Splinter [Blu-ray]

Enjoyable and suspenseful with genuine jumps and scares. The camera is a bit shaky at first but it evens out. It tends to go really shaky during the action scenes. I liked the characters and all were played very well. A glimpse into the human side of stereotyped people. It was entertaining and creepy and does what it says on the tin!

This was actually a good little movie. Not a lot of special effects just plain old fashion creative makeup. I really liked the monster and the actors played their parts well. Definitely watch this if you have time.

Loved that this unique plot/storyline actually elicits the viewer to THINK. Gee, what a concept ? I also liked the twist where the "criminal" becomes the "hero." Makes society reconsider what these labels mean and how we are ALL human and we ALL make mistakes. No matter how "perfect" you might think you are.

A low budget film done with practical effects with a lot going for it. We meet Seth and Polly who are planning to camp out, but Seth is a total klutz. He is a PhD student in biology, and is sort of set up as a stereotypical nerd. And there is Dennis and Lacey, stereotypical trailer park trash, in a car that breaks down. Dennis winds up hijacking Seth and Polly, and on the road, hit an animal which has the parasite. They wind up at a gas station, and Lacey is killed by the creature so the three of them are trapped inside. The creature and other effects are done practically, but they also use a lot of jerky camera moves with doesn’t help the film. As they try to work out how they will survive, we find that Dennis actually has some very human qualities about him, which is a nice change of pace from the normal scripts. And Seth manages to do some things correctly. For me, the last about 10 minutes of the film really detracts from the rest of the film, and is a puzzle why it was done that way.

Wow, I had no expectations for this movie. I was pleasantly surprised! It’s really intense! Decent acting, solid horror premise. Executed superbly. Very suspenseful. Give it a watch!

that was a different kind of horror movie but i liked it good acting and the special effects were good .

Seth Belzer and Polly Watt (Paulo Costanzo and Jill Wagner), are a young, charming couple celebrating their anniversary and vacationing in the ancient forests of Oklahoma where the intellectual Seth spends most of his time blabbing about the age of trees and the incredibly gorgeous Polly discusses making love under the stars. Anyhow, they are car jacked by 2 escaped convicts, Dennis (Shea Whigham) and his rather charmless (character not the actress), drug addicted girlfriend Lacey (Rachel Kerbs). When they experience an unexpected flat tire, they go to a nearby gas station that appears to be abandoned and where they soon discover a ferocious parasitic prickly life-form that is hell bent in devouring them. Trapped within the locked gas station, they are forced to play a game of "Survivor" and must find a way to outplay, outwit and outlast the ever evolving predator or they too will become its prey.Directed by Toby Wilkins ("The Grudge 3"), "Splinter" is a not-so-original monster movie but technically well-made and provides just enough suspense and gore to elevate this above others in the genre. Be warned despite this not being an annoying "found footage" feature, there is a lot of quick, jolting, shaky camera work and this may become irritating and give you a bit of a headache and the thorny fiend is shown a lot, but we never really get a good look at it; depending on the viewer, this is a either a positive or a negative. For me, it is a positive. There is nothing more annoying than showing your less than perfect monster too much. Unless they are spectacular to behold like the refined, glistening xenomorphs in the "Alien" franchise, other, less polished looking monsters deserve to be given some mystery. Too much screen time takes away from their mystique and at times, it unmasks its flaws. We do see several aspects of its gruesome, constantly changing appearance (it is a doozy) and its grisly, slimy work is in constant display. At times, the film did remind me of 2 remakes, John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1982) and Chuck Russell's "The Blob" (1988), however this picture moves at a faster, swifter pace. Another big positive for me is that the film does not rely too heavily on CGI. Most of the effects, make-up look like they were done old-school and are very effective. This is evidence enough that good practical effects and gore can still be used successfully in modern horror when done right.The performances are good. Characters range from terribly unlikable (the 2 convicts) to likeable (the 2 sweethearts). They are all well acted despite some scene being terribly over-the-top and some of the dialogue a bit ridiculous, but then again, this is a monster movie, so toss logic out the window. The gore is great and although it is here in abundance, it is not overdone. For those looking to waste a good 82 minutes on a slightly above average monster movie, this is a good option. Just grab your popcorn, sit back and enjoy. "Splinter" isn't exactly ground-breaking, but it is a fast-paced, well-crafted creature features that delivers the gooey goods.The DVD includes several extras, mostly of which I have not seen yet. Call me lazy but unless I am watching my all-time favorite movies, I usually do not pay attention to these extras - commentaries, documentaries, etc. But that's just me. For those that crave this sort of thing, dig in as this DVD features a nice assortment of bonus materials. There are commentaries from the cast, crew, the Director; a featurette "The Splinter Creature" (interesting but brief), a Creature Concept Art Gallery, and it even has instructions (provided by the sexy Jill Wagner) on how to make a Splinter pumpkin and more. For horror film fans, the film is worth owning with or without all of these extra's.*** ½ (out of 5)

