SPLINTER Review

[In an unusual distribution move Magnet Pictures actually released Toby Wilkins' Splinter for VOD viewing before putting it on the big screen but with the big screen release coming tomorrow now seemed the appropriate time to share our thoughts on this effective little horror picture.]

It's the oldest play in the horror book: a small group of badly mismatched people trapped in a confined space where they are forced to fight for their lives against a hideous opponent. It's been done so many times in the past, continues to be done in the present and will continue to be done for the foreseeable future for the very simple reason that when done well it's hellaciously effective. And director Toby Wilkins does it rather well indeed with Splinter.

Don't let the presence of Paulo Costanzo and Shea Whigham – a pair of established and reliable character actors – in the cast fool you, Splinter is one hundred percent about the creature and that creature is a compelling disturbing beast. A b-film through and through that has no goals beyond simply cranking up the tension Splinter is effective in its simplicity, a film that shows Wilkins has the ability to make the most of limited resources to bring something original to the table.

Here's the setup. There are two very different couples making their way through a remote region of the country for very different reasons. One, a bookish biology student (Costanzo) and his girlfriend are going camping to celebrate their anniversary. The others? An on the run convict (Whigham) and his drugged out girlfriend are trying to avoid the police while collecting their stash of illicit cash before making a break for Mexico. An unfortunate encounter between the couples leads to a hostage situation that ends with the quartet stranded at an isolated gas station that has been the scene of a bizarre and hugely bloody creature attack …

You know where it goes from here. The creature is still on the prowl, still hungry, and still in the area. There is another attack and the survivors are forced to lock themselves into the gas station convenience store, forced to cooperate with one another if they have any hope of survival. Yes, it's been done but it still works when done well and Wilkins has got the goods.

Costanzo and Whigham are solid enough, the girls competent, the script giving just enough attention to character and plot plausibility – making Costanzo a biology student goes a long way when it comes to reasonably figuring out and explaining the creature mythology – to get the job done and keep things moving until the creature arrives on the scene. And the creature? Hard to describe but it's a sort of parasite, one that both consumes its host while also controlling it, always on the move searching for more prey. Killing the host makes no difference. Neither does dismembering it, the parasite simply controls the separated parts, twisting and contorting them to force its will upon, pushing so hard that bones shatter and skin tears. And when it kills fresh prey or encounters severed body parts? The parasite simply draws them to itself, grafting them all onto the main host to creature a bizarrely twisted, bastardized mockery of a body.

Splinter may not be a classic and it may not change the rules of the game in any way but what it does is prove that Wilkins is a director able to squeeze the most out of his scenario and that there's still some oomph left in the old ways. A tasty little treat just in time for Halloween.