Review: ‘Splinter’

Cast & Crew

Shea Whigham… Dennis Farell
Paulo Costanzo… Seth Belzer
Jill Wagner… Polly Watt

Written by Kai Barry, Ian Shorr & Toby Wilkins
Directed by Toby Wilkins

‘Splinter’ has a really innovative monster, something that exists between ‘The Thing’ and ‘The Body Snatchers.’ You’ve seen this kind of monster before but never quite like this, and what it does to your body is very, very unpleasant. The film’s story, however, is never as innovative as the antagonist creature: A handful of people are trapped within an enclosed space, fighting to survive. It’s a perfect example of formula storytelling, but it works because in a movie like this the story should service the monster. Dispense with the trappings of a laborious story and let’s get down to the mayhem. ‘Splinter’ has mayhem to spare.

I’m not in the habit of spoiling a movie, so I can’t really go into much detail regarding the monster. I will say that it doesn’t really dissolve you like The Blob or assimilate you like The Thing, nor is replacing you like a Body Snatcher. When this critter gets a hold on you, then you are in it for the long haul… unless you are a fan of severe emergency amputation, but even after that, what do you do with the pieces you cut off?

Movies like ‘Splinter,’ because they are light on story and heavy on monster, have a tendency to also be light on acting and rely on their thespians to simply react instead of act. You have a lot of reacting here, but ‘Splinter’ has a lot of honest to goodness acting, too. My initial draw to this film was Paulo Costanzo, the Canadian actor whom I first noticed in the comedy ‘Road Trip’ and much more recently headlined ‘Everything’s Gone Green.’ He’s a talented guy that exudes an immediate affable charm and that talent is put to good use in ‘Splinter,’ where Paulo plays a PhD student whose character traits hew much closer to the damsel in distress than anything recognizable as a hero. He doesn’t know how to put up a tent, can’t drive stick and the guy even breaks down and cries. He’s likable and believable as a hero despite this and I really attribute that to Costanzo as well as the films trio of screenwriters; they imbue the hero with an equal amount of brains and balls. Yes, ‘Splinter’ may be light on story, but it is strong in character.

Jill Wagner plays Costanzo’s girlfriend and she displays all the alpha male traits that are missing from the hero. She’s take charge and very strong. Early in the film, it is Wagner’s character that is the strongest. When the couple finds themselves the victims of a kidnapping, it is Wagner’s character that keeps the two of them in the criminal’s good graces, because she is the take charge alpha male that her boyfriend is not. It isn’t until her survival instincts turn to morally ambiguous desperation that Costanzo steps up to the challenge of the hero. That he saves them with brains and not brawn is another welcome change of pace.

The actor that surprised me the most is Shea Whigham. He plays the human antagonist turned reluctant savior. So very often a film like this makes the human antagonist an insufferable ass, the kind of person that you want to see get decimated by the monster. Shea’s character definitely starts that way, but his arc makes him a person that the audience can and will feel closer and closer to, so when decimation rears its ugly head, then you really feel for the guy. No one wants to go through what this guy goes through. Shea is not your typical leading man and his distinct features remind me of a strange mix of Robert Carlyle and Steve Buscemi. His character reveals quite a lot during the course of the film and because of that he sticks with you after the whole things said and done. It was such a disarming performance that I immediately thought to look him up on IMDB and was happy to see that he is a very busy actor: eight projects in 2008 and another three already in post for 2009. I expect to see this guy turn out some great performances.

This is a first feature for the director, Toby Wilkins, and he shows a lot of promise. His next feature is a sequel in ‘The Grudge’ franchise, so let’s hope he can rise above the material at hand. I have faith in him, though, and so does Sam Raimi because Raimi picked him for the project based on nothing more than a short film that Wilkins made.

Support this film when it comes out, it’s the kind of original horror the big screen doesn’t see enough of.

‘Splinter’ is being released this fall through Magnet Films, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures.

[rating: 4/5]