Split Second was directed by Tony Maylam and Ian Sharp in 1992 and is a science fiction/action/horror film. It was more of a case of Maylam being bored of continuous modifications in a script prepared by Gary Scott Thompson and Sharp stepping in as a replacement.
The film takes place in the ‘future’ of 2008 and depicts a dystopian London. Perhaps humans are giving themselves more credit than they deserve because there is no chance mankind will make significant technical advances in time for global warming to take over London in sixteen years. Even in 2021, the rate of change has been sluggish enough for many people to assume that global warming does not exist.
Split Second is a cult favorite thanks to a mix of astrology (shoutout to all the Scorpios out there), unneeded fan service, humor that is so terrible that it really comes off as highly humorous, a low-budget Venom symbiote, and a fantastic performance by the late Rutger Hauer.
The daring that allowed Rutger Hauer to explore his darker side set him apart from many of his peers. As evidenced by his noteworthy appearances as the vampire in Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, the killer in The Hitcher, and a sly and cunning prince in Gallivant, he has admitted to preferring to play more malevolent characters. Harley Stone, his character in the film, is not a villain. He does, however, endure a great deal of trauma, which Rutger conveys extremely flawlessly.
He is well known for his role as the villain Roy Batty in Blade Runner. It is easy to say that Hauer had a memorable career and a legacy that has left an indelible effect on many people.
Kim Cattrall, Alastair Duncan, Pete Postlethwaite, and Michael J. Pollard round out the cast. Despite the fact that Pollard is featured extensively as a cast member, his part as the Rat Catcher is minor.
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Rutger Hauer Gets PTSD From A Diet Venom And Everything That Follows
The audience is taken to the future of 2008, a time when Snake 3D was the hottest game a phone could have. The repercussions of Global Warming preceded the Zombie Apocalypse in bringing dystopia to the world. London experienced forty days of a torrential downpour that has rendered large areas of the city to be flooded, mainly due to the Thames overflowing. The city is also way too polluted to let the Sun in, so London is in a perpetual state of nighttime. There’s also a hike in the rat population of London, turning it into New York City, and they carry some virus with them (still taking the heat and playing the villain for causing that plague).
Fortunately for them (and unfortunately for the financiers in London), the only disaster that took place in London in 2008 is the third biggest fall of the stock market, also known as the ‘great crash’. Financial Crisis – 1, Global Warming – 0.
Rutger Hauer plays Detective Harley Stone, who is the protagonist of the movie. Three years ago, a serial killer had killed his partner Foster and Stone were unable to prevent that. Following the unfortunate incident, Stone went off the tangent when it came down to concepts such as self-care and as per the words of his commanding officer, survived only off ‘anxiety, coffee, and chocolate’ (just like any other University student). Either way, he had become obsessed with the newly-revived murder cases.
Stone goes to a nightclub to investigate a murder where the audience is hit with a bunch of fanservice. His coffee addiction is bad enough to make him ask for coffee when offered whiskey. As he himself enjoys some of the fanservice, he hears a loud shriek and rushes towards the source of the noise. He goes to the washroom and finds a girl, whose heart had been ripped out (literally).
As Foster had died in front of Stone, his mental state was quite fragile. But he did not care to think about how much his friendship meant to him while he would hook up with his wife behind his back.
He is assigned to partner with Dick Durkin (played by Neil Duncan) to investigate the murders. Durkin’s primary motive here was to keep Stone’s unusual behaviors in check (that does not stop Hauer from lighting his cigars with a blowtorch instead of a lighter).
The serial killer wasn’t one who did not like to leave his mark though because he sent Stone a very heartwarming gift. A half-eaten human heart.
He investigates the nightclub again and later, meets up with his superior Paul (played by Pete Posthelwaithe), who seems to be investigating the dead body of a man who had his heart ripped out as well. Apparently, the killer absorbs the DNA of his victims as he had several recombinant DNA strands. We have already established that the killer likes to make an impact and he does just that. He has left his mark on the walls, the mark of the zodiac sign Scorpio within a circular and triangular structure.
Stone visits the grave of his friend Foster where he bumps into his old flame Michelle, who was also Foster’s wife. He had broken up with her following his buddy’s death but what’s a Hollywood movie without a love interest for the hero. Kim Cattrall plays Michelle and she still sports her haircut with the sideburns from Star Trek 6 (hard to know whether Catrall’s Samantha Jones would approve of this hairdo or not).
