Splinter: Review By MovieGuyMatt

I will admit it. I love horror flicks. Call them a guilty pleasure if you must, but there's something about them that just gets me excited. Normally they aren't very good, by a lot of very valid standards. But let's be honest, how many of us go see horror films because we think they will be "good?"

When I saw the trailer for "Splinter" I must say that I was rather intrigued. It seemed to be set against a backdrop I hadn't seen before and that stirred my interest.

A couple gets car-jacked and then subsequently trapped with their assailants inside a remote gas station by some unknown evil entity. Ooh, exciting!

This platform sets up nicely the ability to focus on the drama between characters-and there would be some-as the scary and hopefully life-threatening situation unfolds. THIS is what makes a GREAT horror story.

Too often film makers get all caught up in their monster/demon/psycho killer/flesh-eating plant or what have you that they seem to forget what makes a scary movie REALLY get under our skin. And THAT, folks, is DRAMA. The WAY that the characters react. It's in the way they react to each other, the crappy situation they find themselves in, etc. If the characters can really portray the way they are feeling, then we begin to relate to them. Once we start relating to them, we get scared for them. And then, in turn, WE can be scared. This should be in every film maker's handbook of how to make a scary movie. Unfortunately, it is not. That's when you get films that resort to the cheap thrills and jump-out scares that we see in most modern horror. The "shock value." BORING.

But, I digress. Back to the topic at hand, namely "Splinter." Did it deliver what I had hoped for?

Kind of. There was an interesting situation to be had, sure. The acting was actually quite good. The directorial style was...well...it was fairly obvious that they had a rather limited budget and the director did his best to make what they had to work with be scary. That, in and of itself, was an accomplishment. There were definitely moments that will make you cringe, and for the squeamish amongst you, shut your eyes and cover your ears. These are all good things.

Overall, however, I ended up feeling a little bit let down by the time it was all over. This isn't to say that I regret spending my time with this little romp through the nasty, and maybe it didn't even really need anything else. Maybe it was exactly what it set out to be. It never felt like it over-reached. It seemed to know what kind of film it was, and tried its damnedest to give you just that. Could it have been more? Sure. SHOULD it have? I think maybe not.

What you have here is a horror movie. Will it win any awards? Nope. And rightly so. BUT...if you enjoy this genre, then "Splinter" needs to go into your Netflix queue. Its fun, its bloody, its short. What more do you want?