Splinter (V)
| release date | April 14 2009 |
| studio | Magnet Releasing (Magnolia) |
| director | Toby Wilkins |
| writer | Berry and Ian Shorr |
| starring | Paulo Costanzo, Jill Wagner, Shea Whigham |
| rating | R |
| site | splinterfilm.com |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
ad
-
Most Popular
Most commented on articles over the past 7 days.
Featured Stories
Top Stories From Bloody Disgusting
-
1 Comments
Its not a bad movie, but there again its not brilliant either. Acting pretty solid, good special effects but theres one or two holes in the plot. you never know how they became infected, were it came from so it does leave you a little bit puzzled, but its not bad and only 80 minutes long.
Splinter is a welcome surprise to our favorite genre. Aside from the slight overuse of the handi cam, Splinter is rock solid. Splinter maintains it’s indie look, while also having the ability to appeal to a mainstream audience as well. Theres plenty of goodies in the package for us gore hounds as well.
Do yourself a favor, and do whatever you can to catch a screening of Splinter. I have a feeling you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I was very happy at how this movie turned out. I really liked the movie. The creature effects were sweet and the acting wasnt that bad. Very good movie.
I saw this befor the movie came out it was great.
Its realy annoying to see that this fun and blood packed piece of junk gets so overrated i mean its kinda good cause its really fun but it was really stupid and this had the worse creature and special effects i have ever seen on a movie like the scene of the hand i was laughing my ass off in that part.
The splinter creature was off the charts! This movie had the gore as well. It was a quick fast paced movie with tons of thrills and emotion, I sat there and was disappointed it was over in such a hurry, that’s how much fun I had watching this. Magnet has been putting out some great movie’s lately and this is a cut above the rest, check out splinter you will not be disappointed!
I’m just not getting it. Not at all. This flick was only mildly entertaining at best. Right off the bat, there’s no way you actually believe that our protagonists are an actual couple. They are *horribly* mismatched in terms of chemistry, and their acting talents, marginal to start with, seem further strained as a result. The actors portraying the bad guy and his chick are much more believable, so that’s a plus. Then there were all the little, but highly unrealistic things that bothered me: the bad guy constantly takes his eyes of the hostages, gun out of hand, leaving himself vulnerable to being taken over — and these sort of things happened over and over again, in different ways too numerous to describe. Then, top of the 3rd act, there are some hilariously poor attempts at levity, romance, and character redemption — poorly conceived, and rendered! So bad that the whole film becomes completely amateur. Then, after some *major* surgery (an amputation!), a character ends up carrying on as usual, minus and kind of anesthesia, etc. Horrible, horrible, horrible — all the way around. And lastly, I am sooooooooo tired of flicks getting a free pass for blood, guts and gore! Fuck you gorehounds already! That shit is steadily *ruining* the genre. Hold a director’s feet to the fire and demand that they actually begin crafting some genuine tension and thrills — and a good story, too! Imagine that! This flick is so-so, at best.
Creepmaster_x what movie were you watching??? This is one of the best creature movies in a long time.
The really annoying thing about this movie is that there’s a great little film under a lot of dross which ruins the whole experience. The criminal couple are a nice duo, even if the female overacts to absurdity at times. However the hero couple who we as the viewers should be rooting for, come off as annoying the male is such a completely useless pussy and his partner is so accepting of his ineptitude it’s unbeleivably annoying. Why the hell didn’t he take the gun from the woman when they were checking on the obviously dead “Ginger” ridiculous.
As for the creature itself, great idea terrible execution. Every time something happened onscreen the camera would jump around as if the operator was having a fit. However we get to enjoy lingering shots of a guy trying to hook a walkie talkie with a coat hanger ‘awesome’. The creature could have been a black bag or a cuddly toy. There was just no opportunity to get a decent look at it. If it had been handled as a parasitic version of the infected from 28 Days Later, I think the whole film would have been much more effective. As for the hand chasing the survivors through the gas station, well it was just laughable. The fact that the same idea was executed so much better in John Carpenters ‘The Thing’ decades ago is shameful.
One of the best and original creature films in a long time.
