This movie starts off okay but then it turns in to a horror movie cliché. I have to admit there are some good parts in this film, but they do not save this film from becoming average and meaningless. Yes the story wasn't too bad but the director failed to deliver what could've been a pretty good film. The acting wasn't bad but in saying that it wasn't good. The characters didn't make me want to care for them either way, in fact I didn't care if they lived or died. As for the 'beast', well it wasn't what you would expect, almost a let down, although not too predictable. The movie wasn't a complete failure but it wasn't, for me, a success. So in saying that I give it a 4 out of 10. Have seen worse.
15 Reviews
Mediocre Monster Movie
jmbwithcats29 May 2012
The movie had some good oldschool Jeckyl and Hyde / werewolfy atmosphere, and some good story elements, but the elements I liked the most were left unexplored and undeveloped which means the atmosphere fell flat about halfway through.
The girls were very easy on the eyes, but ultimately there was little left keeping me watching by the hour marker, but with 30 minutes left I decided to give the rest a chance.
One figures out the movie within the first moments you meet Gavin, so the reveal is pretty droll... the gore and music were very mediocre and no opportunities were taken advantage of, in fact I don't think they even had some syncing action in the film with the music... because everything was flat...
The acting was okay, the script thin, but with potential, no decent music score of orchestration, no interesting dialog, and didn't really care much for the characters beyond the physical... so I'd have to say, poor showing:
2/10
The girls were very easy on the eyes, but ultimately there was little left keeping me watching by the hour marker, but with 30 minutes left I decided to give the rest a chance.
One figures out the movie within the first moments you meet Gavin, so the reveal is pretty droll... the gore and music were very mediocre and no opportunities were taken advantage of, in fact I don't think they even had some syncing action in the film with the music... because everything was flat...
The acting was okay, the script thin, but with potential, no decent music score of orchestration, no interesting dialog, and didn't really care much for the characters beyond the physical... so I'd have to say, poor showing:
2/10
Uses an 'issue' to lend 'worth' to a very light production. Crass.
Cbor11 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this film at the English premiere and felt compelled to write.
This review contains spoilers.
Synopsis: The film begins reasonably enough with a young girl ('Sophie') hiding from a monster that enters her room at night. I liked the way this scene was handled and felt there was a palpable sense of fear. However, I felt it went down hill from there.
The film fast-forwards to the present day, where the girl has become a 'goth-lite' (to use a character's phrase) woman who enlists a group of her friends to go off in search of a mysterious animal that is terrorising livestock.
The good: The locations looked suitably spooky, and I felt that unusually good use was made of the backdrop in the camping scene. Holly Weston ('Sophie') was able to convey most of the emotion of the part, particularly at the end, even if she looked a little too physically perfect (in my opinion). Stephen Martin Walters playing the saner brother, Gavin, was able to engage sympathy. The best part of the film is his final speech.
The bad: Some of the dialogue is clunky, particularly between the teen group at the beginning. Some of the acting (particularly from the avenging priest) is extremely wooden. I'm a total coward, yet after the first five minutes, I didn't find this film even remotely scary - too many close-ups on people drooling just made it seem silly to me. I found the supporting teenagers to be too stereotypical for words, though 'Dean' did at least gain sympathy.
and finally (here is the main spoiler)
I found the film unbelievably crass. To recap: the film is about some kids who go off to find an animal that is attacking people/livestock. They find out that this animal is actually a human who has lived with dogs for years. This human is at times apparently superhuman, sometimes apparently not, for unexplained reasons. The final scene shows the lead character's 'real' motivation was that she had reinterpreted her own childhood sexual abuser (her father) as the demon-type monster in her dreams. I felt that this ending seemed tacked on to the film to give it gravitas, and that because the rest of the film is so light and frankly silly in places, it seemed completely inappropriate. At least films like Last House on the Left keeps a level tone to justify themselves. I watch some pretty hardcore horror, yet because of the sheer ineptness of execution, this is the one I consider to be in questionable taste. Films earn 'worth' through good execution - skillful storytelling and acting - not by having a serious issue stuck on the end up justify the stuff in the middle. I felt it actually made a mockery of the serious things it was trying (through flashbacks etc) to discuss.
