4 out of 5

Director: Toby Wilkins

“Splinter” is a plain and simple solid monster horror feature. It gives its characters enough depth, its creature enough creeps, its gore enough screen time and its funny bits spaced effectively to make your 82 minutes zip by. A traveling couple runs afoul of some baddies who are on the lam. The criminal couple mixes the “Ima shoot you” with displays of heart like movie pros, as do the kidnapped couple mix fear and bravery without making eye-rolling decisions. This is due, of course, to some great plotting and direction by the film-makers, and getting a believable cast to pull it off. For various reasons this gaggle ends up getting stuck in a gas station, trying to ward off another passenger they picked up along the way – the titular splinter monster, which plays out more like a fungus, just on a larger and more deadly scale, and capable of zombifying people. The choices taken by the leads are sensible, and everyone steps up to the plate at appropriate times, not getting too wimpy or too brave. Even though the effects are very organic – which is a huge plus – the film loses a star for using too much shaky-cam during the monster sequences, presumably to hide things they couldn’t show on the budget. Besides this minor detractor, Splinter was great throw-back horror that didn’t have to sacrifice a modern setting and feel to be entertaining.