Split Second (1992)

 

Ah, Rutger Hauer, what a man you were. Even in lower budget fare, you still gave it your all, something not every actor does. This is also why even the lesser films Hauer starred in are still worth a watch. If you like the man, of course.

To be fair: this isn't one of his best. But to be even more fair: this oddity has more charm than you would expect at first glance. 

In the distant future of 2008 (well, you know...) climate change has taken a serious step for the worst. Large swaths of countries are now flooded, including our location for this tale: London. In our story walks detective Stone (Hauer), a rogue maverick policeofficer whose partner was killed three years ago by a serial killer they never caught. However, Stone has a strange connection to this killer, as he can almost but not quite sense where he will show up. In this case, a sort of fetish nightclub (run by Ian Dury of 'Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll'-fame), but once again Stone is too late, as a girl is brutally murdered by having her heart ripped out of her chest. 

So of course Stone gets yelled at by his chief (Alun Armstrong) and partnered with an educated but a little green detective hilariously called Dick Durkin. Stone survives on a diet of cigars and coffee and when the wife of his former partner shows up (they had an affair, of course), things begin to heat up, as the killer now stalks her. 

Because of course. 

It gets even more bizarre when the killer leaves messages in blood, that have to do with the occult. So the plot thickens even more. Heck, when they find out the killer isn't actually human, but takes over the DNA-patterns of its victims (including rats, for some reason), this leads Durkin to bring our old friend Satan into the fold. But what is a rat-human-devil-hybrid against our two intrepid heroes and big guns? 

Watch and find out.

So this is pretty perfect for early 90s schlock, and in many respects, the film lives up to this. The story makes little sense, character development is all but naught, there are jumps in logic that boggle the mind and the fact that they seemed to change the monster's motives constantly feels as though they were making it up as they went along. The design of the creature feels like a cross between a xenomorph and Marvel's Venom. So this has all the makings of a terrible film.

And yet...

This isn't terrible, not by a long shot. In fact, in spite all of its flaws, this is very entertaining. This is in large part thanks to Hauer and his dedication to the part, but also because the supporting cast is really, really good. Alun Armstrong is a good chief of police, Kim Catrall is great as Stone's love interest (they don't overplay this angle fortunately) and Alastair Duncan is a lot of fun as Durkin. To see his transformation from nerdy scholar to almost insane goofball is something to behold. 

What this film also has going for it, are the visuals, which are never boring and always manage to capture your eye. Sometimes it's fun use of lighting, sometimes it's the colourscheme, but there's always something. Just a shame that the editing is at times sloppy and a tad askew, as tighter focus would have benefited this film immensely.

'Split Second' is a nice curiosity. It will always be a B-film, but it is in fact one of the better ones you might find. The imagery sticks with you and even though the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense, it is engaging and fun enough to keep you riveted until the end. So if you have a taste for something different, you could do a lot worse than try this one on for size.