Described as a low budget horror by many reviewers. It is, but does offer plenty that many Hollywoodesque big budget, big star productions do not.Very tense, well acted by the three main actors and the three supporting actors with bit parts and just a little smattering of creature effects. It's all about the slowly unfolding tension, the claustrophobic setting in a room not much bigger than the average kitchen diner and the frailties and strengths of the main characters.Shea Whigham (who plays the character of Steve Buscemi's sheriff brother in Boardwalk Empire) is outstanding as a partly psychotic robber who seeks redemption for his acts of violence.Very atmospheric throughout thanks to director Toby Wilkins and a limited but effective script by the writers.I'm not a big horror fan but this is certainly well worth a watch for the excellent and different story line and the foreboding atmosphere of the film.

There's something way out back by a gas station, a splinter that invades the body, cracks your bones and kills you, then uses your body as a tool. sounds great eh? So a couple out on the road get pulled over by some thieves a man and a drug induced woman. But something's up, this isn't just going to be a normal hostage situation. They arrive at the infected gas station, and this is where the majority of this film takes place as they take refuge inside against the 'alien' being.Bunch of characters here, the hostages first: The woman is more kick ass so to speak and strong willed, even the baddie calls her a firecracker- her boyfriend is wimpish but knows his science which will come in handy later on in the film. The stand out though is the baddie who seems to have all the best lines played well by Shea Whigham. Now against this alien splinter thing the three become united to stop it- even though at one point bad guy smashes the butt of his gun against woman's head.Splinter is a classic play by numbers horror- we've seen it all before- at times it comes across like a bad man's THE THING, but still has its very own charm. It's certainly not a bad movie and production values are half way decent. The major problem is the director Toby Wilkins who shoots the horror scenes like he's making the latest Eminem video, please no shaky cam, it doesn't do the effect you think it will!By the finale our main characters start making dumb choices, but at under 80 minutes Splinter gets the job done. Certainly no classic but decent all the same, albeit with tried and tested faults.

This single disc DVD comes with some basic bonus documentary/explanation type features, amongst these is a short demo on how to make a splinter pumpkin as well as another showing the weather during film-making. Otherwise it's a standard DVD albeit with a good picture quality and a sound level that's louder than most. Despite the limited cast and enclosed film set location the film never bores.The story basically revolves around two dissimilar couples who are thrown together through circumstances and find themselves isolated in a gas [petrol] station where they are forced to co-operate in order to survive. There's plenty of gore to be found and the splinter creature gives a few jumpy moments.The film lies somewhere between The Thing meets The Mist meets most zombie type movies, only change the zombies into mutating organisms. If these films appeal to you and you like the gore in movies like SAW then this is probably for you and well worth a try.

I read some of the other reviews and decided to buy the Splinter DVD. As I had read reviews prior to buying it I knew that it was a low budget creature feature along the lines of 'The Thing'. All things considered, the acting was actually reasonably good, the special effects made the most of the limited budget in my opinion and it was enjoyably silly.I would not usually give this type of film more than 3 stars as for me they don't bring enough to the table to warrant the extra star or two. However, the main reason I give it a fairly good 3 is because as I watched it I didn't sit there saying "why didn't they do this?" or "why would you do that?". Usually with horror films you can pick lots of holes in the character's behaviour but with this one I suppose that there was not a lot more that they could have reasonably done, also it only cost [...] so I also take the low price into consideration.If you like horror B movies then you could do a lot worse than watch this.

A great horror concept, sadly executed very badly, use's frenetic jumps cut's a second as a substitute for good filmmaking. I am glad this trend of thousands of cuts a second, and shaky angles used to obscure any filmmaking craft seems to be slowly passing us as we roll into 2017, It's been over a decade of headaches as the style rose to popularity, where a film could not really claim to feature excitement or action without making you ask your self.. wait .. " what the hell just happened?" as you clutch your throbbing temples in agony. I did enjoy the last half an hour more. where the characters are trapped in a freezer and the editor has gone to the bathroom to presumably calm down or take his medication.I'd recommend Slither, or the Ruins for a better time and you will save on the cost of painkillers and possibly that CAT scan you will need in a few years time.