Closer to God

Mr. Senese, who wrote the script, has created a cautionary yarn with echoes of David Cronenberg's "The Brood" and an exaggerated sense of its own topical urgency.

With admirable economy, writer-director Billy Senese has crafted an eerie piece that's as much an effective cautionary tale as it is a stirring film of ideas - and ideals.

Senese raises weighty issues about the ethics of genetic engineering, about the boundaries between science and religion, test tubes and the Old Testament.

Tackles a controversial subject through the lens of sci-fi that manages to honor both fantastical and real-world concerns and hopes of what could be the next chapter in human evolution.