Splinter |  | Director: Toby Wilkins
Actors: Paulo Costanzo, Shea Whigham, Jill Wagner, Charles Baker
Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $2.75
as of 9/9/2010 09:18 EDT details
You Save: $12.23 (82%)
New (33) Used (27) from $2.75
Seller: goHastings
Rating:  67 reviews
Sales Rank: 4750
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running Time: 82 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: 876964001687
UPC: 876964001687
EAN: 0876964001687
ASIN: B001J4E19C
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: April 14, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Trapped in an isolated gas station, a couple and an escaped convict fight for survival against a voracious parasite that transforms its still living v
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 67
Splinter DVD September 3, 2010
Txjack (Central Texas)
I went into this movie as I do most low-budget, indie horror movies - ZERO expectations. This movie surprised me. It is really good. A good script, good actors, good effects (which are very little CG) and a very creative director. I normally don't want to know anything about a movie going in, but heard basically the plot-line through a review. It didn't matter. I still enjoyed it. I don't get the harsh reviews.
For a fun, Friday night popcorn muncher, this will fit the bill. For those who want more, it will give you more. There are quite a few extras. A few featurettes and two commentaries. I have only listened to the first commentary, with director and actors and liked it. I have not heard the second one which covers the more technical aspects. I will listen . . . just getting the time. The director is extremely informative, clever and as I said before, very creative. He does a lot on the cheap without it looking like it. Not a bunch of awful CG but actual actors -- yes, in makeup and suits -- that will surprise you for quality. The extra features explain that actors were used rather than CG along with why and how much better it made the movie. It did.
My summary is this, that in the spectrum of movies, this isn't a five star classic. But for someone who likes horror, and has had to deal with a lot of cheesy, lame, terrible films, I think you will really enjoy this.
 Splinter - A pleasant surprise September 1, 2010
Andrew Carleton (Kansas City, KS)
I came across this movie in the local library DVD section and decided to give it a shot. Rarely am I treated to such an unknown pleasure, but this was a special case. I'm not saying it was amazing, but you could do a lot worse with low budget indie-horror. If movies like Black Christmas (which I regrettably gave my money to) can be a major release in theaters, this definitely deserved to be in theaters everywhere. Upon research, Splinter did find its way to a limited release on Halloween in 2008. Too bad it didn't come to Kansas City, because it could have made 5 dollars more on a weekday.
Anyways, Splinter is about a couple who decide to go camping for their anniversary but fail to properly set up a tent, so they decide on driving to a nearby cheap motel to spend their magical evening. While driving to said motel, the lovers played, by Jill Wagner and Paulo Costanzo (High Times cover boy in Road Trip), run into another group of stranded lovers on the run. As always, stopping to pick them up turns out to be a bad idea (shocker). However, they all become stranded at a nearby gas station after their getaway car breaks down. This gas station seems to be abandoned at first, but the attendant lurks outside taken over by a deadly virus.
Paulo Costanzo (Seth) almost has his Ph.D in Biology, so he is constantly analyzing this splinter parasite and tries to keep the group from doing anything too stupid throughout the film. He plays the part of the nerdy, wimpy boyfriend very well but its tough to like him at first. The best character in this movie is the criminal Dennis (Shea Whigham), who plays a bad guy at first, but becomes a very likable guy by the end. The female lead isn't too bad either, making this a rare horror movie with good performances all around.
On to the production side of the film, they chose to use live creature effects and not CGI. While Michael Bay might laugh at this insane notion, I heavily prefer it. If necessary, using a little CGI doesn't bother me, but it can ruin a film when many death scenes are laughably fake. An example would be the movie, The Midnight Meat Train. Even though I enjoyed it a lot more than I anticipated, it suffered from overusing CG blood and gore. It sort of shows me the director chose an easier way out of filming a scene, aka cheating or being lazy. That being said, there was no computerized blood being shed in Splinter. Thank you Toby.
However, they did use a trick which I despise almost as much as CGI: shaky camera syndrome. This is when the director gets up close and personal to the action and the camera moves so much its kind of hard to tell whats going on besides a bloody mess. I get why they do this (to cover up shoddy effects), but it is somewhat disappointing. Luckily, I only noticed this at the beginning a few times, so I either got used to it or they quit doing it.
Overall, I would recommend seeing this film over many indie-horror flicks you might find on the shelves of your local video store. It has all the elements one could hope for in a quality horror film: good acting, believable effects, genuine scares, and realistic blood. It's a shame it hasn't been seen by a wider audience. This is most likely because it isn't a cookie cutter slasher film like most of the genre that makes it on the Silver Screen is. Sure, not everyone will love every decision made in this movie, but its easy to say that while safely sitting on a couch drinking a beer. All you need to do is just sit back and enjoy the ride, and you will be pleasantly surprised with Splinter.
