Spliced

Rating:
Summary: Better than average low budet horror
Review: "Spliced" looks, feels, and smells like yet another self-referential low budget horror film chasing the heels of the immensely popular "Scream" trilogy. There is nothing inherently wrong about this sort of imitation; many good movies routinely rehash successful projects. Occasionally, one of these rip-offs works to great effect. In the case of this movie, some things work while others fail. Filmed in Canada on a budget smaller than my monthly car payment, "Spliced" boasts one big name (Ron Silver), a boy band star (Drew Lachey), and little in the way of gore or effective scares. C'est la vie, I guess, since "Spliced" went directly to jail (read: the video store) without passing go. What I couldn't figure out as I watched the movie was why the producers and director decided to rip-off Craven's "Scream" so many years after that film came out. I thought the market for these sorts of pictures faded years ago.

"Spliced" introduces us to Mary (Liane Balaban), a willowy young cutie with a lot of psychological problems. She loves horror films so much that she watches them whenever she can get her hands on them. Unfortunately, Mary gets a charge out of viewing increasingly extreme movies, but there's a catch. Every time she watches a new horror film, Mary sleepwalks that very night. Her parents are completely fed up with her antics to the point that her father tells his daughter that she must give up her horror film hobby. Who can blame the guy? He doesn't want to see his offspring plowed under a car in the middle of the night or hurt in any equally grotesque way. Mary has other ideas. When she hears about an extreme film called "The Wisher" opening up at the local theater, she feels she must attend. Ignoring her parents' warnings, our young heroine sneaks out with friends and goes to the screening. Bad mistake. At some point in the film, Mary becomes affected with violent nausea and must flee from the theater. She finds out later that her father died in a car crash on the way to the theater to stop her from watching the movie. Overcome with a deep sense of guilt about the whole affair, Mary sinks further into a self-loathing so overpowering that neither her friends nor the school shrink Campbell (Ron Silver) can assuage it.

More problems ensue when Mary learns anything she wishes for becomes reality, just like in the movie "The Wisher." When Mary makes an offhand comment about not wanting to go to school one day, the building burns down. Even worse, she tells one friend to "just shut up," which translates into said friend having her tongue removed in a particularly vicious manner several minutes later. Mary's horror over these incidents is extreme, especially since she has little idea why any of these events are occurring. She starts to worry that a guy she likes named Brad (Drew Lachey) might have something to do with the sinister wish fulfillment. At the same time, Mary learns a lot of secrets about the movie "The Wisher," information that further heightens her state of alarm. Apparently, "The Wisher" grossed so much money and became so popular with audiences because the makers of the picture inserted subliminal messages into certain scenes. Mary learns about all of this through research on the Internet, through a projectionist friend she knows, and from a geeky guy who has a thing for her. Predictably, it turns out the primary villain from "The Wisher" has materialized in town, and is the one fulfilling Mary's wishes. Obviously, "Spliced" wouldn't be complete without the requisite final showdown between the young heroine and the masked villain from the film. It's a twist and turn extravaganza that's sure not to surprise you too much.

Most of the elements of "Spliced" work well for a low budget film. The acting is acceptable, the script is clichéd but bearable, and the pacing is average. Liane Balaban charms as the lovably wacky Mary, a girl caught up in events way beyond her control. Her histrionics are often hilarious to watch. Ron Silver, conversely, looks like he is slumming through his role as Campbell, the school shrink. I'm sure his role didn't take much preparation, but he could have at least looked the part instead of gliding around in grungy clothes. As for Drew Lachey, well, don't go there. I guess he does a creditable job in the "clueless guy who might be the murderer but is looking for love" role, but he doesn't go beyond the character to make him memorable. I think the film would have worked better if the makers punched up the violence and gore scenes. The kills aren't too bad in "Spliced," but they could have been better. A low budget picture that rips off another film should do something to stand out. As it is, "Spliced" is a moderately entertaining film that won't make anyone's list of the best low budget horror films of the past few years.

The DVD contains several extras, including a commentary track, several truncated filmographies, and trailers for films like "Crazy Little Thing," "Winter Break," and "Killing Emmett Young." Perhaps the best way to describe "Spliced" should focus on its idea of subliminal messages in a horror film. Does this make "Spliced" a message film? Yeah, considering Campbell's comments to Mary at the end of the film explaining how themes and violence in horror movies can cause certain individuals to indulge in brutal acts. It's surprising to hear this in a movie since Hollywood spends millions of dollars a year trying to tell us that movies and television are relatively harmless pursuits. You might want to watch "Spliced" if you can rent it for a small sum.

