I Heart Horror… ‘Splinter’

Pick of the Week – ‘Splinter’

Films in the horror genre that revolve around hype tread a thin line of actually living up to it or falling into a pool of expectation failure.   The pool, for me, is pretty deep.   I have been disappointed a lot by films that I hear so much buzz about.   It has happened often with the darlings of International and genre festivals.   The last American horror film that got a lot of hype was ‘Hatchet’.   What I got out of that film was a re-tread of Friday the 13th films seen through the lens of a horrible TV sitcom.   I understood why people liked it.   If you were to catch the film with a crowd, you would have loved the special effects that tailored to the horror crowd. They were inventive and delivered the goods.   However, when having such a good time, most people saw past the shortcomings of that particular film.   Genre films are tricky.   Sometimes they are just better with an audience.   Living in St. Louis, we don’t have a festival that caters to the genre films, so we get to see these gems after the height of the buzz dies down and alone or with a couple of other people in the comfort of our own living room.

‘Splinter’ was a darling and a multiple award winner at Screamfest – which takes place in Los Angeles.   When you have awards attached to a film, that definitely ups the ante.   Before the film hit DVD, it showed on the Sci-Fi channel.   I worried.   I didn’t watch it because I hate censored horror.   Censored horror is like neutering a rabid dog.   In this case, you want the dog to bite.

The story has to deal with two couples.   One is from the wrong side of the tracks and the other is on the goody-goody side.   The criminal couple hijacks the other couples car and due to some car trouble they end up at a deserted gas station only to find out there is a greater threat to all of them.   It is a simple device that we have seen over and over again.   People hold up in a stationary but barricaded spot while they fight and defend for their safety.   Lately, we have seen this with slasher films.   ‘Splinter’ wins points for actually kicking it back to a monster instead of a lunatic with a dangerous weapon.   What also makes ‘Splinter’ different from so many other films is the character development.   It is top notch.   Without spending too much time on either of them, we get where these characters are in their lives and can sympathise with them.   Also, the monster is original and scary.   It is an organism that seems like the monster from ‘The Thing’ on steroids.

‘Splinter’ is scary, fun and a horror fan’s wet dream.   It is a definite rental and maybe even a blind buy if you have the money to spend.   Highly Recommended and it makes a great double feature with ‘Evil Dead 2’

Horror News

• Daniel Craig (James Bond) has joined ‘Dream House’, the psychological thriller directed by Jim Sheridan (In America).   I really wish they would of named this ‘Bad Dream House’ – see if you pick that reference up.
• Ti West (The Roost) has been tapped to direct the sequel to this year’s ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’ which will be titled ‘The Haunting in Georgia’.   Wake me up when they get to Missouri.
• Phantasm II will be hitting Region 1 this September!! I love Phantasm II.

DVD Releases for June 30th

Pick of the Week: Header (Synapse)

Black Torment (Redemption) imdb|amazon
Door Into Silence (Severin) imdb|amazon
Entrails of the Wicked Grindhouse Double Feature: The Risen/The Unknown (SRS)
Fulci Frenzy 2 for 1 (Severin) – Repackaged release of The Psychic and Perversion Story.
The Hidden Floor (Pathfinder) imdb|amazon
Hide (MTI) imdb|amazon
I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer (Celebrity Video Distribution) imdb|amazon
Japanese Miscellany (Artsmagic) – See cover for titles included as it is a 8 movie collection. imdb|amazon
Lady Godiva Rides (S’more) imdb|amazon
Monster X Strikes Back (Tokyo Shock) imdb|amazon
Prey (Redemption) imdb|amazon
Scream (1981) (Code Red) – AKA The Outing. imdb|amazon
Sea Beast (Genius) imdb|amazon
Second Coming (Vivendi) imdb|amazon
They Call Me Bruce?: 25th Anniversary Edition (Liberation) imdb|amazon

Trailer Park

Nothing really new.   All of these trailers have been posted individually on WAMG.   However, why not go over a quick recap…

Zombieland

Halloween 2 (Theatrical Trailer)

Pandorum (Trailer B)

Whiteout

Until next week, Adiós