Total Score: 6/10
Buckets: 3/5
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 This is a splinter you don't want to get rid of August 16, 2010
Horroreviewmaster
This is a monster movie for those of you who have been waiting for a real monster. I always read reviews before buying a new flick, but sometimes it is hard to tell if the movie is really good or not so good-maybe there are 7 reviewers, and one person is in a bad mood or is just a chowderhead or is scared of monsters or whatever-gives a bad score and the movie drops below a four. So, I am good at judging movies, especially in this genre. This creature is a bad nasty. It is fast, it is smart, and when it reanimates the gnarly, bloody, disfigured, mangled and twisted remains of one of its victims, it is a flailing mass of rapidly moving and almost comically (almost because it is too disgusting to actually be comical) persistent corpse-meat. This is a "you are completely screwed can't stop the monster" fright-fest with solid acting and convincing special effects. It is the blob on crack and you will want to watch it more than once. And next time you get a splinter, pull it out quickly. Or else.
 Annoying characters that you only wish died.... August 12, 2010
maskedgamer
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I love Horror films and I'm always willing to spend a buck on titles that the mainstream skips over. Sometimes you find a GEM (checkout Dead Girl)and sometimes you get this.
I should straight off that I have no problem with the idea of the monster featured in this film matter of fact I think it was a great idea. What ruins the film are the characters and the sheer stupidity of everything they say and do.
With any horror movie it will fall into one of 2 categories. Category 1. is where you have an annoying cast and you root for the monster to kill them. Category 2. Is where you have a good cast and an annoying monster you can't wait for them to kill ... oh and Category 3. A good cast and a good monster that you want neither to die (rarity but best examples would be the Predator movies).
Within the first 5 minutes of the film you can tell that this is category 1. horror film. Your met with the most annoying couple known to mankind. Lady and the Idiot. The typical lovey dubby couple that you enjoy seeing killed off. You'll watch and wait for the monster to appear to kill them off quickly as it's introduced but it never happens...say hello to your main characters.
But wait! It get's better... next scene you get to meet backwoods reject and his strung out girlfriend. Guess what? Natural born killers they are not. Some scenes later the two couples meet something happens and they are now traveling together.
Great a car full of people you couldn't careless about. Lets hope they're brakes fail and they end up flying off a cliff. Wait... what just happened? They ran over something? Let's stop the car and find out what it was.
Some other scenes happen and Billybob the inbred decides to hand his firearm to his drugged out girlfriend who at this point is shown that she belongs in a mental hospital. Why give someone who's not in their right mind a gun? You tell me... some stuff happens and as you expect it stoner girl is tripping out and she has everyone freaked because she's aiming her gun at everyone...including Billybob who gave her the gun.
They get in the jeep and head down the road and unfortunately find themselves in dire need of a gas station. After drawing straws to see who will pump the gas and who will go buy a pack of cigarettes while Mary Jane goes to the bathroom some other events occur.Uh oh! looks like Mary Jane won't be needed to get high anymore. Yaay! first annoying character out the way. You look at your watch 40 minutes have gone by and there's only 3 minutes left of the film? How can this be you ask yourself it's only just starting and you haven't really even seen the monster or any action...
The next 30 minutes (more like 22 due to the longest credits in history)involve watching the most idiotic statements,ideas, and decisions you will ever see any make EVER in a horror movie. You will get to a point where you want no one to live. Where you just want them all to die... and if the monster doesn't do it you will do it yourself.
Some more stuff happens the movie is over you never get you wish. Your left trying to figure out what just happened,what was the point of the movie, what did I just watch,what else could I have watched,I feel like I was robbed I wonder if I can report this to the police,there goes the money I should have spent on beer, and oh gee...that movie was so short what did I just watch again?
Yes, that is pretty much Splinter. So If you think this movie is worth your time by all means waste it. Yes again fooled by Amazon reviews... well played... well played. This movie is shallow and predictable there's nothing worth 4 or 5 stars in it. The action is non existent, the actors are horrible, the special effects is CGI, and the monster idea while I liked it... I have seen it done better before in a much better movie.
How throw away titles like this get so many high rankings is beyond me. The story is everything you've seen before done worse. If you want to see a break through indie horror film with something you haven't seen watch something like Dead Girl.
This film didn't hold my interest for a slight second and while it still wasn't horrible it still would lose to those Sci-Fi and Chiller original movies. I rate this film 1 star because I wasn't entertained and I didn't find this film charming at all. Splinter is every "trapped in a room" horror movie you've ever seen except done worse. Considering it takes them 40 minutes to get to the Gas station where the story actually starts all I can say is that this movie is just a waste of your time. Do yourself a favor and go see an independent film that's worth watching not this "CreepShow" knockoff.
Splinter July 29, 2010
Carl Manes
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
SPLINTER is an exciting new take on the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD scenario, where a group of strangers are forced to defend themselves from an onslaught of deadly creatures by holing up in a remote gas station. The offender this round is a carnivorous fungus that spreads by forming deadly barbs that infect living hosts, bonding with them and turning them into bloodthirsty killers! These infected creatures are truly terrifying, retaining their human form but in twisted and mangled forms that use their broken and contorted limbs as weapons. In the spirit of John Carpenter's THE THING, Toby Wilkins infuses the film with adrenaline-pumping thrills and impressive creature designs to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. In addition to the painful bone-snapping and bloody special effects, SPLINTER also includes a nauseating amputation sequence that can't help but get a reaction. This is one of the few recent creature-features to put a unique twist on familiar genre conventions, with bloody results!
-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies
Showing reviews 1-5 of 67
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