Very creepy concept with good effects and acting. I thoroughly enjoyed this!
i loved this movie was original and different Paoulo was amazing, the tension established worked brilliantly and constantly kept me guessing throughout the entire movie, the gore was brilliant and really shocking loved the tension established in the confined space of the gas tension, to sum up incredibly good tense creepy fun packed must see
I kinda thought Splinter was overrated. I kept hearing how this was the greatest horror film of the year–easily, along with Martys–and I could not wait to get my hands on it.
Well, once I did, I watched it…and thought it was okay. I won’t lie, I thought Lake Dead was a better film (I know I might get de-Bloodied for this one, but it’s truth). BUT, I will say that it’s worth a watch. I mean, there are some good kills and tension is definitely there.
But, yeah, not sure why the major hype…
I have been reading the reviews and a lot of you are complaining about the handi-cam work. You have to remember this movie was shot on a limited budget so it was a must use on the creature due to the lack of funding for the effects. For me, the movie worked on a levels and I enjoyed it. That is saying a lot since horror has been mostly straight garbage lately. I am starting to think smaller budget works for horror so it keeps the writers and director from adding too much BS to the films. At just over an hour this movie gets to the point with no extra boring fottage. Buy this one, it is a great time.
Oh lord, this was like being on a roller coaster, EXACTLY like being on one. It’s starts off abit slow, it starts to rise in action and anticipation. Then, you’re at the..hill or whatever and you don’t know what to expect but it’s brutal. When you’re going down..or upsidedown, there are twists and turns each filled with fun exhiliration. Plus it’s also shaky like being on one, but no motion sickness. In the end, you’ll be left feeling relieved..somewhat..but you’ll want so much more. This movie ruled the rulebook of breaking rules, finally I can say there’s a good American horror movie I’ve recently seen. Watch this, it’s sick..like needles make crackn’ bone mutation and gas wonders sick.
I was waiting to see this movie for a really long time, since of course movies like this are limited releases and never come out to theaters by me unless I want to drive an hour or fly a plane to New York or sometihng. I was not dissapointed with this movie, it was what I expected, in a good way, and more so much more. This movie was pretty gory and at times very awesome effects and it had some great moments to it. Check this movie out NOW. You will not regret it. 8/10! Also it helped that I saw this movie at a screening,
, with the director sitting about 4 seats away from me and I got to see his reactions to the crowds laughing and messing around lol. Wilkins has a future, but Grudge 3 is sh** and may hurt him. 8/10!
just bought this off Amazon (along with SHIVER), hope it is as much fun as FEAST was!!
NOTE: i’m rating this with a 5 just to i can post this. i’ll REPOST my review once i’ve received it from Amazon and watched it
The most fun I’ve had watching a horror film in ages. Great characters, who I actually cared about, and a fun premise.
This is a great little horror flick with a unique and frightening creature, great acting, and enough gore gags to make even hard-core horror hounds grin. I highly recommend SPLINTER!
another movie that is once again way overrated…i didnt reallly care about the characters and the movie was just plain boring at parts….the only thing i liked about the movie was the creature and i got bored with that after the first 40 minutes and was just waiting for this movie to end
Thought it was good. Good character development and cool creature effects, though sometimes it’s hard to see cause of the shaky cam.
This is a little know horror film that you are either going to love it or hate it. I personally usually hate films about organisms or bacteria that mutate but I liked this film.
It takes itself serious enough to pass as a harrowing experience. I enjoyed the simplicity of the story and the suspense it was able to build. Well directed, well acted and and suspense driven. Its not for gore hounds its more for those that would rather see something that will get your heart rate up. I think this would be a decent date movie if your both in the mood.
Easily one of the better american releases for the genre for 2008.
This was amazing. A new and original refreshing amercan horror.
It had tension, atmosphere, story and good effects. This is the kinda movies I wanna watch. Had me in wondering whats next as soon as the shit hit the roof. If you still have not seen it then your missing out big time!
Saw this last week and fuckin loved it. I was shocked at how good it was and don’t understand why it didn’t get a theatrical run.