She goes to his apartment with him and is disappointed by the absence of consumable food in his fridge. There is also a flashback of Stone with Foster in the sewers where Foster suddenly disappears. Stone leaves his apartment and meets up with Durkin, who thinks that Stone and the killer have a psychic connection because they are both Scorpios. Stone also sheds some light on the killer’s killing pattern – strike before midnight during a new moon.
They go back near his place after an emergency alert. Meanwhile, there’s a recreation of the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho as Michelle is seemingly attacked. She screams but Stone reaches her in time. Turns out Michelle is fine but someone else screams again. Stone and Durkin chase after it. Durkin is shot by the killer while Stone finds a dead girl with her heart ripped out in the bathtub.
Stone theorizes that the killer is a creature. At night, he dreams of the moment in the sewer. After Foster had disappeared, a monstrous creature had attacked Stone, leaving him with a huge scar. But wait, Durkin is still alive, who notices his scar from that incident and states how that was the basis of their connection. His presence catches Stone by surprise because he is supposed to be dead. Relax Stone, he has got the power of a bulletproof vest (and plot armor).
Stone and Pete go looking for the creature in the morgue. After some investigation, the ceiling breaks and the creature attacks them. The audience can barely see it, mainly because the budget of the movie was low so they could not afford to use too much CGI. They fail to catch it so they resort to bigger guns.
Durkin vaguely explains his theory – something about the Chinese calendar, something about the triangle being a symbol of evil, something about the circle being about magic and power, and something about everything inside the circle being protected from the outside.
Turns out, the monster was hiding inside Stone’s couch. It attacks and kidnaps Michelle. It also leaves a carving on Durkin’s chest which is apparently a map. They use that to figure out the creature’s lair – the sewers, of course. They find a suspended Michelle and Stone frees her. The creature FINALLY shows up, appearing in front of the audience. They get into a fight and guns and electricity seem to be practically useless around this Venom lookalike. In the end, as Dua Lipa would say, Stone does a full 180 and rips out the creature’s heart. He also shoots it, just in case it doesn’t come back to life and the three of them leave the underground train station. However, in the end, the water bubbles again, leaving the audience with an open ending.
Unfortunately, Split Second was not received well by the audience or the critics. The VHS did have substantially better sales though. The monster is not one of the more memorable ones but it has its moments. It also has an uncanny resemblance to Venom from Spiderman.
The best thing about the movie is its humor, and also Stone’s weird coffee addiction. He goes to the club – he gets coffee. He goes to the bar – he gets coffee. He leaves his house – he drinks from a cup with a cigarette butt in it. He also gets into comical banter with Dick Durkin, showing a high amount of interest in his sex life. He probably thought that nerds did not get laid but unfortunately for him, Dick got laid every day.
Films of this nature often go on to have a cult-like following and that seems to stand true for Split Second as well.
Astrology and Satan Featuring Rat: The Collaboration That Created The Scorpionic Demon
An inexplicable creature is the primary antagonist of the movie Split Second. In fact, the name of the movie arises from the creature being able to claim its victims in a split second. Both Stewart Harvey-Wilson and Paul Grayson have been credited for portraying this creature.
The movie refers to it as “The Killer”, because the average person does not go around thinking that the serial killer on the loose is actually Satan.
The audience does not get to see its appearance until quite late in the movie, even though it is very much present in the poster, looking like a humanoid Scorpion. It is much bigger than the average human and Stone begin to have doubts about its supernatural nature after seeing the obnoxiously large bite marks on the heart. It had long and sharp teeth and for some reason, wore a visor over its eyes.
This entity has a preference when it comes to its killing style – ripping the hearts out of its victims. Mr. Steal Your Heart, if you may. It also likes to eat the heart and absorb the genetic materials of the person. On top of that, it had the genetic materials of rats. The creature was able to overpower its targets easily due to its superhuman strength.
There’s a theory that the creature killed to absorb the victims’ soul, which is why the victims would let out a loud shriek while having their hearts ripped out, instead of freezing on the spot. It also wasn’t stupid.
Previously, Stone used to work with his Foster. One day, they were down in the sewers of some abandoned underground railway when Foster suddenly disappeared after something dragged him under the water. As Stone called out for him, the creature attacked him, leaving a huge scar around his arm and chest area. According to Oxford graduate psychologist Dick Durkin (who is Stone’s new partner Pebble, just kidding), the scar was a psychic link that connected Stone and the creature.
The creature did target Stone in particular, claiming its return after killing his friend Foster with the writings on the mirror specifically directed towards him. Stone could sense the presence of that creature because he could hear its heartbeat when it was close by. He was also alerted about where the creature will strike next.
The creature had a fair amount of intelligence and was aware of its actions, making decisions such as sending a half-eaten heart to Stone and writing messages for Stone on the mirror and the walls.
