Splinter

10/19/2014

Ouch! Smart little horror this, what it lacks in story originality it more than makes up for elsewhere. Young lovers Seth (Paulo Costanzo) and Polly (Jill Wagner) find their attempts at a romantic camping trip usurped by their inadequacies in the great outdoors. But this soon becomes the very least of their problems, because they are car-jacked by escaped convict Dennis Farell (Shea Whigham) and his drug addict girlfriend Lacey Belisle (Rachel Kerbs). When they run over what they think is an animal of some sort, it signals the start of a terrifying ordeal that will see the group backed into the interior of a gas station and forced to fight for their lives. What follows is a solid hour of suspense, terror, horrifying scenes and rich character dynamics. It’s a siege situation with t

6/20/2021

Really good watch, would watch again, and can recommend. While it may not sound like the most original concept, it definitely feels innovative. Using isolation to add atmosphere to the movie allows the movie to really focus the terror of infection, as opposed to zombie movies where it's usually about flooding the world with zombie infection. The movie has a great layered metaphor of Darwinism sliding from a might-makes-right attitude to having to be smart to survive. The experience really felt full for them being trapped in a convenience store. The cast did an excellent performance through the graduating series of events, and a rather strong story.