***Slight spoiler***
It’s not the goriest movie ever but I will never forget the arm breaking/amputation scene. That made me cringe.
Really like this movie! It was really diff. and creative. they did a great job making it giving it a creepy vibe. i didnt like the little jewish guy, he was a terrible actor. but the rest of the characters were pretty good. ‘
really liked it, gonna watch it again…
Interesting, unique, engaging, tense, fairly believable and to the point (no pun intended). Everything a “monster” flick needs to be. Best part- it’s not totally predictable. Watch it.
Another over glorified piece of shit film. Ohh no its an organism that grows in its host in the form of a splinter, hence the creative and unique name. lol. Seriously this film is re-done crap that smelled of tremors and feast… Really not worth the time it takes to watch.
I am really amazed at the amount of praises this movie is receiving on a site where the creators and members are supposedly huge fans of the horror genre (this is not an attack, just something I wanted to point out)
This movie for me, in a word, was crap.
Dont get me wrong, its not the worst horror movie i’ve seen by any means.
I see people describing this movie as “fresh”, “original”, “unique”, and even “amazing”….
I cant comprehend this, unless I saw a different movie called “Splinter” with the same exact poster art and actors because this was just a sub-par movie.
The only redeeming factor for me was that the acting isnt horrible.
I dont hate this movie or anything, I just cant seem to find anything that stands out except for the sequence *spoiler*>>>>>>
where the guys arm is amputated with a box cutter and cinderblock (I cringed)
<<<<<*spoiler over*
Also, I enjoyed Quarantine and Cloverfield and was able to withstand the camera. This movie isnt even supposed to be from that point of view and the camera work is even more nausciating. Why the hell cant we see the monster for more then .5 of a second?
If I could go back in time, i’d skip this one.
Funny how you get people who hate this movie and say it’s NOT “unique” or “original” but then gave movies like Final Destination 3 and Jason Takes Manhattan 9′s. So, who do you trust? Everyone has their own opinions I guess, but sometimes those opinions are just plain stupid
Down to the nitty gritty. The movie really is quite a breath of fresh air. After the barrage of barrage of zombie and slasher movies as of late, it’s nice to have something that focuses on something a little more terrifying.
The sheer sense of claustrophobia this movie creates is astonishing. It’s such a simple and seemingly derivative idea, but the characters, the atmosphere and the overwhelming sense of terror really keeps you glued to the screen. Not to mention, this is a SMART horror film. Rather then your typical rag tag group of teen misfits that simply run and hide for their lives only to be hacked to bits by their own incompetence, you actually have thinkers in this movie (Paulo Costanzo’s character in particular); people who are forced to figure out what this creature is that’s hounding them, how to kill it and how to escape.
To top it off, the film has bad ass old school effects. Something that’s always been near and dear to my heart, especially when it comes to the creature feature genre. The goddamn splinter monster is just so freaking awesome looking in theory and execution; some brains actually went into the creature’s actions.
One more awesome tid bit: Paulo Costanzo, the main character, was totally the brilliant Jewish pot smoking kid from Road Trip. Nice to see him in this role; really shows his ability to diversify.
A pretty decent organism gets you from the inside film that even managed to make me jump once or twice.
for a small budget film this was a entertaining monster film that I enjoyed very much I think I will watch it again right now. I love digital film it is a blessing from above.
After hearing some very respectable and positive comments on horror sites and just the internet in general, I decided to give it a try. Although, I was skeptical about seeing the film, hence the shaky-camera. After I saw the film, I thought that this was the best horror film this year. It certainly is the most original and I am very picky when it comes to horror films. I look for a strong script, decent performances, and some outrageous and grotesque kills. Splinter had all of these and even stood on it’s own.
This was probably one of the few films that scared me along with The exorcist and Evil Dead. It certainly made me jump numerous times and I cringed at when are characters were being in trouble and struggling. The film also doesn’t use gratuitous gore display to make up for scares. The creepy atmosphere, the great performances, and the suspense inducing moments do. Toby Wilkins is certainly at adept directing horror films and clearly knows a good horror film.
