Split Second (1992 film)

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Split second (disambiguation).

Split Second
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tony Maylam Ian Sharp
Produced by	Keith Cavelle (executive producer) Laura Gregory Chris Hanley (executive producer) Gary Scott Thompson (associate producer)
Written by	Gary Scott Thompson
Starring	Rutger Hauer Kim Cattrall Neil Duncan Daimon Richardson
Music by	Wendy Carlos Francis Haines Stephen W. Parsons
Cinematography	Clive Tickner
Editing by	Dan Rae
Studio	Muse Productions
Distributed by	Astro Distribution
Release date(s)	May 1, 1992
Running time	90 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$7,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	$5,430,822

Split Second is a 1992 British science fiction film starring Rutger Hauer, Kim Cattrall, and Neil Duncan. The film is directed by Tony Maylam and Ian Sharp.

Plot summary

In the year 2008, extensive rainfall has caused large areas of London to be under a foot or more of water. Rookie police officer Dick Durkin (Duncan) is assigned to partner Harley Stone (Hauer), a burnt-out and highly cynical homicide detective who, according to his commanding officer, survives on "Anxiety, coffee and chocolate" after being unable to prevent the murder of his partner by a serial killer several years previously. Now however, the murders have begun again and Stone and Durkin are assigned the case. After investigating the scenes of several killings, they appear no closer to identifying the killer, with their only clues being that the murders seem to be linked to the lunar cycle, and that the killer has multiple recombinant DNA strands, having absorbed the DNA of seemingly anything he kills.

Finally, after Stone's girlfriend Michelle (Cattrall) is kidnapped, the detectives track the killer deep into the flooded and disused London Underground system and discover the truth: The killer is not human, and actually some horrific and unknown homicidal, demonic form of life - Fast, savage, bloodthirsty and fixated upon killing Stone just as it previously killed his partner. In fact, as the movie progresses, each killing and "appearance" of the monster is an attempt to lure Stone closer and closer.

After a tense battle in and around an abandoned Tube Train, Stone is able to pull the monster's heart from its chest and kill it. However, as the policemen leave the scene with Michelle in a rescue dinghy, bubbles of air are seen breaking the surface of the area of water over which the beast had Michelle suspended as bait. The monster's body is submerged, suggesting that there may be more than one.

Message

Unusually for an action film, it has an environmental message. The opening scene contains this writing: After forty days and nights of torrential rain, the city is largely submerged below water, a result of the devastating effects of continued global warming. The warnings ignored for decades have now resulted in undreamed-of levels of pollution where day has become almost endless night...

Cast

• Rutger Hauer ... Harley Stone
• Kim Cattrall ... Michelle
• Alastair Duncan (as Neil Duncan) ... Dick Durkin
• Michael J. Pollard ... The Rat Catcher
• Alun Armstrong ... Thrasher
• Pete Postlethwaite ... Paulsen
• Ian Dury ... Jay Jay
• Roberta Eaton ... Robin
• Tony Steedman ... O'Donnell
• Steven Hartley ... Foster
• Sara Stockbridge ... Tiffany
• Ken Bones ... Forensic Expert
• Daimon Richardson ... Police Officer
• Dave Duffy ... Nick 'The Barman'
• Colin Skeaping ... Drunk
• Stewart Harvey-Wilson ... Killer

External links

• Split Second at the Internet Movie Database
• Split Second at AllRovi
• Split Second at Rotten Tomatoes