This review contains spoilers.
Synopsis: The film begins reasonably enough with a young girl ('Sophie') hiding from a monster that enters her room at night. I liked the way this scene was handled and felt there was a palpable sense of fear. However, I felt it went down hill from there.
The film fast-forwards to the present day, where the girl has become a 'goth-lite' (to use a character's phrase) woman who enlists a group of her friends to go off in search of a mysterious animal that is terrorising livestock.
The good: The locations looked suitably spooky, and I felt that unusually good use was made of the backdrop in the camping scene. Holly Weston ('Sophie') was able to convey most of the emotion of the part, particularly at the end, even if she looked a little too physically perfect (in my opinion). Stephen Martin Walters playing the saner brother, Gavin, was able to engage sympathy. The best part of the film is his final speech.
The bad: Some of the dialogue is clunky, particularly between the teen group at the beginning. Some of the acting (particularly from the avenging priest) is extremely wooden. I'm a total coward, yet after the first five minutes, I didn't find this film even remotely scary - too many close-ups on people drooling just made it seem silly to me. I found the supporting teenagers to be too stereotypical for words, though 'Dean' did at least gain sympathy.
and finally (here is the main spoiler)
I found the film unbelievably crass. To recap: the film is about some kids who go off to find an animal that is attacking people/livestock. They find out that this animal is actually a human who has lived with dogs for years. This human is at times apparently superhuman, sometimes apparently not, for unexplained reasons. The final scene shows the lead character's 'real' motivation was that she had reinterpreted her own childhood sexual abuser (her father) as the demon-type monster in her dreams. I felt that this ending seemed tacked on to the film to give it gravitas, and that because the rest of the film is so light and frankly silly in places, it seemed completely inappropriate. At least films like Last House on the Left keeps a level tone to justify themselves. I watch some pretty hardcore horror, yet because of the sheer ineptness of execution, this is the one I consider to be in questionable taste. Films earn 'worth' through good execution - skillful storytelling and acting - not by having a serious issue stuck on the end up justify the stuff in the middle. I felt it actually made a mockery of the serious things it was trying (through flashbacks etc) to discuss.
Near unwatchable, if truth be told
Leofwine_draca19 April 2015
SPLINTERED is a near unwatchable shot-in-the-woods slice of British horror, not to be confused with the excellent American horror flick SPLINTER, in which Shea Wigham fought a horrible monster at a gas station. This one has almost no story, just a bunch of unlikeable characters travelling out into the Welsh woods where inevitably they meet their deaths in various unpleasant ways.
It's the kind of story which is clichéd beyond belief, not that there's much in the way of story to begin with. The big reveal made me groan inwardly, thinking "not another one of THOSE stories". There's little to no bloodshed here, and little in the way of atmosphere or suspense either. The characters are very thinly drawn and none of them are in the least bit likable or interesting. It doesn't help that the cast members have been drawn from WATERLOO ROAD and the like. Looking back, I can't think of a single reason to bother watching this one.
It's the kind of story which is clichéd beyond belief, not that there's much in the way of story to begin with. The big reveal made me groan inwardly, thinking "not another one of THOSE stories". There's little to no bloodshed here, and little in the way of atmosphere or suspense either. The characters are very thinly drawn and none of them are in the least bit likable or interesting. It doesn't help that the cast members have been drawn from WATERLOO ROAD and the like. Looking back, I can't think of a single reason to bother watching this one.
Hybrid ... not
kosmasp15 September 2010
You know it's one thing to make people believe one thing and then reveal to them that it might be something completely different. Or is it? But anyway, this movie tries to be clever in many respects par the dialogue and character development. It's all been said and done before and one twist or another do not change the fact, that it is poorly realized.