The film also offers some of the goriest deaths I’ve seen, which is a bonus. The monster in the film is definitely original and not cliche like let’s say a dinosaur or some other recycled creature. The film was certainly ambitious and made me frightened and this is coming from a desensitized horror freak.
Overall, Splinter is the highlight of 2008. It certainly has the guts (no pun intended) to be an original film and a hardcore one at that. It can be suspenseful while also grotesque without taking away from the experience, it actually enhances it. A great film all around.
Splinter was a very creepy and such an original film. i loved it. it had me frightened as i was watching it. Th e splinters were absolutely well executed and they couldnt have done a better job at it. a cult classic, in my opinion. check it out.
Awesome creature feature! Original, creepy as hell monster. Sub-par acting but still found myself rooting for the characters, definitely a good one. Highly recommended!
I very much enjoyed this movie and I am extremely impressed at how well it was made especially since it is an independent film.
The acting was great, the creature and gore effects were amazing and the soundtrack was bizzare!
definitely a great movie to watch!!
10/10
This was one vicious and intense creature feature that entertains as well as terrifies and grosses out. I thought the acting was surprisingly strong and the idea was simple but clever, the filming was also good creating a 1970′s early 1980′s feel. This movie kept me on the edge of my seat for 82 minutes with its jolts and monster action and its strong lead actors. The thing that kind of bothered me was that it didn’t fully explain where the nasty creature came from other than it’s attracted to heat and the film could of been a little bit longer. Overall this is one solid creature feature that I hope has a sequel on the way because I really enjoyed this. Recommended!
Awesome creature feature.
this is the right kind of movie we want from usa. I’m Italian and love horror movies. I’m very tired of a lot of american movies like the saw or hostel. Small projects like this one, with simple ideas, good actors, good cinematography and screenplay needs to be made more often than now.
Special Effects are fantastic and related to the right suspence and stress-up situations, nothing is really out of the right place!
please…do this movies in America! we need of them!
I loved this movie! Fuckin awesome movie.
A good old fashioned horror movie where the characters hide inside a building and try to keep the evil out. What gave this one a nice twist was what they were fighting against. It was definitely unique in that respect.
Damn awesome movie!!! Great creature that just kept getting creepier and creepier. Very good acting and the story was tight and made you care. The effects were to die for- I mean the part where the guys arm is getting cut off?? I had to look away it was so real! I am way impressed with this film and it is one of the best I have seen this year by far! Wonderfully intense!!
I was pleasantly surprised by this low budget shocker!
I thought the suspense was excellent and the cinematoghraphy was first class!
I would say a must see for suspense and short sharp shock seekers!!
A low-budget monster movie with believable f/x and actual character development? Holy crap, this was a good movie. The gore wasn’t gratuitous, but it was definitely effective. I was cursing up a storm during one of the more intense scenes so I’m glad I didn’t see it in a movie theater (I refuse to be one of *those* people).
You simply have to love the plot of this film. A Ph.D. graduate student, his good looking girlfriend, and an escaped convict murderer and big rig thief get trapped together in an isolated gas station in Oklahoma. Their enemy is a bizarre heat-seeking virus that infects people and animals alike making them all murderous zombies of sorts. This is what I would call a situational horror film, and unlike many other films in the subgenre it actually works quite well.
This has one some the best effects I’ve ever seen for a low budget horror, I didn’t even realise it was low budget until I read some the comments now! It is a fantastic, intense and original film. The creature looked so creepy and I loved the way it could pass on to anyone who got a splinter in them. The arm scene actually made me cringe! And I don’t cringe that easily. The only fault I would give is that the camera was alittle too shaky whenever action sequeneces came on so it was hard to know what was going on! But apart from that this is a bloody intense and simple shocker that will have you on the edge of your seat
Oh, gosh. I don’t know what appealed to me exactly from this movie but damn – I loved it. When it was nominated for an award at Scream 2009, I freaked out in delight. Anyway, watch this movie. It’s amazing and not a waste of time.
