Don't waste your time
Added 11/1/2009
Once again, we have a horror film that's big on special effects and lacking in storyline. It's like a piece of fried chicken that's mostly batter. Taste great, less filling. It's not even very scary -- movies generally aren't when the monster is always in your line of sight (and have glaring Achilles' heels to boot). Frankly, the special effects aren't even that good if that's all you care about. Most of the time, the crew could be shaking a monster-sized mass of oily rags under a flickering fluorescent lamp, what with the herky-jerky quick edits that make the fungus-fueled beasts nearly impossible to comprehend. The acting is decent; the characters are generally believable (except for the escaped convict's "heart of gold" tale).
But back to the storyline (WARNING: SPOILER COUNTRY AHEAD!). It starts out so great, too, with two genres coming together in seemingly clever fashion -- crime drama and horror flick -- like peanut butter and chocolate. A guy on the run with his drug-addled girl toy hijacks a vacationing couple's SUV and kidnaps them, apparently so he doesn't have to drive. The action unfolds in an old-growth Oklahoma forest (sounds like paradise!) where there is some ongoing oil extraction taking place that has apparently dug up some ancient spores with the ability to resurrect dead flesh and make it thirst for living flesh. Of course, this isn't the official line; Mr. Almost Ph.D. (the boyfriend without a prison stint) has discovered that this psycho mold just feeds off things that have high temperatures -- leading to a lame joke involving kissing, as well as one host organism that launches itself at an overheated car like it's a long-lost lover and, inexplicably stays there long after the "love affair" has cooled off. Speaking of which, how is it possible this dead body in its car hood embrace would be overlooked when a police officer shows up to bag the prisoner (which is obvious when she notices the blood on the gas station's exterior from the dead junky's bashed brains)? And since when did firecrackers give off less heat than humans? I'm sure I'm leaving out some inconsistencies, but you get the idea.
If the action had been funnier -- like when the cop shows up and you just know she's going to be turned into a pin-cushion contortionist and everybody and their grandmother is telling her to get back into her squad car -- I might still have been able to recommend this film. After all, with a nod to John Carpenter's "The Thing," there ARE some good special effects and the makeup is above par. But the unfolding of events is generally dull, mainly consisting of reanimated flesh running into glass barriers and the characters showing off their lame survival skills. Eventually, the whole mismatched jigsaw fizzles out, with the one-armed frenemy muttering, "F**k," over and over like he forgot his lines, but more likely because he realized the production budget had hit a wall, which would explain what is probably the least explosive gas station fireball in the history of color film.
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Well-acted, inspired creature feature.
Added 10/25/2009
SPLINTER is that rare modern horror film: a creature feature supported by an interesting idea and solid acting. It revolves around a simple, novel idea: three people--an escaped convict and the vacationing couple he's taken hostage--stuck inside a gas station, while a parasitic monstrosity tries to get in.
That's not to say SPLINTER is the perfect horror movie; it revolves around the coincidences that plague the horror genre (one of the hostages just happens to be a biology doctoral candidate? Really?), and features one of those pat endings that infuriates me to no end. But the movie revels in its independent status (the special effects are delightfully cheap, the set small, the cast list consisting of, I believe, six people total), and manages to keep its running time short, under 90 minutes--the perfect length for this kind of film. SPLINTER doesn't break any new ground, but it's an interesting, engaging horror film that stands out from its peers on the market today.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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You always have to go the independent route it seems to find the more interesting horror films. If you were to judge from the opening moments of Splinter you might not make it through the film. The opening as it is involves visually what looks like a man being violated by a badger. Then you get into the main character story of actors that fall straight into their cliches from the nerdy scientist boyfriend played by Paulo Costanzo, his tough wilderness oriented girlfriend, and the hardened criminal who takes them hostage with his drug addled girlfriend. The cons spend too much time dropping the f-bomb and the film doesn't work.
Until everyone gets to the gas station and gets trapped inside the tight little set of a rural gas station with a creature outside fighting them to get in. The director Toby Wilkins in my opinion has made an amazingly tense little creature feature with an interesting monster in the form of parasitic splinters that take over the bodies of creatures they inhabit. The film as it is is intense survival horror with characters fighting to survive compounded by things like bodies that might not be dead and a lack of help. I liked the idea of a single set which is used to great effect by Wilkins and all the actors do good at never becoming annoying, especially Shea Whigam, a character actor who makes a good hero in the escaped convict. If theres one complaint against the movie it would be in the use of shaky combat cam. I can understand why its used here and thankfully its done better than in the recent Pandorum hiding problems with visual effects but the jerky editing and images still aren't a favorite film aspect of mine as I like to sometimes see what I'm supposed to be afraid of.
Still the movies a lot of fun for those who enter with the right expectations. Theres some gore, some violence but a lot of suspense that should have it. For the DVD Magnolia again steps forward and delivers a good disc with featurettes on aspects of the film, a making of that is disappointingly short and an engaging commentary from the director and cast.
I liked the film quiet a bit and recommend it for those seeking out something differnt than the normal studio horror film.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Horror Freak
Added 9/25/2009
For a low budget film this was really a great movie. I was surprised at how well the script was written and the acting was very good. If you like a good horror flick you will enjoy this one, I purchased it on other reviews that I had read on Amazon & I was not disappointed.There were some scenes with blood & gore when the monster was devouring people but unlike a lot of horror movies that are over rated; it was not based on an entire movie of nothing but blood & gore, I think anyone purchasing this movie won't be sorry, I know I am glad I addded it to my collection of "Horror Flicks".
