Split Second

Split Second (1992)

Image From IMDB

I loved this movie as a teen, and that love hasn’t faded. Split Second has absolutely everything I want from a flick. A dystopian future, brutal violence, nudity, monsters, occult, amazing one liners, Rutger Hauer. Everything you could possibly need in a noir action black-comedy sci-fi monster movie. Sure, it’s a little messy and inconsistent in places, but for me, that only adds to its charm.

Split Second is set in the distant future of 2008 where London is flooded and life is cheap. It follows two cops Stone (Hauer) and Durkin (Alastair Duncan) as they hunt down a serial killer who’s been stealing and eating people’s hearts.

What kind of fucking serial killer eats hearts? A monstrous one. Where did it come from? don’t know. Why is it killing people? don’t know? Why did it kill Stones partner? no idea. How does it keep breaking into Stone’s apartment? Don’t care. Do we need big fucking guns? Hell yes!

Split Second is one of those movies of its time when tone didn’t have to be consistent. The jumps between funny and brutal are constant and I love it. At the beginning of the movie Stone is calling a dog a dickhead, then seconds later a girl is absolutely butchered and Stone is having a breakdown, before we hear he shot a trash can. It’s just that kind of movie.

The world building is superb. I love seeing London flooded and rat infested (more so) There’s junk and litter everywhere (again, more so) Everything looks grubby and pure filth (trust me its not meant to be a documentary) Stone’s apartment is a fantastic set. And I can’t believe there was actually a place called the London Necroplolis. I thought it was a cool little place in the movie, but it was exactly real. The monster is basically a Xenomorph that can fire shotguns, but I like the effects.

Everything in the whole movie is so dirty and grimy. Always like those kind of lived-in worlds. Rutger Hauer goes all in with the character like he often does, and just fits the setting incredibly well. The way he consumes coffee is inspiring, and his one-liners are a thing of beauty.

The heart of the movie is the relationship between Stone and Durkin as they grow from antagonising each other––well, Durkin annoying Stone–-to trying to solve this murder mystery together and having each others back. The lines between the pair are fantastic, and seeing others get stucked into their madness produces some of the best scenes of the movie. “Put out an apb for the fucking Devil”

I’ll die on the Split Second hill. It’s ok not to like it, but no one will ever change my mind about it, I absolutely love it. The grimy atmosphere, the jaded characters, the sex and violence, the smoke and water. It’s an experience, and there are a lot of ideas within it as well. There’s a lot of nostalgia in my love of this movie, but also with good cause. It’s a fantastic brutal and funny movie, and one i’ll always go back too. Everyone should watch Split Second.