I'm going to keep this brief...ish. This film isn't for everyone, you've got to have a strong stomach going in and know what you're in for, which is an hour and 22 minutes of relentless action, chills, suspense, and gruesome body horror. The plot is simple, but effective... a roadside carjacking turns into "Assault on Precinct 13" meets "The Thing", as the three main characters take refuge from a terrifying creature they encounter by chance inside of a seemingly abandoned gas station. The rest I won't spoil for you.The filmmaking on display here is top-notch (by both Hollywood and indie-film standards). The cinematography is gritty and expertly executed, utilizing a hand-held, high contrast look with a lot of long lenses that lend to an almost documentarian, voyeuresque aesthetic. That, coupled with sincere, grounded performances from the entire cast works to evoke a very real, sober, and urgent tone for the film. You can really tell everyone was on the same page here, behind the camera and in front. The character work/performances served up are truly commendable, with a standout performance by Shea Whigham. This isn't one of those clichéd horror flicks with dumb characters doing dumb things... to the film's credit, it's a helluva lot smarter than that, and so are its characters. The creature/gore/practical FX are also very well done, by any standards. The filmmakers are smart enough to show you just enough of the "creature" to freak you out, letting your mind fill in the gaps of what you think you just saw. But while they hold back a bit (wisely) with showing the creature itself, you can count on everything else happening in full, bone-crunching detail. As mentioned before... not for the squeamish.All said, I highly recommend this film to almost any horror fan, especially those of you that love 80s/90s creature features and practical FX. If there are any complaints its simply that this film will not be accessible to anyone outside the genre, but that's hardly a complaint. "Splinter" is essentially the first truly worthy successor to John Carpenter's "The Thing", and almost definitely the best balls-to-the-wall "Scary thing out there, and we're in here" flick of the last 10 years, if not more. Check it out, you won't regret it.

There are so many of these sorts of horror films, where a nice young couple go off the beaten path, only to fall foul of some random horrific force. However, although Splinter does succumb to a certain amount of clichés, it does raise itself over many of its contemporaries.You may think a film with only six cast members, stuck in the pretty uninspired location of an American gas station, doesn't really produce a recipe for great horror. However, Splinter is short and it makes the most of everything it's got. Plus, it's also one of the few films that doesn't reply on CGI to create monstrous effects, preferring to use the old fashioned method of make-up and prosthetics. And soon our hapless heroes are running, panicking away from what turns out to be a reasonably well thought-out kind of monster.The acting is reasonable for what is effectively a B-movie and, if you look online for negative criticism, you'll mainly see people who feel that the female lead is way too attractive to be dating someone so 'nerdy.' Personally, I think it gives us nerds hope yet! Basically, Splinter is nothing new, but if you like your horror/monster movies short, sweet and violent, then this one is definitely better than most of the rest.

The first thing I did after watching the first 10 minutes is see what the budget was. The opening scene was so poorly directed, acted and had the worst special effects I have seen in a looooong time. Think 80's B or C level movies.So much can be done with low budget films these days. High school and college kids can make better effects than these. I was embarrassed for the directer. If the effects are truly that bad, don't put them in. Make it off screen, which can be very effective. Disgraceful. I am a fan of low budget movies, and I heard this one was good, but it was just too putrid to watch any more of.

This will have you shaking your head as you follow the lead from the Filmmakers who can't stop shaking the Camera. Why oh why would you go through the effort to Create Creatures and then not let the Audience in on it. Anytime there is a Scene with elevated Suspense and Monster Mania, the Camera seems to have an epileptic fit. It zooms, swirls, shakes, bobs, and is absolutely out of control. The result, not counting nausea and headaches, is that you never ever get a sense, let alone a clear look at what is happening.It almost makes this "Thing" unwatchable, or enjoyable on any level. It has some stuff going for it and there was no need for the Director to feel so insecure about His Creatures in a Creature Feature. The slim Story and some annoying Characters needed those Monsters to deliver anything more than another anemic amoeba split off from all parasites that came before. If the Camera would have stood still long enough for some visual thrills and some, any, comprehension of what they were up against (the silly walking hand was not enough), this could have been better than Average. As it stands (there shaking), it becomes just more of the same.