Last night, I picked up a copy of Splinter on Blu-Ray while on date night with my girlfriend at Barnes And Noble. Splinter is yet another film which made a splash on the festival circuit and never a nationwide theater release. I can’t really nail down a reason one of the major studios didn’t pick this film up, because it could have done pretty well at the box office with the right marketing, but they passed on another good one. Magnet, the genre/foreign film arm of Magnolia pictures have been putting together a solid, respectable catalog of releases. They’ve added another title to that fast growing list with Splinter.
There’s one thing I have to say up front. This was shot digitally. Digital filming can often lead to real problems with quality of image. Though it’s usually extremely clear, it can produce an image which audiences in no way relate to being cinematic or of film quality. There’s too much depth of field, the lighting can be problematic, any number of things can cause issues with digital filming. Though I appreciate the kind of grand, cinematic style of films like There Will Be Blood or No Country For Old Men and absolutely love the beauty of the photographic quality of the worlds they create, I in no way think it’s an absolute necessity in making a good film or telling a good story. A good story, well told, is a good story, well told, and sometimes lack of quality in the image can be useful, depending on the story itself. I’m not mentioning all of this because Splinter has the problems so often related to digital imagery, I’m actually mentioning it specifically because it doesn’t, and in the Hi-Def Blu-Ray format, it’s gorgeous. Director Toby Wilkins and cinematographer Nelson Cragg really did a great job with the look of this film. It has some great warmth and depth in the spots it needs to and a very hard, icy cold feeling where it’s needed as well.
With that out of the way, a short synopsis. A couple on their way to a hotel from a botched attempt at a camping expedition run into something they weren’t expecting in the form of another couple. The two couples, then run into something even less expected as they continue on down the road.
That doesn’t tell you anything, does it? Well, that’s the point. You’re better off seeing this one with as little information as possible. I’ll give you one more piece of information, because it might specifically be the kind of thing to make you decide whether or not you’re going to see it. It’s essentially, a really well made monster movie.
Monster movies have made something of a comeback in the last few years, with both Feast and Slither making good money on DVD, Cloverfield raking in the dough in theaters, The Host making a big splash in the overseas market and a load of other films doing relatively well. Splinter is without a doubt one of the better monster movies to come along in a good while. It lacks the tongue in cheek, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, quality of Feast or Slither, the grandiosity of Cloverfield or the melodrama aspects of The Host. Don’t get me wrong, if you’ve read through my entry A Decade Of Horror: And It Was Good, you know I really liked at least three of those films. The fourth, Cloverfield, was a fun film in the theaters, but specifically because of it’s grandiose scale lost some of it’s luster on DVD. No one’s living room is quite the same as a theater full of people, and I’ve never seen anyone’s living room contain a screen large enough to convey the scale of the monster.
Splinter avoids all of that because three quarters of the film takes place in a convenience store/gas station. There are a total of six characters in the film, from beginning to end, and a creature which is ingenious. Of the many things which work well in this film, one of the strongest is the choice to not linger on and show the creature off. There’s none of the camera falling in love with the monster, holding a long, drawn out shot, as if the director is saying, “Look how cool my big latex covered monster is!” It’s always shot from the point of view of the other characters, which makes it even more creepy and unnerving. It’s a great example of the theory that you don’t have to show the entire monster, but just aspects of it, to create some real tension and give the sense that the characters are in real danger.
It manages to be solid storytelling, with good performances, an interesting, unusual and unnerving creature, well designed and executed effects, and very well shot. This isn’t the best film of the year, but I’m willing to bet that the statement on the cover claiming it to be the best monster film of the year is true. Splinter is absolutely worth a look.
This is one of the best horror/monster movies I have seen in quite some time. For a low budget film, the splinter creatures and effects are great. The way the creatures moved reminded me of the creepy disjointed crawl the gal did in The Grudge, except these lifeforms are gorier, more violent, and much cooler. Most of the story plays out mostly in one setting, but you don’t need much else because it is an involving and tense ride. The “arm scenario” later in the film is cringe-worthy—-definitely a scene that comes up in talk with other people who have seen it.
I wish the poor dog hadn’t gotten it, poor thing
anyway I loved the movie I really hope they come out with a sequel. 10/10.
