The stereotype of British cinema is usually prestigious period dramas and hilarious comedies. 1992’s Split Second offered something different: B-movie schlock.
In the far-off year of 2008 Global Warming has flooded London. This has turned London into a rain-soaked, crime-ridden, rat-infected hellhole, so how London has always been. Harley Stone (Rutger Hauer) is a police detective who lives on a diet of anxiety, coffee, and chocolate, and has been a lone wolf since his partner died on duty. Three years after his partner’s death, the killer returns, and Stone sets out to bring him down once and for all.
Split Second was a box-office flop and critical disaster when it was first released, but over the years it has garnered a cult following. 101 Films re-released Split Second on Blu-ray, British Youtubers like Oliver Harper and Off the Shelf Reviews made videos about the film, and a Facebook friend/fellow film critic said he loved it. It clearly has an appeal to a certain audience. It’s worth looking at since it’s now that it’s 30 years old.
Split Second was pretty much a British mash-up of Blade Runner and Predator 2. All three films were police investigative stories with a sci-fi twist. Split Second had a similar aesthetic to Blade Runner because they both were in rain-drenched cities at night and the lead characters had to navigate the seedy underworld. Both had a grimy look to them. Hauer’s appearance in the film brought back memories of Blade Runner since he was the antagonist in the sci-fi classic. The comparison with Predator 2 was simple: both films were about police detectives searching for a killer who happened to be another worldly creature.
Split Second was made on a much smaller budget than those Hollywood films. The creature was kept hidden with only its claws visible. Normally this would be seen as standard horror direction because keeping the creature hidden builds up suspense, but in Split Second’s case it looked more likely they were embarrassed by the creature. When the creature was shown it looked like the special effects artist stole a costume when he worked on Alien 3.
The production of Split Second was notorious. The original script for the film was set in Los Angeles and the killer was human. It evolved into being a sci-fi film set in London because it was cheaper. When Split Second was being filmed the script was constantly rewritten and it led to the original director, Tony Maylam, leaving the production during filming. Ian Sharp was brought in to direct the climax.
This troubled production was most evident in the story. The film kept throwing different ideas in the hope that something would stick. The creature in the film sometimes seemed intelligent because it sent the heart of one of its victims to the police and it was partaking in Satanist rituals. However, the creature looked like a savage beast that lived on primal instinct and it ate the hearts of its victims. There was an idea that the creature absorbed the DNA of victims but it was quickly forgotten after it was introduced. Stone had a psychic connection with the creature which seemed like it was added for the sake of it.
There was a question about what the creature was since nothing was explained. Was it alien? Was it a mutant created by Global Warming and pollution? It could have been a creature from the deep that was awakened by environmental issues. Or maybe it was a demon summoned by Satanists? Ambiguity in horror films is usually seen as a good thing because it leaves some mystery and puts the focus on the characters but the audiences still needed some information. In the Predator and Alien movies it was clear the monsters were extra-terrestrial.
Split Second was written by Gary Scott Thompson, best known for writing the first Fast and Furious movie. Thompson was an American and it was clear that Split Second was written by an American since the police in the film were more like an American police department. In the film all the police officers were carrying guns, the uniforms weren’t British, and Alun Armstrong played a police captain that was more like an angry fella in an American film. It does make me wonder, did the filmmakers set Split Second in the future to justify these changes?
Split Second was at its best when it embraced its B-movie qualities. The film opens with Harley clad in a trench coat visiting an underground strip club. His first action in the film was showing his police badge to a guard dog and saying ‘police, dickhead.’ This was a film where characters were running around with big fucking guns and thinning out the rat population. Alastair Duncan played the most fun character in the film since he was the one given an arc. Duncan’s Durkin started as a bookish intellectual that Harley constantly tricked and berated, yet Harley’s influence led to Durkin becoming a more gung-ho man of action.
As a B-Movie sci-fi flick Split Second was a minor offering. It was fun as an exploitive flick that could appeal to the adolescent part of our brains. But the messy production was clear due to the storytelling.
