Ethically fraught science? Yes. Mad science? No Absolutely.
Splice got mixed reviews, but I thought it a pretty interesting exploration of genetic experimentation and bioethics, told much in the vein of Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein with some Miltonian overtones of forbidden fruit / tree of knowledge stuff, the allegorical fall and turning of a central winged being, and human frailty in the face of temptation.