Chimera Strain

Featuring towering performances from Henry Ian Cusick and especially Kathleen Quinlan Chimera Strain is a film that will take you by surprise. The set designs are phenomenal with a blueish hue that is always welcome for science fiction lovers and the story- although a bit confusing at times is good enough for the audience to relate with. This low budget film doesn't look or feel low budget at all.

This is just one more "Scientist playing God and failing miserably" story. It doesn't matter that the reasons he fails are morally extinct and that the way he handles crisis is to succumb to apparent psychotic strength, because he is a nice scientist that can't do violence. A cliched and ridiculous promise that doesn't really do justice to scientists (or mad scientists for that matter). No person of science would be intimidated by a psycho boss lady and her uber strengthy hench... person. It took three thirds of the movie to reach an obvious conclusions, only to change things as a superfluous twist that no one needed.

Bottom line: a movie in which all people acted for the money, rather than for the idea of the film, resulting in a boring, cliched, pointless plot and a sub mediocre performance.

The only mystery & unrelated to storyline is what the DVD cover has to do with the story. It's probably the only sci-fi creepy part of this production. Cheap production of 90 min. in an abandoned industrial setting building w/mismatched high school bio science lab props to go along with a storyline based on high school biology stem cells and tissue repair along w/the equally ridiculous pop science connection to jellyfish repair, i.e. longevity. Another cheap was the constant droning of the background music which will make you turn the sound off. Poor script flow/editing made what ever semblance of a coherent story simply not happening. Acting was over-the-top Hollywood make believe scientists & associated characters.

Maurice Haemms's debut film is an overall winner in my book. The first time producer-director (and also the writer here) helms this movie confidently and is helped all the way by his talented actors. Both Quinlan and Ian Cusick are no strangers to cinema goers, but to see how an actor shines in low budget indies you can see them both give some of their finest career performances in this film. A note of mention for the exquisite set designs and the gorgeous cinematography. Chimera Strain is a fantastic entry in the thinking man's science fiction sub-genre.

Story is of a man who wants to treat his children's genetic diseases and follows how he tries to do it. Story line jumps all over the place. Very confusing to the viewer, especially at start. Acting was mediocre, sometimes a little poor, although the man was quite good. Editing was poor, poor composition of shots- sometimes very short shot lengths. Overall I did not really enjoy this movie, if your expectations are quite high I recommend you to avoid it