Hot Splices tells several interwoven tales of The Film Addicts- lovers, consumers and creators of all things cinema. After graduating from film school, they each went their separate ways, to carve out their place in film history. Years later, they all end up returning one by one to the old student dorms, now owned by one of The Addicts. The main driving plot amongst these stories is the search for the lost Borgia films, created by a psychopath using actual footage of murders he committed. The films, when played together, are said to cause insanity and uncontrollable violence. The Addicts hope to find and screen these lost evil films.
Throughout the entire story are countless film references. It is clear that Watt lives and breathes cinema. Everything The Addicts think, do and say reflects on some aspect of filmmaking. From quotes and references, to the technical aspects and history of film and film equipment, Watt definitely knows his stuff. The book’s blurb declares “If you do not love film… If you do not wish to devour it as it devours you… If all you seek from film is entertainment…This is not the book for you.” I don’t entirely agree with that. I only understood a fraction of the movie references, and almost none of the technical references. Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a learning experience and a glimpse into a passion filled world that I probably never would have been able to see without this book. The experience certainly would have been much richer had I already been an insider to this part of the world.
One of the most intriguing parts of this world Watt has created is the mythos of the Dark Gods of Filmmaking. These are all-powerful deities that preside over different aspects of filmmaking. Cinemagog is their Zues, the father of all Film Gods. The lesser Gods range from Dollirostrum (God of the Grips) to Yapim (God of Producers) to Poesner (God of Hair, Make-up and Wardrobe) and many more. The mythos surrounding these Gods is interesting and mysterious. Some of the younger film students only consider them to be a fun story, while some of the older Addicts consider them much, much more.
While clearly set in a modern and realistic world, there are certain changes that bring a certain fantasy element to the tale. The Addicts all do something called “flixing” in which they take individual frames of film and place them on their tongues. This produces a hallucinogenic-like experience that varies based on what sort of scene they are flixing on. An addict that over-flixes can run the risk of cuts appearing all over their skin like the perforated sprocket holes on the edges of film. As the story goes on, more and more strange events start to take place as the narrative takes a definitely weird turn.
Almost as a post-script, Watt includes a few “Deleted Scenes” after the conclusion of the main story. These read as totally separate, standalone plotlines, but within the same universe and setting as the main story. These Deleted Scenes are really where the most horror is to be found. What Happened To The Guy Before Me? tells of a filmmaker who takes a job working nights in a dim and desolate film processing plant, where he encounters something dark and strange. The Marie Browning Code is the story of a film student who tries to take his flixing to a new level and actually enter the story. The Worthless Life And Pointless Death Of Angela St. Satan follows a film critic who is looking into the disappearance of a less-than-B-list actress. These three short horrors alone would be worth the price of admission.
From a purely horror aspect, Hot Splices is rather light reading. With the exception of the horrific Deleted Scenes, the horror elements are very faint and only touched on in the main plotline. This might be considered weird fiction, but with a dark vibe. It really defies classification. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Watt crafts a dark, intricate world that truly draws you in. The premise and the details are genuinely unique. The characters are real and dynamic. I’m no film buff by any means, but I am extremely glad that I read this book.
Home Grown Horror 