A fable about human cloning, Billy Senese's Closer to God turns into a horror movie in its third act, while the first two consider the moral implications and social impact of said horrors. Victor Reed (Jeremy Childs) is both a neglectful father of two young girls, and a genetic scientist who encounters a tremendous social backlash when news leaks that he's successfully created a human clone, a baby girl named Elizabeth. (Considering how on-the-nose it was of Senese to name this modern Prometheus "Victor," especially since his onscreen adversaries go straight for the Frankenstein metaphor, it's a wonder he didn't name her Eve.) But unbeknownst to the angry mobs who camp outside Victor's stately manor and make no bones about the fact that they want to kill him in the name of their loving and merciful God, Elizabeth was not his first clone, and her predecessor is neither as adorable nor seemingly stable as she is. Shot in chilly, wintry tones, Closer to God can be seen as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unfettered progress (you're gonna get some murder spasms occasionally), or about how humans get easily riled up and will violently protest things they don't understand and which may be in their best interests. And the latter may be far more horrifying.
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