Rating:
Summary: Better than average low budet horror
Review: "Spliced" looks, feels, and smells like yet another self-referential low budget horror film chasing the heels of the immensely popular "Scream" trilogy. There is nothing inherently wrong about this sort of imitation; many good movies routinely rehash successful projects. Occasionally, one of these rip-offs works to great effect. In the case of this movie, some things work while others fail. Filmed in Canada on a budget smaller than my monthly car payment, "Spliced" boasts one big name (Ron Silver), a boy band star (Drew Lachey), and little in the way of gore or effective scares. C'est la vie, I guess, since "Spliced" went directly to jail (read: the video store) without passing go. What I couldn't figure out as I watched the movie was why the producers and director decided to rip-off Craven's "Scream" so many years after that film came out. I thought the market for these sorts of pictures faded years ago.

"Spliced" introduces us to Mary (Liane Balaban), a willowy young cutie with a lot of psychological problems. She loves horror films so much that she watches them whenever she can get her hands on them. Unfortunately, Mary gets a charge out of viewing increasingly extreme movies, but there's a catch. Every time she watches a new horror film, Mary sleepwalks that very night. Her parents are completely fed up with her antics to the point that her father tells his daughter that she must give up her horror film hobby. Who can blame the guy? He doesn't want to see his offspring plowed under a car in the middle of the night or hurt in any equally grotesque way. Mary has other ideas. When she hears about an extreme film called "The Wisher" opening up at the local theater, she feels she must attend. Ignoring her parents' warnings, our young heroine sneaks out with friends and goes to the screening. Bad mistake. At some point in the film, Mary becomes affected with violent nausea and must flee from the theater. She finds out later that her father died in a car crash on the way to the theater to stop her from watching the movie. Overcome with a deep sense of guilt about the whole affair, Mary sinks further into a self-loathing so overpowering that neither her friends nor the school shrink Campbell (Ron Silver) can assuage it.

More problems ensue when Mary learns anything she wishes for becomes reality, just like in the movie "The Wisher." When Mary makes an offhand comment about not wanting to go to school one day, the building burns down. Even worse, she tells one friend to "just shut up," which translates into said friend having her tongue removed in a particularly vicious manner several minutes later. Mary's horror over these incidents is extreme, especially since she has little idea why any of these events are occurring. She starts to worry that a guy she likes named Brad (Drew Lachey) might have something to do with the sinister wish fulfillment. At the same time, Mary learns a lot of secrets about the movie "The Wisher," information that further heightens her state of alarm. Apparently, "The Wisher" grossed so much money and became so popular with audiences because the makers of the picture inserted subliminal messages into certain scenes. Mary learns about all of this through research on the Internet, through a projectionist friend she knows, and from a geeky guy who has a thing for her. Predictably, it turns out the primary villain from "The Wisher" has materialized in town, and is the one fulfilling Mary's wishes. Obviously, "Spliced" wouldn't be complete without the requisite final showdown between the young heroine and the masked villain from the film. It's a twist and turn extravaganza that's sure not to surprise you too much.

Most of the elements of "Spliced" work well for a low budget film. The acting is acceptable, the script is clichéd but bearable, and the pacing is average. Liane Balaban charms as the lovably wacky Mary, a girl caught up in events way beyond her control. Her histrionics are often hilarious to watch. Ron Silver, conversely, looks like he is slumming through his role as Campbell, the school shrink. I'm sure his role didn't take much preparation, but he could have at least looked the part instead of gliding around in grungy clothes. As for Drew Lachey, well, don't go there. I guess he does a creditable job in the "clueless guy who might be the murderer but is looking for love" role, but he doesn't go beyond the character to make him memorable. I think the film would have worked better if the makers punched up the violence and gore scenes. The kills aren't too bad in "Spliced," but they could have been better. A low budget picture that rips off another film should do something to stand out. As it is, "Spliced" is a moderately entertaining film that won't make anyone's list of the best low budget horror films of the past few years.

