Title: Splinter (2008)
Directed by: Toby Wilkins
Starring: Shea Whigham (The Killing Room), Paulo Costanzo (The Day the Dead Weren’t Dead, Joey) and Jill Wagner (Bones, Blade: The Series)
Score: Technical: 90, Story: 60, Acting: 70, Total: 73
If your a fan of guts and gore and an easy to follow storyline, then “Splinter” is definitely for you. Directed by Toby Wilkins who is attached to direct the upcoming horror film The Grudge 3 has been providing ground breaking visual effects to big budget films since the 90’s. As you can imagine, “Splinter” boasts some pretty decent special effects, over-the-top at times, but always entertaining.
“Splinter” follows a young couple Seth Belzer (Paulo Costanzo) and Polly Watt (Jill Wagner) who find themselves trapped in an isolated gas station with two insane fugitives. To make matters worse, they uncover the Splinter parasite, which transforms its victims into viscious zombie-like hosts with the taste for blood. Now they must work together to survive.
“Splinter” was obviously shot on the cheap, with only one notable set and a very small cast, but what may have been lost in production value was certainly made up by great photography, realistic performances, outstanding special effects and a fantastic score. If your looking for an action-packed, straight up blood and guts horror film, you’ve got to see “Splinter”!