Mendel has a lot to answer for this week, as we take a look at seven of the greatest science experiments in the movies…
The Fly
Jeff Goldblum plays the brilliant but eccentric scientist who attempts to build a teleportation machine and eureka, it works! Things take a dark turn when he telports himself when a fly enters one of the transmission booths, and Brundle suddenly finds he is a changed man. “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
Spider-Man
Being bitten by a genetically enhanced spider seems to work wonders for the the local nerd Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), but not so much for his nemeses and their experiments gone awry. Examples: Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) turning into the Green Goblin or Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) turning into Doc Ock…
Jurassic Park
You find dinosaur DNA in a prehistoric mosquito and combine it with frog DNA, build a theme park full of cloned dinosaurs and invite the family. Surely this can’t go wrong, eh Stephen Spielberg?
Frankenstein
Based on Mary Shelley timeless novel, an obsessed scientist (Colin Clive) believes he can reanimate life and so goes about assembling a living being from parts of exhumed corpses and bringing him to life with electricity. He succeeds – and the Monster (Boris Karloff) is born!
Species
A scientific team receives a transmission detailing an alien DNA structure, along with instructions on how to splice it with human DNA. The resulL Sil (Natasha Henstridge), a sensual but deadly creature who can change from a beautiful woman to reptile-like killing machine in the blink of an eye – and she’s looking for someone to breed with…
Weird Science
What do two teenage boys want the most in the world? The perfect woman, of course! Enterta Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) and Gary (Anthony Michael Hall), two nerds who create Lisa (Kelly LeBrock) – and proceed to have their world rocked, for better or worse.
Gattaca
Eugenics is the name of the game in this Ethan Hawke blockbuster. Hawke plays a man born without the use of this tech and finds himself in a society that, regardless of genetic discrimination laws, doesn’t allow “In-Valid”s such as himself to do much. Pursuing his own dream of becoming an astronaut, Hawke plays a game of DNA identity theft which seems to work out for him, until that “borrowed” DNA turns up at a murder scene…