Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Will Howarth
Starring: Talia Zucker, Ashley Zukerman, Will Howarth
Sometimes a film's marketing is so intent on avoiding spoilers that it does the movie concerned a disservice. Case in point is Aussie sci-fi thriller In Vitro. The movie's official blurb conceals its actual plot, merely alluding to strange goings on at a remote Australian cattle farm. This might lead you to think it's merely another run of the mill horror movie about battling demons or invading aliens in a secluded location. But directors Will Howarth and Tom McKeith's film is actually about something far more interesting, and if it were upfront about this it might attract a larger audience.
The cattle farm belongs to married couple Jack (Ashley Zukerman) and Layla (Talia Zucker, who co-wrote with the directors). Times are hard and the couple are struggling in both their professional and marital relationships. The subtle performances of the actors tell us that there's a growing unspoken tension between Jack and Layla. Maybe it's just the strain of their stressful occupation as cattle breeders, or maybe it's the secluded location that has caused them to get under each others' feet. When Layla asks Jack for a couple of days off to visit their young son at boarding school, the very act of asking for her husband's permission tells us this isn't a democratic marriage.
Layla's plan to depart is disrupted by a series of odd occurrences on the farm. The intruder alarm keeps going off, but there's no sign of any such intruders. Jack puts it down to straying cattle. But one day while Jack is resting in bed with a concussion he sustained from stampeding cows, Layla discovers the awful truth.
This reveal arrives early on, and I've always felt that if a twist occurs before the end of the first act it's simply part of the setup rather than a spoiler. There's really no way I can carry on with this review without getting into just what that reveal is, but since the film's marketing is so keen to keep it a secret I feel obligated to warn you I'm about to get into what might be considered spoiler territory.
While investigating noises around the farm, Layla stumbles upon a hooded intruder. After wrestling with the stranger she pulls off their hood and is shocked to see her own face looking back at her. Turns out Jack's attempt to save the farm was to invest in cloning technology. But why has he cloned Layla? And why has he kept this a secret from her?
From that point In Vitro develops into a fresh take on the old Body Snatchers premise. Layla fears Jack plans to replace her with this clone, which perhaps hasn't fallen out of love with him in the way the real Layla has. But unlike traditional tales of Body Snatchers, the replacement Layla takes the real Layla's side, and the two team up in an attempt to outwit and flee Jack.
The second act plays out as a tense chase thriller, a sort of sci-fi riff on Sleeping with the Enemy. Zukerman is increasingly menacing as Jack, his performance resembling a sinister young Hugh Grant. In dual roles Zucker pulls off the difficult act of convincing us we're really watching two versions of the same woman, aided by some very impressive VFX work that never leads us to question the effect.
Further twists arrive in the final act, though you may well see the big one coming. Along the way the movie raises questions about the ethics of cloning and whether a clone can be considered human and thus share the rights of any real person. Where recent movies about lifelike AI creations fail to garner our sympathies because they're simply mechanical beings without real souls, Layla's clone is human by every conceivable metric. She has all of the real Layla's memories (albeit some have been clouded by Jack's manipulation) and can feel pain like any flesh and blood human. If there's a character whose humanity can be called into question here it's the mad scientist who created Layla 2.0.
This is a sci-fi thriller that gives us food for thought without ever letting its ideas get in the way of the thrills. It never affords its villain the chance to explain their actions, instead giving us the benefit of the doubt and assuming we can figure it all out for ourselves. The reveals are of a visual rather than verbal nature, and though much of the truth of In Vitro is left unspoken, the confident filmmaking and lead performances make everything clear. Between the two directors and their two leads, In Vitro introduces an exciting new quartet of talent.
In Vitro is on UK/ROI OD from September 15th.