Of course, this is low budget, so I'm not gonna talk about the effects (that seem decent enough for a movie like this), but it still could have done with a few rewrites. If you haven't watched Teenagers in peril movies, you might find something here for you, but there are so many other (good) movies out there, that you could be watching instead. I hope the filmmakers can come up with a better one, next time around.
Of course, this is low budget, so I'm not gonna talk about the effects (that seem decent enough for a movie like this), but it still could have done with a few rewrites. If you haven't watched Teenagers in peril movies, you might find something here for you, but there are so many other (good) movies out there, that you could be watching instead. I hope the filmmakers can come up with a better one, next time around.
"Splintered": poorly realised, tedious and crass
simon-oughton5 November 2009
I saw the UK Premier in Manchester. Due to a technical hitch, no dialogue was audible for the opening ten minutes; initially, I hadn't realised that this was accidental - believing it to be an intentional method of creating an eerie tone. Then, the projectionists remedied the problem and started the film over a again: the clunking dialogue destroyed this potential eeriness and any pathos one might have felt for the lead.
"Splintered" failed to register in any sense: as a horror film, it wasn't frightening or emotionally resonant; one could not empathise with the protagonists; the acting was average-to-poor; the camera work and cinematography (aside from the closing frame - which looked relatively impressive and summed-up the main character's plight) generally added little; the writer's handling of a sensitive social issue was crass and perfunctory...
I can't recommend the film in any sense.
"Splintered" failed to register in any sense: as a horror film, it wasn't frightening or emotionally resonant; one could not empathise with the protagonists; the acting was average-to-poor; the camera work and cinematography (aside from the closing frame - which looked relatively impressive and summed-up the main character's plight) generally added little; the writer's handling of a sensitive social issue was crass and perfunctory...
I can't recommend the film in any sense.
HE COMES AT NIGHT
nogodnomasters14 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The movie opens with a scene of a young girl alone in her bedroom. The moonlight shines bright through the window. The house is old and is decorated with religious pictures and symbols. There is a creature at the door. It has the low growl of a lion. The girl is afraid and hides under the bed as the animal comes into the room. Its claws lunge at her under the bed, then finally grab her and drag her out. She screams and awakes. It was all a dream. I liked the opening scene and the subsequent credit roll.
We find out the girl's name is Sophie (Holly Weston). She is a young adult and still has bad dreams. There has been some killings by some unknown animal. Sophie and 4 others decide they want to capture the animal...on film. She is obsessed with werewolves and appears to be a frigid virgin. Sam (Sacha Dhawan) is the far too frank skeptic who supplies us with internal conflict within the group. Jane (Sadie Pickering) is his girlfriend and considers herself to be a soul mate of the aloof moody Sophie. John (Sol Heras) is Sophie's boyfriend (I feel your pain). Dean (Jonathan Readwin) is the fifth wheel, brother to Jane, has a digital movie camera.
Eventually, following a trail, Sophie finds an abandoned building that looks like a large mental hospital, where beauty winds up as prisoner of the beast's psycho keeper, a wild eyed man who talks to himself (Stephen Walters). Sophia (named for the goddess of wisdom) is resourceful and clever.
The movie starts out like it is going to be a great offbeat werewolf film and then digresses into a psycho slasher movie. There are some twists at the end that were slightly developed, but you don't realize it at the time. Good job by Holly Weston. Decent story line but couldn't properly be told in 90 minutes.
F-bomb, brief nudity (Holly Weston), no sex.
We find out the girl's name is Sophie (Holly Weston). She is a young adult and still has bad dreams. There has been some killings by some unknown animal. Sophie and 4 others decide they want to capture the animal...on film. She is obsessed with werewolves and appears to be a frigid virgin. Sam (Sacha Dhawan) is the far too frank skeptic who supplies us with internal conflict within the group. Jane (Sadie Pickering) is his girlfriend and considers herself to be a soul mate of the aloof moody Sophie. John (Sol Heras) is Sophie's boyfriend (I feel your pain). Dean (Jonathan Readwin) is the fifth wheel, brother to Jane, has a digital movie camera.
