Splinter [Blu-ray]

 

 

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Splinter is one of those weird horror-style films that bases itself in having no well-known stars, and it doesn't suffer for that.

We begin, seeing a loving couple driving for a weekend away from it all, camping by a lake. Seth (Paulo Costanzo) is a biology PHD student, which helps him being the one who can understand the way the eventual baddies you see come about and move around, while Polly (Jill Wagner) is clearly way out of this geek's league, but for some reason, she loves him.

They're flagged down by a redneck couple. We know they're a bad lot because (a) they're portrayed as rednecks and (b) the man of the couple, Dennis (Shea Whigham), has a gun concealed about his person. Also, the girl, Lacey (Rachel Kerbs) looks so drugged out that it's amazing she can stand up. Before too long, as they're all having to change a tyre, Dennis gets a splinter from a burst tyre, which seems to be causing him some great discomfort as time goes on. Naturally, this signals something bad is going to happen to him.

Over the course of the 80 minutes for which this film runs, we see the result of a man infiltrated with spikes, body parts start moving about including a hand jumping about like an evil 'Thing' from the Addams Family, then gory stuff happens with very quick cuts in editing so it's not easy to see how people cop for it. Hence, there's no real scares, but it does have some nice tension at times.

It's difficult to recommend this as a purchase since, the question is - how often will you watch a film that's based on thrills that aren't usually repeatable for the same effect? That said, my favourite moment, which is gory-ish, comes at 37:54 as Seth looks towards the petrol station entrance door - perfect timing!

Finally, a mention that Jill hosts the US version of Wipeout, the gameshow with the big red balls, and from the look of her I can see why they then chose Amanda Byram for the UK version as they're very similar looking.

Splinter was my first Blu-ray disc but I'd experienced HD before and understand what I'm to expect. As such, the picture and sound are flawless. The film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and looks as highly detailed as you'd expect a high-definition picture to look which, in layman's terms, is like being able to watch on a larger screen but with the definition increased accordingly so it's not just a case of blowing up what you were last watching on a 32" screen which just results in getting a not-particularly-great picture. For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen.

The sound comes in Dolby TrueHD, DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 formats, plus a PCM stereo one if you haven't got any form of Dolby Digital/DTS equipment. I haven't got a Dolby TrueHD setup, which allows for a 7.1 surround speaker setup, but then I haven't got the room for that either, so DTS 5.1 will do nicely, sir. Highlights come with some excellent split-surround FX for ambience and also very disturbing bone-cracking sounds when the dead start walking again...

The extras are surprisingly sparse for a Blu-ray disc given the amount of space available, but begin with a couple of podcasts: The Wizard (1:09) about the guy who organises the pyrotechnics and How to make a splinter pumpkin (2:19) in which Jill Wagner talks us through this Halloween Blue Peter-style exercise.

There's a few mini-featurettes that do exactly what they say on the tin and mostly feature director Toby Wilkins talking: Building the gas station (1:53); Weather: Lots of it (1:56) - about the Oklahoma drenching rain; Shooting digitally (2:23) - about how it was filmed; Make up and creature tests: The Splinter creature (4:06) - looking at what the thing turns into; HD-net: A Look at Splinter (4:34) - an overview of the premise along with some clips; and Conceptual art gallery: The Creature (1:26) with some eerie music over the images.

If Audio commentaries are your bag, there's two here. One from the director and the three leads, and one also with the director but then also with cinematographer Nelson Cragg and film editor David Michael Maurer.

Oddly, after each extra plays out, it takes you back to the main menu, not the extras menu. Why?

Prior to the main menu comes something that should've been left behind in the age of rental video - trailers for forthcoming DVDs - well, just one in this case. There's the 'Extras' menu for this sort of things, hence, I'm not going to mention the title featured here. Elsewhere on the disc, there are subtitles in English only and there are just 12 chapters to the film, which isn't really enough as I work on a basis of one every five minutes, plus a separate one for the end of opening and beginning of closing credits.

Film: 6/10
Picture: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Extras: 3/10

There aren't many movies that I will be splashing out to replace my DVD copy with a Blu-ray but I couldn't resist Splinter at such a good price. This is a fun and original horror. It is full of gore, well scripted, has a magnificent cast, fantastic character development, awesome special effects and some spectacular gross-out moments! It takes a classic horror scenario (survivors holed up in a building - in this case a petrol station) but the concept of the parasitic monster brings flare to the genre. If you enjoy films like The Mist, The Thing and Night of the Living Dead, then you too will love this. This is a great Movie Made Even Better by Blu-ray.

This film turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Having just bought my Blu Ray player recently, I came across this in my local supermarket, and at what seemed a very good price for a Blu Ray disc. So being in awe of my new toy I took a punt on and it paid off.

Sure, splinter isn't the greatest film ever made, but nor is it the worst. I quite happily watched it a few nights ago and enjoy it more than I thought I would. The acting is good, and a small cast ensures this. It doesn't feel cheap, or look low budget in anyway, again due to a small set. And the SFX are good - with the way the monster looks and moves being genuinely creepy.

In fact, if I had 1 gripe about this film it would be that we didn't see more of the monster - or rather see it more clearly. The film, in points suffered from over use of 'shaking camera' syndrome, which meant you struggled to see the monster in all it's glory - which is a shame, because a lot of effort was put into it (watch the extras for more on that), and the director went to great length to ensure 'the actors had something to react to on set and didn't just have to try and act to a tennis ball on a stick or me saying, "it's going to be over there."
Good Job! and you succeeded in creating a really spooky monster - so lets see it! Don't be shy - next time show it off in all it's glory...

The plot was pretty straight forward but then again, that's what you want from this sort of film - and although the film was short, I actually think that that too turned out to be a plus... let me explain.

Splinter is a great film to turn on, tune in and drop out too. It requires no thinking. Just sit back and enjoy the ride and the fact that it's only 88 minutes long makes it a perfect film to just chuck on one night after work - or squeeze it sometime when you have an odd hour to spare.

In fact, when I think about it (taking into account my earlier points of a small cast and set and one suspects a low budget - although again, you don't get that from it at all), Splinter is actually a pretty smart film: the filmmakers recognised their limitations worked with what they had, and turned them into strengths.

7/10 - If you found this review helpful at all please give it the thumbs up! Thanks!

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3.0 out of 5 stars Novel Horror
This was well worth the money. It was an enjoyable horror with some good gore in. I reccommend this - even to buy.

Published 23 months ago by Alan Edwards

4.0 out of 5 stars Short & sweet.
Only 81 mins short, but better for it, plot wise, you've seen bits of it all before in various movies, Wrong turn, The thing, Night of the living dead, spring to mind, but it... Read more

Published on 8 Sep 2009 by C. Roberts

3.0 out of 5 stars Loses steam quickly
Bought this with high expectations. Quite bizarre with some freaky moments but otherwise I have no idea what the fuss is all about. Read more

Published on 12 July 2009 by Andries J. Hough

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad
This film is not bad, it's a bit daft in places and predictable but then the genre is tried and tested and this film is a credit to it. Read more

Published on 25 April 2009 by C. J. P

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