I had not heard of this Science Fiction gem out of Britain by way of HBO until Mexomorph brought it over a year or two ago and really pushed me to watch it, knowing how susceptible I am to B-movies, breasts, Rutger Hauer, shooting and mystery. We did and it was brilliant, all I just said. Then I forgot about it. Just last week some pals were over and Split Second (1992) came up with the result of no one except me having been exposed to this film. What better time, then, to throw it in and acquaint them (and re-acquaint myself) with the low-budget but entertaining charms this movie has to offer? In it went and by the end everyone present had really been shocked by how good such an unloved and under-financed film can be. That’s when I decided to write it up and recommend it to anyone who comes across this fine piece of B-grade cinema.

The setting is way ahead of it’s time in terms of idea. Due to the effects of Global Warming in the year 2008, large sections of London are completely submerged and society has been adversely affected. Rutger Hauer plays a donut-munching, cigar-smoking, coffee-swilling cop reminiscent of Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon (1987) in the sense that he lives on the edge, has no respect for authority (indeed, when we open Hauer is suspended) and may be a tad crazy (read: batshit). Hauer had been involved in a serial murder case where the victims had been horribly mutilated and he lost his partner in the complicated London sewer system while being horribly slashed himself. The killer was never found. While at a great club (read: nudity) killer strikes an innocent girl in the restroom while Hauer is right outside and leaves him a simple message: “I’m back.” Of course he’s reinstated but with the typical twist of having to take a partner, in this case the hysterical straight man to Hauer’s hysterical psycho is Dick Durkin (Alastair Duncan), a trained serial killer profiler and a student of the occult. After investigating the scenes of several slayings, they are no closer to identifying the killer, with the only clues being that the murders seem to be linked to the lunar cycle and somehow Hauer is able to sense when the killer is near. Kim Cattrall is introduced as Hauer’s old partner’s wife and his lover and she serves to be menaced by the killer and get naked but if you’ve seen Porky’s (1982) that’s nothing new but appreciated anyway.

So the whole first half is some pretty funny character set-up as Hauer and Dick Durkin attempt to make their extremely diverse personalities mesh and the serial killer investigation but there comes a point where it seems pretty obvious that what they’re dealing with is some horrifically unknown life form, possibly supernatural in origin and it’s killings seem to be drawing Hauer to some unknown resolution; a resolution filled with shooting and slashing and heart-ripping, occult madness. Split Second manages to overcome the low budget and semi-overplayed, Blade Runner (1982)-esque setting by focusing on the relationship between Hauer and the straight-laced Durkin and the way in which Durkin is twisted to Hauer’s unique world-view. The dialogue is crisp, the mystery intriguing and the quirky relationships among the cast made Split Second stand out from most B-level genre entries, though the creature, when revealed, does evoke a crap Alien (1979)/ Predator (1987) vibe – hell, it’s terrible – and the end does drag a bit so not all is roses. Certainly not Shakespeare, or even the aforementioned films, yet achieves a great amount of viewing pleasure on a fraction of the budget, more than you’d figure the amount spent would achieve.

Split Second is the type of movie that is perfect for a midnight view and certainly better than most Science Fiction films, let alone other, similarly budgeted efforts. Rutger Hauer chews scenery as well as he ever has, Kim Cattrall is naked again, there’s shooting and blood, the dialogue and character interplay is priceless and the mystery is compelling enough to carry you through. Cinema of fun and one I do not hesitate to suggest tracking down. Definitely worth a Special Edition DVD and if caught on tv light up and be prepared for a monster good time.

Better than: Starship Troopers 2 (2004); Decoys (2004)
Not quite: Predator 2 (1990); Blade Runner (1982)
Get if you like: Shooting, Monsters, Rutger Hauer, Nudity