Eventually, following a trail, Sophie finds an abandoned building that looks like a large mental hospital, where beauty winds up as prisoner of the beast's psycho keeper, a wild eyed man who talks to himself (Stephen Walters). Sophia (named for the goddess of wisdom) is resourceful and clever.
The movie starts out like it is going to be a great offbeat werewolf film and then digresses into a psycho slasher movie. There are some twists at the end that were slightly developed, but you don't realize it at the time. Good job by Holly Weston. Decent story line but couldn't properly be told in 90 minutes.
F-bomb, brief nudity (Holly Weston), no sex.
A boring mess
loomis78-815-98903415 March 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Sophie (Weston) was molested by a beast-thing when she was a child and not the thing stalking the woods outside of Wales England might be the same beast. She gathers up some unwilling friends and heads to the woods to see. Instead she finds an abandoned orphanage and eventually is held captive there by two feral brothers who were tormented when they were small. This boring mess tries to past itself off as a werewolf movie but forget that. What this movie is mostly is a mess with a plot that can't seem to focus or deliver anything memorable even by accident. The only bonus is that the production values are good but who cares? The title which makes no sense at all in reference to the story should tell you everything.
Splintered - Solid thrills, a great look and some interesting ideas
filmrant1 December 2009
Saw this at the Grimm Up North! festival in Manchester, here are my thoughts...
Splintered sets its focus on Sophie (Holly Weston), a troubled young girl haunted by the abuse she suffered as a child and harbouring a deep fascination with the unexplained. In the hope of satiating her obsession with the latter, our heroine instigates a trip to the Welsh countryside with four friends, aimed at tracking down the legendary Beast of Bodmin. It seems the mythical creature – often thought to be a large wildcat or fox – has caught the public's attention once more thanks to a spate of attacks on livestock and one local farmer. It is an opportunity Sophie has decided is not to be missed and, armed with a video camera and a case of beer, the group head off into the woods. However, they soon uncover much more than they bargained for, with the female lead falling foul of a mysterious madman who locks her away in an apparent attempt to protect her from some unnamed terror.
The movie opens well with a great score and slick credit sequence, setting up a glossy tone filled with moments of gloomy shadows and chilling blue hues. From the first scene, in which we get a look at Sophie's childhood, it's clear this is a girl who is as damaged by the nightmares of her real life as she is the demons that fill her dreams while she sleeps. The Scooby gang we're introduced to shortly after are established quickly and, if I'm being honest, it wasn't too difficult to pick out which ones I would like to see on the wrong end of a meat hook later. Sam (Sacha Dhawan) plays the douchebag boyfriend of Sophie's limp, wet best mate Jane (Sadie Pickering). Elsewhere, the job of fancying our (extremely fancyable) lead falls to the rather blunt instrument that is John (Sol Heras) and the sensitive and sheepish Dean (Jonathan Readwin).
One could argue Sophie is the typically isolated and haunted 'final girl' we've come to expect from the woodland slasher sub-genre, but I'd have to say that would also be grossly unfair. Getting beneath her layers and finding out what makes her tick is perhaps one of Splintered's most engaging elements, as she struggles to cope with the memories of her childhood abuser and the castrating power this has had in overcoming this new terror. This final girl has, initially, got more in common with the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Sally Hardesty; fleeing, screaming and generally being terrified. But it is in her Laurie Strode moments later – when forced to adapt, come up with solutions and face down both her internal and external demons – that she becomes so much more. In one scene the frame of a sliding prison door window id used to play out an escape attempt with a brick to dislodge the bolt that keeping her trapped. This not only sets up a simple intensity as her pursuer hacks away at a ribcage just a few doors away, it also gives Weston the chance to put in one of many great turns – no mean feat in a film focusing so closely on its young lead.