The creature had left a symbol on the scene of its crime with the mark of the astrological sign Scorpio. Stone had his own observations. He figured that the creature only attacked the night of a new moon before midnight. As the new moon denoted a high tide, Dick was able to correlate this with Scorpio’s element as a water sign and every victim being a Scorpio.
Stone was a Scorpio himself, which helped add more weight to Durkin’s theory that Stone and the creature have a psychic bond. He theorized that it has been active for the past twenty-five years, killing for an unknown purpose. He brings up some connections and ties Western astrology with the Chinese zodiac, stating that it has been active for around seventy-eight lunar cycles in every year of the Rat.
In the Chinese Zodiac, each year is denoted by an animal – rat, monkey, ox, rabbit, dragon, and others. The element of the Rat is water. The element of Scorpio is also water. 2008 is the year of the rat and due to global warming and flooding, rats have infested the city, giving rise to a new form of the virus. It can be deduced that the creature was once a human, deeply affected by the rat virus (it did have rat DNA after all) and had mutated into this Scorpionic, Satanic, Demon.
However, Dick’s theory also stated that the creature has been active for 234 years (the result he gets after multiplying twenty-five with seventy-eight). If the thing was Satan, it might’ve been around for much longer. Dick believed that everything was a part of a master plan and the world going into chaos was orchestrated by the creature itself (being Satan) as he wanted to rule the world as a Fallen Angel. It might be quite a bit of a reach though because the creature dies fairly easily towards the end. It shouldn’t be this easy for a regular human to take Satan down.
The psychic link between Stone and the creature allowed Stone to witness the murders from the creature’s point of view itself. He would go on to have severe panic attacks and the creature derived pleasure from that. It would also allow Stone to detect its presence instead of killing him in a ‘split second’. This brings suspicions to the minds of the audience because if it wanted to kill Stone, why did it toy around with him so much. It could’ve just killed him.
In a scene, the creature marks Michelle, after which, it develops a psychic bond with her as well (as seen from the scene where she hears its heartbeats and it claws out of Stone’s couch). It also marks Dick with the Scorpio symbol on his chest and creates another connection. In an instance, the creature was able to make him feel as if his chest was burning. So it can be theorized that the creature did not instantly kill those it had marked and that there were bigger plans at play here.
Not only was the creature just an evil entity with a taste for killings and the heart, but it was also intelligent enough to be cunning and evil. This is evident as it kidnaps Michelle to the sewers in order to bait Stone into arriving at the place where Foster had died. The creature wanted Stone to undergo the same suffering again. Or maybe killing Stone in the same place where it had killed his friend would bring its plans to a full circle.
Other than that, the creature’s motive to kill is vague, as it seems to simply enjoy and relish the act of killing and watching Stone undergo intense emotional distress. The wicked smile etched on its face is a testament to that.
The Scorpio Symbol: What Does It Mean?
As the creature left its mark on the walls, mirrors, and Dick’s chest, it drew an inverted triangle inside the circle. In the middle of everything, it is the branded symbol of the Western zodiac sign Scorpio. Dick being the smartass he is, figured out the symbolic meaning of the logo.
Yes, the inverted triangle did stand for evil but it is also the symbol for water while the circle denotes magic and power (a reverse Deathly Hallows if you may, where a circle was inside a triangle). Dick believed that everything inside the circle (that is the evil, the Scorpion, and the water) is protected by magic and power. They correlate this to Satan as Satan is essentially a concept of Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) where astrology and other occult practices such as witchcraft and tarot are not condoned. So it only makes sense that the big bad guy would be interested in it.
In astrology, there are twelve signs and twelve houses. Scorpio is the eighth sign shares properties with the eighth house. The eighth house in itself is a tricky place, as it deals with the occult, taboos, death, transformations, merged energies, sex, mysteries, and bondings at the deepest level. This is a very prominent theme in the movie as the concept of a murderous Satanic creature correlates to the occult, taboos, and deaths. It is also mysterious throughout the movie and its psychic bonds with Stone and also Michelle and Dick signify their merged energies and deep bondings. Stone also shared a very deep bonding with Foster, which is evident by how badly Stone went off the rails following his partner’s death.
Dick believes that Scorpio is most susceptible to join the dark side (even though Capricorn is denoted by the devil card in tarot) and the Scorpionic energy desired to be one with supernatural energy or being. This is why he believes that the creature was once a human who sought to unite with the Satanic energy but again, he contradicts his own theory because of the presence of the rat’s DNA. Surely, rats don’t make you a pro at astrology and witchcraft.