The DVD contains several extras, including a commentary track, several truncated filmographies, and trailers for films like "Crazy Little Thing," "Winter Break," and "Killing Emmett Young." Perhaps the best way to describe "Spliced" should focus on its idea of subliminal messages in a horror film. Does this make "Spliced" a message film? Yeah, considering Campbell's comments to Mary at the end of the film explaining how themes and violence in horror movies can cause certain individuals to indulge in brutal acts. It's surprising to hear this in a movie since Hollywood spends millions of dollars a year trying to tell us that movies and television are relatively harmless pursuits. You might want to watch "Spliced" if you can rent it for a small sum.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Good
Review: I'm a huge horror movie fan and I always rent those straight to video horror flicks that I usually end up hating. However, I have finally come upon one that actually works. It's not very scary, but I think the stroyline is well thought out with a surprising twist at the end that I did not see coming. A high school girl sees a horror movie, and she starts saying "I wish so and so would"...then they actually happen. The girl believes it has something to do with the movie, as she keeps seeing someone dressed like the killer in the movie. The acting is pretty decent for a horror flick, and the ladies will get a nice bonus with the stunt casting of Drew Lachey of 98 Degrees fame, who isnt half bad. The actress is the lead is very believable makes for the perfect heroine. While nowhere near the creativity of Scream, Spliced is a perfect late night horror flick that will satisfy.

Rating:
Summary: Not great..but not THAT bad either!
Review: If you have read my other reviews, you would know that i'm usually pretty harsh on these new horror films because most of them are boring, not scary, and just put out there to fill up video shelves with their great front cover artwork , and that's why i hesitated on buying this film because i expected the worst and surprizingly this wasn't all that bad.

Sure the story is a bit dull, but the actors in this film made it better by actually looking like they enjoyed being in this movie.. i guess maybe they wanted to impress other casting directors for future work! (except for The guy from 98 degrees, you know Jessica Simpson's brother in law - forgot his name..he really needs more acting lessons!)

As for the horror content, though it wasn't very scary, it tried it's best (for example, the killer's face just popping out of nowhere a few times) but they really should have picked a better killer, the broken glass on each finger that look like claws made it too "Freddy Kruger" style.

Summary of the movie in three parts...Beginning was promising..Middle was boring but slowly picked up...Ending was so/so and judging by the ending, there probably will be a sequel unless the film studio didn't generate enough money on this movie (the only reason why sequels are made!)

In conclusion, the main actress who plays "Mary" in the movie was great and she should have a future in this biz, it's just too bad that it won't be with this movie. Strange thing in the end credits, her character and real name were not listed when everyone else in the movie was, what's up with that?

So, rent or buy the movie, it's not a total waste of time and at 86 minutes, your not missing out on things you gotta do around the house which you probably can do later..SO SIT BACK, GRAB A SNACK AND DRINK, AND ENJOY THE MOVIE..IT WON'T KILL YOU!

Rating:
Summary: From the minds of the people responsible.
Review: OK let's take a couple of horror flicks, steal some ideas, then get a bunch of unknowns to act in it.

Hmmm.... it needs something, oh yes we need a singer from a boy band, how about 98 degrees?

Now we need a monster let's take Freddy Kruger's glove but make them clear plastic claws instead. Now we give it a whole 'Ring' feel. Oh and wait, wait... we need a twist ending like in Scream. Boy this is great.

OK we need a beautiful girl to star in it. Let's get that gorgeous, voluptious blonde who came in for an audition the other day.... She's not available? Who do we got? You're kidding that flat chested brunette who looks like Olive Oil on a bad hair day? Ok but don't pay her as much.

Lights, Camera....Action!

Rating:
Summary: Ok but uses many themes already done before
Review: Overall this film had some scary moments but got much more corny as the film went on. It seemed like the first half of the film was very well done and thought out and the last half just went to the garbage can. It was so cliched in the end and the character costume was so lame for the "wisher" who plays the villan, that it looked like some Halloween goof costume. The white face and the potato sack clothes with the glass in the fingers was just real lame for a villan. A cool villan makes up for a sub-scary movie because the visuals can create a scary atmosphere. Here the movie has its creepy moments but the costume for the wisher is just hilarious. I couldnt take the film seriously then. Plus, as the film went on it started to make much less sense.

Basically the movie is about some kids who go out and see a film. The main character sleep walks and loves to be scared. She has nightmares everynight and sees the school shrink alot. Her father is not very understanding and almost seems like a step-father like attitude. She soon gets what she wants and watches a scary movie that has subliminal messages in the film. Weird things start to happen as she starts to wish for things and they start happening but her wishes are twisted around and bad things start to happen. For example, she wishes her father would go away and he ends up in a car accident that kills him. She wishes for some girl to shut up and the wisher grants her wish and slashes her throat out. As she digs deeper she and her friend start to figure it out.