Hmmmmmmmmmm Its Differnet
Geez…once again, I’ve been betrayed by you guys. I read so many “awesome” reviews about this movie. And myself, being a huge fan of monster films and all hyped up about it, decided to sit down and watch this with my wife. My god… this was horrible. I mean the idea was cool, but the execution was totally unrealistic(other than the creature which, of course, is fiction). The characters weren’t panicked enough. At least up until the director had one of their creatures run up in the actor’s faces. And wth was that guy doing in the car when the monster attacked? he leaned into the passenger seat and somehow came out of it unharmed. The door was wide fucking open!!! This movie just flippin pissed me off. I don’t have the heart to continue downing it.
I bought this movie just for it’s cover, I havn’t expected much, but I was really surprised. I love the way it is filmed and the anti hero characters. The plot might not be the most intelligent and I have seen better amputation scenes, but the idea of this monster is pretty cool. And I really appreciate
the fact that the writers Berry and Ian Shorr have invented a new story instead of just writing a remake of a ‘real horror classic’ that sucks!!!
So thumbs up for this B-movie
Had to check this one out, with all the good reviews and every time I’ve seen it in stores they want over $22.00 for the dvd. This movie has to be good and it was. I enjoyed this movie simply because it was shot well, has good acting, and was a cool creative monster, and I got the dvd for only $5.00. The only thing is the body count was a little to low for me but other than that pretty good.
liked it
Splinter is a creepy sort of virus, monster movie that is quite original when it comes to its creature designs, but as for the rest of the story there is a little something to be desired. Toby Wilkins, who has mainly worked in special effects, has garnered a lot of praise in this indie flick for his directing abilities. This film got him his next job of directing The Grudge 3.
Seth and Polly are a young married couple from the city who are going on a camping trip to celebrate their anniversary. Seth is an intellectual city dork, while Polly is a hot, kick ass chick that makes all the decisions. How they ever got together is a complete head scratcher. Seth is working towards a Ph. D in biology, even though he is completely inept when in nature. Our modern society has lost touch with nature and the world around us. After Seth accidently breaks the tent trying to put it together they decide to stay at a motel. Before they get there, they are car jacked by Dennis and Lacey a kind of Bonnie and Clyde on there way to Mexico. After getting a flat tire the group ends up at an empty gas station where the bulk of the story takes place.
The Splinter monster is a parasite that clings to a host and grows spiny quills. As Seth explains it operates on a molecular level. It hunts by attacking heat sources. Lacey the drug addicted girlfriend is the first to fall victim to the monster. There is a really cool scene when Lacey’s hand is cut off and turns into a spider like creature that scurries around the floor inside the station. The violence and gore effects are pretty effective and well done. In another great scene, Seth has the gory job of cutting off Dennis’s arm with a box cutter, when it becomes infected. A golden rule when it comes to horror movies is that cops are never any help. That is true in Splinter as a female cop is dispatched with in a particularly gory fashion. Splinter builds a great deal of suspense in the fact that it doesn’t have a score or music in it.
As they try to survive their situation they notice that if they stay cold or in the freezers they will be invisible to the monster. This would make sense since they know it hunts through heat, but our characters fail to put two and two together until near the end of the movie. It gets worse when they help Seth lower his body temperature, so he can go outside and get the car. This is completely ridiculous and is truly far fetched, but can it be forgiven? This is a good movie that strives to be great and gets so close. Like most horror film the last frame sets up a possible sequel.
It was fun… 6.5
Splinter is a surprisingly well made movie! I wasn’t expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised with the production values, acting, and all around creepiness of the storyline. I recommend checking it out.
A great indie. I saw it on Sci Fi and loved it. I expected crap but got an awesome film. worth several veiws and had a great creature, laughs ,and gore. check it out
This movie is bloody and disturbing and is a whole lot better than it should be. Worth checking out!
