Chimera Strain

The only mystery & unrelated to storyline is what the DVD cover has to do with the story. It's probably the only sci-fi creepy part of this production. Cheap production of 90 min. in an abandoned industrial setting building w/mismatched high school bio science lab props to go along with a storyline based on high school biology stem cells and tissue repair along w/the equally ridiculous pop science connection to jellyfish repair, i.e. longevity. Another cheap was the constant droning of the background music which will make you turn the sound off. Poor script flow/editing made what ever semblance of a coherent story simply not happening. Acting was over-the-top Hollywood make believe scientists & associated characters.

Maurice Haemms's debut film is an overall winner in my book. The first time producer-director (and also the writer here) helms this movie confidently and is helped all the way by his talented actors. Both Quinlan and Ian Cusick are no strangers to cinema goers, but to see how an actor shines in low budget indies you can see them both give some of their finest career performances in this film. A note of mention for the exquisite set designs and the gorgeous cinematography. Chimera Strain is a fantastic entry in the thinking man's science fiction sub-genre.

Some good, some not so good, The good: acting, plot, sets, medical sci-fi aspects. The not-so-good: over stylized lighting, confusing plot. Still it was better than the avarage crappy indie movie that comes out of sundance or cannes.

I must commend the filmmakers that they even managed to tackle such a sensitive subject but the issue of morality and the dilemmas it poses becomes central to the film- at the expense of the entertainment. The visuals are amazing including some stomach churning stuff involving operation room objects. Its all pretty much in one setting (the main character's science lab) but the inventive camerawork and editing are good enough to not let that matter. Interesting concept- flawed execution.

This is just one more "Scientist playing God and failing miserably" story. It doesn't matter that the reasons he fails are morally extinct and that the way he handles crisis is to succumb to apparent psychotic strength, because he is a nice scientist that can't do violence. A cliched and ridiculous promise that doesn't really do justice to scientists (or mad scientists for that matter). No person of science would be intimidated by a psycho boss lady and her uber strengthy hench... person. It took three thirds of the movie to reach an obvious conclusions, only to change things as a superfluous twist that no one needed.

Bottom line: a movie in which all people acted for the money, rather than for the idea of the film, resulting in a boring, cliched, pointless plot and a sub mediocre performance.