The idea comes alot from our famous Nightmare on Elm Street the character has glass blades at the ends of the fingers resembling our famous character Freddy Kruger. It calls some themes from the wishmaster as well. The movie also takes some elements from Scream and I know What you Did Last Summer. Where it actually turns out to be one of the kids in the school as the wisher for Scream behind the killings.

The movie in the end just really doesnt make much sense having one of her classmates that is obssessed with the film being the wisher because the movie makes it unclear if the kids went and saw the movie before the villan does since some of the events actually happened before the movie came out such as her father going to pick up her daughter during the movie to prevent her from seeing the film which means it doesnt give the kid to already know about the wisher. It would have been much better if they would have created the film as a fantasy horror where the wisher appears due to the film like the movie "Ring" sort of does and not make it a realistic horror because then it becomes truly not beleivable.

Rating:
Summary: Ok but uses many themes already done before
Review: Overall this film had some scary moments but got much more corny as the film went on. It seemed like the first half of the film was very well done and thought out and the last half just went to the garbage can. It was so cliched in the end and the character costume was so lame for the "wisher" who plays the villan, that it looked like some Halloween goof costume. The white face and the potato sack clothes with the glass in the fingers was just real lame for a villan. A cool villan makes up for a sub-scary movie because the visuals can create a scary atmosphere. Here the movie has its creepy moments but the costume for the wisher is just hilarious. I couldnt take the film seriously then. Plus, as the film went on it started to make much less sense.

Basically the movie is about some kids who go out and see a film. The main character sleep walks and loves to be scared. She has nightmares everynight and sees the school shrink alot. Her father is not very understanding and almost seems like a step-father like attitude. She soon gets what she wants and watches a scary movie that has subliminal messages in the film. Weird things start to happen as she starts to wish for things and they start happening but her wishes are twisted around and bad things start to happen. For example, she wishes her father would go away and he ends up in a car accident that kills him. She wishes for some girl to shut up and the wisher grants her wish and slashes her throat out. As she digs deeper she and her friend start to figure it out.

The idea comes alot from our famous Nightmare on Elm Street the character has glass blades at the ends of the fingers resembling our famous character Freddy Kruger. It calls some themes from the wishmaster as well. The movie also takes some elements from Scream and I know What you Did Last Summer. Where it actually turns out to be one of the kids in the school as the wisher for Scream behind the killings.

The movie in the end just really doesnt make much sense having one of her classmates that is obssessed with the film being the wisher because the movie makes it unclear if the kids went and saw the movie before the villan does since some of the events actually happened before the movie came out such as her father going to pick up her daughter during the movie to prevent her from seeing the film which means it doesnt give the kid to already know about the wisher. It would have been much better if they would have created the film as a fantasy horror where the wisher appears due to the film like the movie "Ring" sort of does and not make it a realistic horror because then it becomes truly not beleivable.

Rating:
Summary: SPLICED AND DICED
Review: There's so many plotholes in SPLICED that sometimes you feel the movie WAS just spliced together. However, in spite of that, if you go along with the central premise, it's not a half-bad slasher flick. Liane Balaban does a nice job as Mary, the somewhat erratic heroine of the film; Ron Silver adds little to the movie, but his reputation; Drew Lachey looking like a shrunken Nick Lachey is cute and does his best. Notice he hasn't made any films since.
SPLICED has some effective scenes and attempts to be a SCREAM, which it most definitely not, but for a straight to video release, it is a moderately engaging film. And I didn't identify the killer, so they must have done a little something right?

Rating:
Summary: I'd like to splice the director
Review: Well for those of us who love to make fun of uninspired schlock, look no further than this hunk of celluloid. It is an absolutely appauling film that insults your intelligence, and will make you temporarily insane. At any rate this film will bring to the point of wanting to break your VCR, but you realize it's only a movie so you take the tape out and burn it. So if you don't have any of you lampooning buds with you just start a little camp fire and use this in the best way possible, it makes a great camp fire. Pretty colors to. Anyway, just don't see this thing that the directors somehow brought themselves to call it a movie, when that is an insult to even the term movie. STOP LOW BUDGET HACK JOBS AND THEIR "MOVIES."