Awesome movie. The practical effects were right on and the similarities to scenes from “The Thing” and “Evil Dead” were nostalgic in all the right ways without being insulting to their audience. Have to agree that some of the handheld shots were overindulgent, but that was probably to avoid any obvious criticism of the creature itself and it does work here. Highly recommend this to those who want to see a fun, gory, monster movie and take a trip back to what a b-movie ‘should’ be. FUN!
not too bad:)
An inventive monster movie reminiscent of monster movies of the past. Take some non-traditional characters, set monsters after them, and let’s see what happens. Also, one of the better amputation scenes I have seen in the past few years. More details here:
http://thewolfmancometh.com/2010/06/03/splinter-2008/
Entertaining.
Very entertaining movie. Scared the shit out of me too. Loved how it connects to other bodies.
Limited gore,scary,entertaining,nice script,good cast and creepy.
Next time I get a splinter I’m going to freak the hell out.
I’m sure a lot of people have already seen this, since it’s been on SyFy. It’s a little like “The Blob”, except with splinters. Well-acted, great pace, great f/x, and fairly original. What’s not to like?
great lil movie, def worth checkin out its better than alot of these big studio flops
“You can’t change a tire, but you sure know how to chop off an arm.” – Finally got around to watching this quirky little item from my DVD collection and it is certainly a good romp. A little claustrophobic, but in a good way… the “How the hell are we gonna get out of here?” way. Good solid leads and great creature effects. I recommend it to all horror movie fans with strong stomachs.
Excellent under the radar flick
Good small budget film that was a pleasent surprise to watch.
cool little low budget film to watch. typical scenarios, but done in a refreshed kind of way. the acting wasn’t very good except for S. Whigham who did a good job. the thing that i liked about this film was the monster. pretty cool how they brought it to life on the screen. reminded me of a video game monster or something. anyway’s check it out cuz its worth seeing.
At Last! An Original horror film. This movie mimics nothing. It totally stands on its own two feet, I was not expecting such a great looking movie from such a low budget production company. I Loved It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the better creature features to hit the shelves in recent years. Along with a original monster(loved the body horror/reanimation angle!), the acting was surprisingly good; as was the convincing f/x. The horror genre is awash is crappy monster flicks; it’s refreshing to find one as good as Splinter; check this one out!
Fresh and creative, but not amazing or great, just good.
Alright nothing special.
Take a premise in which people are trapped in a gas-station, add a little fun twist to it, and you’ve got my attention and my support. The last good gas-station horror flick I saw was “The Mist”, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Now comes “Splinter”, which is much lesser known, but alas, equally as entertaining.
The trick to making a good gas-station horror film is to not make the gas-station the “wrong one”. There are horror films that deal with “wrong gas-stations”, and this is not one of them. “The Mist” is not a “wrong gas-station movie” because for one, it does not take place in a gas-station, and two, it does make it clear that people were screwed whether they hid out in a house, a grocery store, or a gas-station alike.
“Splinter” is clever when it all comes down to the final result. I liked it; it’s a well-made creature feature that feels like some sort of 80′s homage; made better through the fact that this may not be the intentional aim. It’s about as funny as it is scary; which makes for a nice blend considering the amount of mediocre to down-right crap that comes out of the horror genre these days. “Splinter” is a nice, fast-paced, and imaginative ride.
Two couples come across each-other in a twist of what I would call fate. One is an innocent, typical couple; one contains a criminal. They drive, together, to the nearest gas-station they can find. The same one that we saw in an opening prologue that involved a guy getting killed by an infected mammal; presumably a porcupine. The first thing that the characters notice is a corpse, which slowly- very slowly- starts to move its way toward them in a zombie-like trance and fashion.
They lock themselves inside the gas-station; reluctant to go outside in fear of being infected by this virus that has spread to the body outside. There it lies, for almost too long, alongside the girl-friend of the criminal. He is compelled to go out there and try to comfort his love, but little does he know, she is indeed laden with infectious zombie-quills and a certain thirst for blood.
I liked this movie because it doesn’t take itself as seriously as it could have. If it had gone in that direction, I probably would have hated it, or at least forgotten it, but the film is impressively handled. For what it is, the film is directed with skill and well-acted; suffering only from a lack of explanation for one big- very big- question; how the hell did the porcupine get infected?