Elsewhere, the other teen players are pretty solid, but unfortunately one or two of the interactions between Sam and Jane feel just a little stilted. These are particularly noticeable in moments placed next to the more intense and convincing confrontations between Sophie and Gavin (Stephen Martin Walters) – the deranged and twitchy schizophrenic who serves as her captor. One part psychotic nightmare and two parts damaged man-child, Gavin is wonderfully played as a grimy but multi-dimensional villain who is always just a step away from being revealed as simply misunderstood – much like his new found prisoner. But another special mention must go to Jonathan Readwin as Dean, who starts off as just a blank canvas with a crush, but ends up being one of the most alluring and funny characters on the screen. On a couple of occasions this lazy James Franco-esquire youngster is faced with some particularly ugly moments that are punctuated with a "Fah-kin hell" that gives things a gentle comic lift without being too jarring or silly.
I can say in all honesty this is something I would wholeheartedly recommend. Sure, the basic outline of putting a bunch of teens in a forest is a little familiar, but this is only really used to set the psychological aspects of the narrative in motion. Besides, isn't 'terror in the woods' just another sub-genre of horror we've now come to know and love? And isn't criticising Splintered for using this much the same as saying George Romero's latest will be 'just another story where people die, come back to life and than try to eat other people'?
The truth is, this flick has got some great ideas, solid performances, tense moments and a final girl that is as alluring to the mind as she is to the eye – and for me this is what counts in a movie of this kind. Splintered is just another example of a thriving UK horror community that continues to serve up antidotes to the dull-as-dishwater Saw films and the mindless remakes that fill our multiplexes for a week at a time over and over again. If you want scares, blood and some actual story, you'll be well served here.
Splintered sets its focus on Sophie (Holly Weston), a troubled young girl haunted by the abuse she suffered as a child and harbouring a deep fascination with the unexplained. In the hope of satiating her obsession with the latter, our heroine instigates a trip to the Welsh countryside with four friends, aimed at tracking down the legendary Beast of Bodmin. It seems the mythical creature – often thought to be a large wildcat or fox – has caught the public's attention once more thanks to a spate of attacks on livestock and one local farmer. It is an opportunity Sophie has decided is not to be missed and, armed with a video camera and a case of beer, the group head off into the woods. However, they soon uncover much more than they bargained for, with the female lead falling foul of a mysterious madman who locks her away in an apparent attempt to protect her from some unnamed terror.
The movie opens well with a great score and slick credit sequence, setting up a glossy tone filled with moments of gloomy shadows and chilling blue hues. From the first scene, in which we get a look at Sophie's childhood, it's clear this is a girl who is as damaged by the nightmares of her real life as she is the demons that fill her dreams while she sleeps. The Scooby gang we're introduced to shortly after are established quickly and, if I'm being honest, it wasn't too difficult to pick out which ones I would like to see on the wrong end of a meat hook later. Sam (Sacha Dhawan) plays the douchebag boyfriend of Sophie's limp, wet best mate Jane (Sadie Pickering). Elsewhere, the job of fancying our (extremely fancyable) lead falls to the rather blunt instrument that is John (Sol Heras) and the sensitive and sheepish Dean (Jonathan Readwin).
One could argue Sophie is the typically isolated and haunted 'final girl' we've come to expect from the woodland slasher sub-genre, but I'd have to say that would also be grossly unfair. Getting beneath her layers and finding out what makes her tick is perhaps one of Splintered's most engaging elements, as she struggles to cope with the memories of her childhood abuser and the castrating power this has had in overcoming this new terror. This final girl has, initially, got more in common with the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Sally Hardesty; fleeing, screaming and generally being terrified. But it is in her Laurie Strode moments later – when forced to adapt, come up with solutions and face down both her internal and external demons – that she becomes so much more. In one scene the frame of a sliding prison door window id used to play out an escape attempt with a brick to dislodge the bolt that keeping her trapped. This not only sets up a simple intensity as her pursuer hacks away at a ribcage just a few doors away, it also gives Weston the chance to put in one of many great turns – no mean feat in a film focusing so closely on its young lead.
