Split Second (1992) InterStar/Sci-Fi-Horror-Action RT: 90 minutes Rated R (violence, gore, language, brief nudity) Director: Tony Maylam Screenplay: Gary Scott Thompson Music: Francis Haines and Stephen W. Parsons Cinematography: Clive Tickner Release date: May 1, 1992 (US) Cast: Rutger Hauer, Kim Cattrall, Neil Duncan, Michael J. Pollard, Alun Armstrong, Pete Postlethwaite, Ian Dury, Roberta Eaton, Tony Steedman, Steven Hartley, Sarah Stockbridge. Box Office: $5.4M (US)
Rating: ***
By the early 90s, B-movies didn’t really open in theaters anymore. As smaller theaters made way for the giant multiplexes, low-budget trash flicks started going direct-to-video. Studios like New World, Cannon and Crown International ceased operation due to bankruptcy. It was a sad time for fans of exploitation cinema like me. That’s why my heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I first saw the ad for Split Second in the local paper. I couldn’t believe it. Sure, it looked and sounded crappy, but it was the kind of cinematic junk food that sustained me through my socially awkward teen years. I couldn’t wait to feast my eyes on it that coming Saturday night.
I saw Split Second, a sci-fi-horror-action piece starring Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) as a burnt-out futuristic cop going up against a mighty foe, at the old Barclay Square Theater with a couple of friends. I spent many a weekend afternoon of my youth at this twin theater; the nostalgia factor definitely enhanced the experience. In addition, the manager let us in free of charge. It was a sweet deal all around.
Directed by Tony Maylam (The Burning), Split Second takes place in 2008 when global warming and heavy rainfall have flooded large sections of London, a dank city infested by rats and usually covered in darkness. It’s a future hell. Hauer plays Harley Stone, a cop on the edge since losing his partner and best friend to a serial killer they were hunting three years earlier. When the killings start again, he’s reinstated (after a long suspension) to the force on the condition he works with a partner Dick Durkin (Duncan, The Hound of the Baskervilles), a brainy young rookie with a psychology degree. Naturally, the ill-tempered captain (Armstrong, Krull) doesn’t trust Stone; he orders Durkin to keep an eye on him and report any unstable behavior. As with all mismatched partners, their mutual dislike turns into respect and ultimately friendship.
Let’s talk about the killer now. The killer’s MO is tearing out the hearts of his victims. This little tidbit was never made public which is how the cops know they’re not dealing with a copycat. The killer also leaves behind astrological clues written in blood. As the story unfolds, we learn Stone may share a psychic connection with the killer. He always seems to know where he will strike next. It’s also becomes clear that they’re dealing with something inhuman. How else do you explain a killer that (1) nobody ever sees and (2) retains the DNA of all his victims? It turns out the killer is a large, ugly, possibly demonic monster. Its origin is never explained.
No two ways about it, Split Second is garbage. It’s highly derivative of other movies. It steals ideas and scenes from Alien, Blade Runner, Predator, The First Power, Highlander II: The Quickening, The Terminator, Lethal Weapon, I Come in Peace and The January Man. It doesn’t bring anything new to any of its genres. Maylam gives us only brief glimpses of the monster at the end. It drags in parts. It’s dark, ugly and muffled. It’s hard to make out what the characters are saying at times. HOWEVER, I’m looking at it from a different viewpoint. I knew going in exactly what it would be. It’s the kind of crappy but fun movie New World used to put out in the 80s. If you look at it that way, Split Second is sort of a fun albeit bumpy ride.
I like Hauer as an actor. He’s great at playing bad guys (The Hitcher) and good guys (Wanted Dead or Alive). I even liked him in the cheap-as-hell post-apocalyptic actioner The Blood of Heroes. He’s pretty good in Split Second as a cop who survives on “anxiety, coffee and chocolate” and doesn’t give a crap about anything other than finding the monster that killed his partner. He grunts most of his lines which perfectly lines up with the dippy dialogue courtesy of screenwriter Gary Scott Thompson (The Fast and the Furious). Hauer gets choice lines like “Satan is in deep s**t” and, in response to his captain’s comment about not having a grenade launcher, “I couldn’t get a permit.” My personal favorite is when a super-caffeinated Durkin shouts, “We need to get bigger guns! BIG F***ING GUNS!” That’s one thing this movie has a lot of, BIG F***ING GUNS.
Kim Cattrall (Porky’s) co-stars as Michelle, the widow of Stone’s partner and his former lover. She does little more than a couple of nude scenes before she gets kidnapped by the monster. Duncan is pretty good as the partner, a man who brags about getting laid every night and jogging five miles every morning. Michael J. Pollard (Bonnie and Clyde) is great in his brief appearance near the end as “The Rat Catcher”.
If there’s another couple of things Split Second has a lot of, it’s gore and atmosphere. Maylam gives viewers plenty of gory images as Stone and Durkin make their way through sleazy strip clubs, a morgue that looks like the one from Coma and the dank, dripping London Underground. I also like that Maylam makes good use of The Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin”; we get both the original version and an instrumental one. I just wish they spelled it right in the end credits- “Knights”, really?
Granted, Split Second isn’t as cool as the B-movies of the 70s and 80s but it comes pretty close. It’s one of those great bad movies that you watch despite knowing it has no artistic or intellectual value whatsoever. Since they were so few and far between by ’92, I was willing to overlook its faults and just enjoy it. Although I wish we got a better look at the monster, it’s still pretty good.