That question may never get answered. But it doesn’t need to be. “Splinter” is not a masterpiece for its genre, but merely a fun time at the movies. That’s all I needed from it. That’s all I WANTED from it. And that’s what I got; a whole lot of fun. For an independently made flick, the production design is good without being overly slick, and it comes to show that a lower budget may indeed accumulate to more creativity. This is a good thing. In fact, this is a wonderful thing; and real horror filmmakers all started out in this position. Director Toby Wilkins, who also wrote the film and created its monstrous virus, has a future ahead of him, but the road ahead is dimly lit, so I can’t say it’s a predetermined “good one”. But I’ll hope for the best.
Watched this a couple of days ago wasn’t expecting much if im honest so I was surprised how fantastic the gore and transformation scenes were, but the story wasnt very original and was getting pretty predictable I found myself watching for monsters rather than any character development but the film was shot well clearly inspired by ‘John Capenters The Thing’.
Making a conscious effort not to focus on the hybrid’s or gore scenes but rather do close ups and shakey cams of the gore which were really wwell executed but towards the end i was just like lets cut all the bullshit show me the damn monster this aint cloverfeild.
Worth watching once but if you want to see it done right go and watch Carpenters ‘the thing’
A fine example of an AWESOME indie horror that uses great special effects and character development. I love it when the bad guys and the good buys have to sorta team up to fight a horror that’s after them both. Great movie, I really really recommend it, it’s one of my favorites.
I liked this movie. It was fun and gore all together. Splinter is obviously not expensive movie, but the cast is decent, story is interesting, gore is spectacular, and it’s even funny in a good way. It’s very enjoyable little movie, and it’s always fun to watch it again. It’s a great low budget indie horror and really deserves more attention.
Occasionally, a low-budget horror film with a simple premise will sneak to my attention and pleasantly surprise me. Splinter, the 2008 thriller/creature feature directed by Toby Wilkins, is a solidly grotesque, unashamedly hilarious homage to 80’s drive-in B-movies that packs an equal amount of supernatural and body horror into a pleasantly powerful 82-minute punch.
Somewhere in rural Oklahoma, Seth Belzer and Polly Watt are setting up for a romantic anniversary evening under the stars. After a failed attempt to set up camp in the wilderness, they drive toward town only to be carjacked by two drug-addicted convicts, Dennis and Lacy. The couple is taken hostage and head toward the border of Mexico, but a flat tire caused by a mysterious spiked creature deters their plans. The foursome retreat to a gas station, but soon are violently attacked by a humanoid displaying the same spiked deformities as the dead animal on the highway. Quickly, it becomes clear that Dennis and Lacey are on the run from more than the law and that the group must fight together to survive.
Aided by exceptional make-up, stop-motion animation, and minimal CG, the film’s terrifying moments are plentiful. As Brad Miska says of the special effects, “Most importantly is the special FX, which are a mix between CGI and practical FX. During most of the creature shots, it looks as if there’s a real corpse on screen. We see limbs crack and break, corpses slam themselves into the glass, monsters tearing people apart, and even more shocking is the limb removal sequence […] When one of the character’s arms becomes infected, they’re forced to amputate, which is a brutal and uncomfortable moment highlighted by exquisite special FX.”
Though the premise of the film is dangerously susceptible to becoming boring, predictable, corny or even tacky, Wilkins manages to successfully navigate a narrative that is as engaging as it is fun. Seth, played by the ever-lovable Paulo Costanzo (Road Trip, Everything’s Gone Green), is a clumsy intellectual whose problem-solving skills make him the unlikely hero of the film; though mousy, his character never feels emasculated or patronized for his lack of brutishness (which is well made-up-for by Shea Wingham’s Dennis). The film is also careful not to pull away too quickly from the conflict between the two couples; not long before they were fighting off splinter monsters with a baseball bat together, Dennis was pointing a gun to Polly’s head. The tension created early in the film with the failed camping trip and kidnapping establishes a lack of trust within the group that is maintained throughout the final scene. Offering a simple story and well-rounded characters that never disappoint, Splinter is a sure addition to my personal library of horror film.