Elsewhere, the other teen players are pretty solid, but unfortunately one or two of the interactions between Sam and Jane feel just a little stilted. These are particularly noticeable in moments placed next to the more intense and convincing confrontations between Sophie and Gavin (Stephen Martin Walters) – the deranged and twitchy schizophrenic who serves as her captor. One part psychotic nightmare and two parts damaged man-child, Gavin is wonderfully played as a grimy but multi-dimensional villain who is always just a step away from being revealed as simply misunderstood – much like his new found prisoner. But another special mention must go to Jonathan Readwin as Dean, who starts off as just a blank canvas with a crush, but ends up being one of the most alluring and funny characters on the screen. On a couple of occasions this lazy James Franco-esquire youngster is faced with some particularly ugly moments that are punctuated with a "Fah-kin hell" that gives things a gentle comic lift without being too jarring or silly.
I can say in all honesty this is something I would wholeheartedly recommend. Sure, the basic outline of putting a bunch of teens in a forest is a little familiar, but this is only really used to set the psychological aspects of the narrative in motion. Besides, isn't 'terror in the woods' just another sub-genre of horror we've now come to know and love? And isn't criticising Splintered for using this much the same as saying George Romero's latest will be 'just another story where people die, come back to life and than try to eat other people'?
The truth is, this flick has got some great ideas, solid performances, tense moments and a final girl that is as alluring to the mind as she is to the eye – and for me this is what counts in a movie of this kind. Splintered is just another example of a thriving UK horror community that continues to serve up antidotes to the dull-as-dishwater Saw films and the mindless remakes that fill our multiplexes for a week at a time over and over again. If you want scares, blood and some actual story, you'll be well served here.
Both Murderer And Director Have No Skills
j-penkair27 May 2015
I always have faith in English films. English storytellers tend to be more serene and less anxious than the Americans. Their jokes are usually more subtle, effective, and quite long-lasting. Same as their scare tactics in horror films. Their so-called Grade B films show different classes of the society rather than different qualities. However, this film is an exception. It starts promisingly enough, then gets watered down steadily towards the meaningless ending. You could have seen the film in reverse in the Benjamin Button style and you would get a fine film. Investment in the character, earlier in the film, gets wasted. Nightmares and psychological episodes of Sophie get forgotten for the most part. Little flashbacks here and there do not help. We have seen several examples of good scary low-cost films. Today film-making equipments are of lower price, and filmmakers' skills are not tied with the money. I can watch John Carpenter's Halloween or George Miller's old version of Mad Max several times, and still have no clue what made them so good and so long-lasting, with such a low cost in a time of high-cost filmmaking. People behind this film should play less games, watch less choppy presentations, and return to the classics. It is all there to learn. I realize that there are a lot of people out there who care for moneymaking over filmmaking. But if you can achieve both, why not? Humankind should crave for betterment.
Good British 'horror' with a lot of twists and turns!
jeremyblackmore31 August 2010
I use the term horror loosely as Splintered is actually more of a horror/ psychological thriller.
I found Splintered to be a very watchable film, in fact I'd probably go as far as to say "I loved it!" The beautiful heroine 'Sophie' (Holly Weston) was quite an intelligent lead, which was a relief as normally when watching a horror film I spend the whole time cursing at the screen in frustration as the main character is obviously doing something that's going to get them killed i.e. running up the stairs or dropping the shot gun whilst the killer's still chasing them. Sophie used her head and came up with some clever escape methods, she wasn't the hopeless/ annoying victim I've come to expect in a horror film.
