota Gorman (Natural Disasters) leads the cast that also includes Todd Terry (“Breaking Bad”), Liz Atwater (The Other People), Jordan Mullins (The Bikeriders), and James Austin Johnson (“Saturday Night Live”) in a voice role. Bodell also produces alongside Andrew Duensing and Nate Eggert.
Hellcat made its world premiere last summer at Fantasia. I wrote in my review, “Hellcat is a bit of a Trojan horror that defies easy classification, by design. Bodell’s sneaky debut feature is occasionally too sparse in its worldbuilding in its bid to preserve the mystery, but not enough to detract from the thrilling road thriller that transforms into a completely left-field type of horror we don’t get nearly enough of. The stripped-down tribute to a classic horror staple catches you off guard in more ways than one, marking Bodell as one to watch.”
In other words, there’s a lot more than meets the eye to Hellcat‘s simple infection setup, delivering plenty of surprises along its bumpy road of horrors.
Check out the trailer and poster below and add Hellcat to your watchlists asap.
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