Before the climax, Dick gets the symbol carved onto his chest, when he realizes that the symbolism does not matter and that it was actually a map to its lair. This takes them to the sewers where Foster was killed. The water in the sewers would’ve been a cool additional detail but the entire city was flooded anyway.
Why Does The Scorpio Demon Look So Much Like Venom?
The Spider-Man comics excel in a lot of things, but the most notable of all is its villains. One such villain is the symbiote Venom, which has not only taken the readers by storm in the comics but has also taken over mainstream modern-day pop culture following its appearance in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 (which is ironic as Sam Raimi himself did not like this villain).
Tom Hardy’s Venom has helped catapult this already popular villain into much more prominence, even though Sony had laid a strong enough foundation already. But what does this have to do with the Scorpion from Split Second?
The creature in Split Second is less of a scorpion and more of a humanoid creature with scorpions characteristics, such as oily black skin, and razor-sharp claws. It also has an uncanny resemblance to Venom, who is known primarily for its black skin and also sports razor-sharp claws. Not to forget the wide toothy grin. The Scorpion wears a visor though, for reasons unknown. As the movie was being made, it had to undergo a lot of changes during production; mainly due to the original story by Gary Scott Thompson being very similar to 1990’s First Power where the serial killer left pentagrams as its branding.
With script changes followed by a change in the director, creature designer Stephen Norrington only had a few weeks to design the antagonist for the movie and maybe he was inspired by Venom in the Spider-Man comics. If that’s the case, the visor probably exists as a distinction that separates the two of them.
They are more different than similar though, in terms of function. The Scorpion is an entity that kills its prey and has superhuman strength. It cannot be shot or electrocuted. It has no prominent weakness and is killed after Stone rips its heart out. Venom has superhuman strength as well but it has a key weakness- High-frequency sounds and fire. It can be taken down by making Mariah Carey sing her highest whistle notes. If the Scorpion had the same weakness, it would’ve suffered damages after its victims shrieked when their hearts and souls were ripped out.
Not left out of this party is Predator 2, which came out in 1990 and has a similar setup like Split Second as the worlds in both movies deal with a climate issue. Predator 2 deals with a heatwave instead of a flood, but a climate issue nonetheless. Both Lieutenant Michael R. Harrigan and Harley Stone are reprimanded by their superiors for either being disobedient or going off the rails. All while a supernatural killer is on the loose.
Is Split Second Worth Watching?
Split Second is a cult classic and is revered among fans of horror. However, its performance in the box office or with the critics has been quite negative. This is mainly due to all the issues the movie had to undergo during its production. The original script was a buddy cop film with lots of action and horror. It was set in Los Angeles and did deal with occult overtones. A serial killer murdered five people every five years for the last quarter of the century, almost like a ritual, and then left symbols of the pentagram in the area of crime. The resemblance of the original script to 1988’s The First Power resulted in Thompson making more and more changes. Later, it went on to become Black Tide, with a script very similar to the final cut called Split Second. Even though Black Tide feels like a more appropriate name for the movie.
However, serial changes to the script were still being made, in particular, the ending. Rutger Hauer wanted Thompson to focus on the psychic link more. As Tony Maylam was set to direct it, he eventually got sick of the constant changes he had to execute and left the movie. Later, Ian Sharp took over and directed the movie. It was also shot within eight weeks only.
But the changes were a necessary addition because bringing the occult always takes the theme of a movie quite a few notches higher. This combined with Hauer’s impeccable portrayal of Harley Stone is enough to make Split Second a must-watch. Getting to watch scenes where Hauer sports Lennon sunglasses while lighting his cigarettes with a blowtorch is also quite the opportunity.
With some sleazy jokes as well as scenes here and there, Split Second offers the occasional comedy. With scenes where hearts have been ripped out of victims while blood is splattered everywhere, there is enough gore in the movie. And for horror nerds, real fanservice is not the sexy scenes in B-grade movies but the gory sequences.
The score was composed by Stephen W. Parsons and Francis Haines even though Wendy Carlos was supposed to do it originally. Unfortunately, her score was rejected, which is a shame because she has composed splendid scores such as 1971’s A Clockwork Orange, the 1980s The Shining, and 1982’s Tron.
You can watch Split Second on Amazon Prime Video. You can also buy VHS or Blu-Ray DVDs. Interestingly, some deleted scenes are included in the Japanese VHS version of the movie – one where Stone and Durkin talk to Durkin’s girlfriend Robin and one where Stone and Durkin engage in more dialogue during a murder scene. 101 Films has also featured these scenes in its Blu-Ray version.
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