I also liked how many twists there seemed to be, the moment I thought I had the whole plot figured out something unexpected happened that pulled me right into the think of the action. The best part happening about two thirds of the way through... so watch out for that!!
Production value seemed a lot higher than the amount I discovered they actually spent on the film and the special effects were pretty good too.
...all in all I'd say it's a pretty good film and defiantly worth a watch!
I found Splintered to be a very watchable film, in fact I'd probably go as far as to say "I loved it!" The beautiful heroine 'Sophie' (Holly Weston) was quite an intelligent lead, which was a relief as normally when watching a horror film I spend the whole time cursing at the screen in frustration as the main character is obviously doing something that's going to get them killed i.e. running up the stairs or dropping the shot gun whilst the killer's still chasing them. Sophie used her head and came up with some clever escape methods, she wasn't the hopeless/ annoying victim I've come to expect in a horror film.
I also liked how many twists there seemed to be, the moment I thought I had the whole plot figured out something unexpected happened that pulled me right into the think of the action. The best part happening about two thirds of the way through... so watch out for that!!
Production value seemed a lot higher than the amount I discovered they actually spent on the film and the special effects were pretty good too.
...all in all I'd say it's a pretty good film and defiantly worth a watch!
Splintered
Scarecrow-886 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Sophie(Holly Weston)is interested in the strange and unusual, her mother's alcoholism and absent father contributing to her morbid curiosities. Sophie wants to see if a legendary "beast of Bodmin " exists and gets her best friend, Jane(Sadie Pickering)to round up some of her friends to go find it, camping out in the woods where it was reputed to have attacked a man and ate his sheep. Tagging along are Jane's boyfriend, Sam(Sacha Dhawan), Sam's pal, Gavin(Stephen Walters), and Jane's brother, Dean(Jonathan Readwin). What none of them know is that an escaped lunatic(Stephen Walters)is lurking about, making his residence an abandoned Catholic children's home, St Joseph's. This troubled young man believes he must protect Sophie(she represents the Virgin Mary, pure and undefiled) from a creature(his own brother, pretty much a human animal)and this herein lies the suspense of the plot..how the hell will Sophie escape from the confines of a cell which is latched from the outside(this detail might just explain why the maniac is so disturbed, his terrifying upbringing in a children's home thanks to a sadistic priest). Is the one imprisoning her actually the person she should be afraid of? A Father Thomas(Colin Tierney)is trying to find Gavin because of his mentor's murder.
Murky horror picture following a savage whose cannibalistic ways derived from being kept in a cage with the dogs. Kids out in the woods running across a human beast who tears into them with ferocity. Sophie is connected to Gavin and his brother Vincent, a certain murder which has remained with her, this the cause of those night terrors which awaken her in a cold sweat. The film follows the color palate of the SAW films, shot in dirty brown and green, giving off a dreary, bleak look..quite dark even during the day. The violence is carefully hidden until we see the neck wounds resulting from Vincent's uncontrollable insatiable appetite for human flesh. Gavin isn't exactly held together well mentally, but his motives are sound..he just wants to keep Sophie safe and understands that his brother is a fiend, not responsible for his actions due to a priest's neglect. A great deal of time is spent in the dilapidated Catholic orphanage at night which is why you who decide to watch it may be squinting a lot trying to isolate details which are hard to visualize. Like in other movies, human monsters can take an exorbitant amount of punishment and continue after victims..a hatchet to the ribs, just a scratch, shovel shots to the body and head, easy to recover from. Vincent can even be hit by a car, enter the trunk while the vehicle is moving.