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Splinter (Blu-Ray) thoughts
Added 8/25/2009
This movie deserves any praise it gets and certainly deserves more recognition than it has received. The characters are well developed and you find yourself actually giving a damn about them which is a rare thing for movies these days let alone horror movies which are usually just blood and guts torture porn with little plot other than the blood splattering the camera lens. The monster was very well done especially considering the budget this movie had to work with which just goes to show that sometimes a little creativity and imagination can meet and even surpass those films with much higher budgets to work with. Also, when it comes to the victims of the monster in this movie the effects were bone chilling.. or actually.. bone snapping and brutal and again surpassed expectations considering the budget. This film is a must have for any fan of horror as so much of it was just done right.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Don't waste your time
Added 11/1/2009
Once again, we have a horror film that's big on special effects and lacking in storyline. It's like a piece of fried chicken that's mostly batter. Taste great, less filling. It's not even very scary -- movies generally aren't when the monster is always in your line of sight (and have glaring Achilles' heels to boot). Frankly, the special effects aren't even that good if that's all you care about. Most of the time, the crew could be shaking a monster-sized mass of oily rags under a flickering fluorescent lamp, what with the herky-jerky quick edits that make the fungus-fueled beasts nearly impossible to comprehend. The acting is decent; the characters are generally believable (except for the escaped convict's "heart of gold" tale).
But back to the storyline (WARNING: SPOILER COUNTRY AHEAD!). It starts out so great, too, with two genres coming together in seemingly clever fashion -- crime drama and horror flick -- like peanut butter and chocolate. A guy on the run with his drug-addled girl toy hijacks a vacationing couple's SUV and kidnaps them, apparently so he doesn't have to drive. The action unfolds in an old-growth Oklahoma forest (sounds like paradise!) where there is some ongoing oil extraction taking place that has apparently dug up some ancient spores with the ability to resurrect dead flesh and make it thirst for living flesh. Of course, this isn't the official line; Mr. Almost Ph.D. (the boyfriend without a prison stint) has discovered that this psycho mold just feeds off things that have high temperatures -- leading to a lame joke involving kissing, as well as one host organism that launches itself at an overheated car like it's a long-lost lover and, inexplicably stays there long after the "love affair" has cooled off. Speaking of which, how is it possible this dead body in its car hood embrace would be overlooked when a police officer shows up to bag the prisoner (which is obvious when she notices the blood on the gas station's exterior from the dead junky's bashed brains)? And since when did firecrackers give off less heat than humans? I'm sure I'm leaving out some inconsistencies, but you get the idea.
If the action had been funnier -- like when the cop shows up and you just know she's going to be turned into a pin-cushion contortionist and everybody and their grandmother is telling her to get back into her squad car -- I might still have been able to recommend this film. After all, with a nod to John Carpenter's "The Thing," there ARE some good special effects and the makeup is above par. But the unfolding of events is generally dull, mainly consisting of reanimated flesh running into glass barriers and the characters showing off their lame survival skills. Eventually, the whole mismatched jigsaw fizzles out, with the one-armed frenemy muttering, "F**k," over and over like he forgot his lines, but more likely because he realized the production budget had hit a wall, which would explain what is probably the least explosive gas station fireball in the history of color film.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Well-acted, inspired creature feature.
Added 10/25/2009
SPLINTER is that rare modern horror film: a creature feature supported by an interesting idea and solid acting. It revolves around a simple, novel idea: three people--an escaped convict and the vacationing couple he's taken hostage--stuck inside a gas station, while a parasitic monstrosity tries to get in.
That's not to say SPLINTER is the perfect horror movie; it revolves around the coincidences that plague the horror genre (one of the hostages just happens to be a biology doctoral candidate? Really?), and features one of those pat endings that infuriates me to no end. But the movie revels in its independent status (the special effects are delightfully cheap, the set small, the cast list consisting of, I believe, six people total), and manages to keep its running time short, under 90 minutes--the perfect length for this kind of film. SPLINTER doesn't break any new ground, but it's an interesting, engaging horror film that stands out from its peers on the market today.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
You always have to go the independent route it seems to find the more interesting horror films. If you were to judge from the opening moments of Splinter you might not make it through the film. The opening as it is involves visually what looks like a man being violated by a badger. Then you get into the main character story of actors that fall straight into their cliches from the nerdy scientist boyfriend played by Paulo Costanzo, his tough wilderness oriented girlfriend, and the hardened criminal who takes them hostage with his drug addled girlfriend. The cons spend too much time dropping the f-bomb and the film doesn't work.
Until everyone gets to the gas station and gets trapped inside the tight little set of a rural gas station with a creature outside fighting them to get in. The director Toby Wilkins in my opinion has made an amazingly tense little creature feature with an interesting monster in the form of parasitic splinters that take over the bodies of creatures they inhabit. The film as it is is intense survival horror with characters fighting to survive compounded by things like bodies that might not be dead and a lack of help. I liked the idea of a single set which is used to great effect by Wilkins and all the actors do good at never becoming annoying, especially Shea Whigam, a character actor who makes a good hero in the escaped convict. If theres one complaint against the movie it would be in the use of shaky combat cam. I can understand why its used here and thankfully its done better than in the recent Pandorum hiding problems with visual effects but the jerky editing and images still aren't a favorite film aspect of mine as I like to sometimes see what I'm supposed to be afraid of.
Still the movies a lot of fun for those who enter with the right expectations. Theres some gore, some violence but a lot of suspense that should have it. For the DVD Magnolia again steps forward and delivers a good disc with featurettes on aspects of the film, a making of that is disappointingly short and an engaging commentary from the director and cast.
I liked the film quiet a bit and recommend it for those seeking out something differnt than the normal studio horror film.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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