Murky horror picture following a savage whose cannibalistic ways derived from being kept in a cage with the dogs. Kids out in the woods running across a human beast who tears into them with ferocity. Sophie is connected to Gavin and his brother Vincent, a certain murder which has remained with her, this the cause of those night terrors which awaken her in a cold sweat. The film follows the color palate of the SAW films, shot in dirty brown and green, giving off a dreary, bleak look..quite dark even during the day. The violence is carefully hidden until we see the neck wounds resulting from Vincent's uncontrollable insatiable appetite for human flesh. Gavin isn't exactly held together well mentally, but his motives are sound..he just wants to keep Sophie safe and understands that his brother is a fiend, not responsible for his actions due to a priest's neglect. A great deal of time is spent in the dilapidated Catholic orphanage at night which is why you who decide to watch it may be squinting a lot trying to isolate details which are hard to visualize. Like in other movies, human monsters can take an exorbitant amount of punishment and continue after victims..a hatchet to the ribs, just a scratch, shovel shots to the body and head, easy to recover from. Vincent can even be hit by a car, enter the trunk while the vehicle is moving.
Boring, dreadful
continuumx24 December 2022
When it started out, it looked like it was going to be one of those movies where a monster chases some unlikable character through the woods. That's what the description made it sound like. Instead, a little way in it becomes some sort of gothic horror story about a werewolf? A crazy guy? Something like that. Most of it takes place in this dilapidated old...church? Insane asylum? Jail? The characters are thin and unlikable. The dialogue is bad. The story is meandering and makes no sense. It tries to tackle a serious issue to give it weight but it's so clumsy and ham-handed about it that the whole thing falls flat. Mostly, it's just boring. I spent the last half hour or so just waiting for it to be over already. Was that the end? No, it's still going. Oh, I guess it's finally over now. This is just a boring waste of time.
A 5 out of 10 star rating, is more than fair.
RatedVforVinny6 December 2019
An pretty average, modern Werewolf movie. Atmospheric in parts but the content is less stimulating. Worth watching I guess but the contents are already slipping from my mind. Too many better movies and more substantial examples, to get your teeth in (excuse the pun).
A Grim and Freudian Fairytale
stevebalshaw16 February 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Horror Cinema is not the same as social realism. It deals generally with the unreal, the fantastic; more often than not it eschews naturalism in favour of a more heightened, stylised approach. This does not, however, mean that Horror Cinema lacks socio-political awareness; that it does not often confront serious issue in a serious fashion. But the key word here is "confront".
I found myself thinking about this fact as I read the other IMDb reactions to SPLINTERED, and in particular the objections to its allegedly "crass" treatment of the very serious issue of child abuse and its repercussions. Given the fact that SPLINTERED is first and foremost a horror film, not an issue-led social drama, I think the film's approach is entirely responsible and legitimate.
SPLINTERED takes the traditional tropes of the teens-in-peril slasher movie and filters them through the dark, Freudian fairy tales of Angela Carter, to powerful effect. It is the story of Sophie, haunted since childhood by dreams of being attacked by some bestial entity. The film begins with this recurring nightmare, then fast-forwards to the present, where Sophie is headed to the countryside to investigate news reports of a sheep-killing wild animal. With her are best friend, Jane, Jane's geeky brother Dean, Jane's boorish boyfriend Sam, and alpha male John, who clearly has designs on Sophie. The film establishes quickly and efficiently that Sophie is a troubled young woman, isolated even among her friends, who regard her obsession with the Unexplained as a self-dramatising affectation, rather than a method of coping with her own night terrors. This particular case has taken an unusually strong hold on Sophie's imagination and has even begun to affect the shape of her nightmares, as a second waking dream makes startlingly clear. Her subconscious is screaming at her - if she can solve this mystery, then she will finally be able to confront her own.
Sophie, then, is established as the dream-driven questing heroine of Fairytale, whose journey, though fraught with grave risks will ultimately be one of personal enlightenment. But this is a particularly grim fairy tale. Sophie's dream offers her a vision, an intimation of her own future, of the terrors and losses she will face. Her enlightenment will not come cheap, and it may not be something she wants to accept.
The friends establish a camp in the woods, and the various tensions in the group start to surface. All of these relate in some way to Sophie. Significantly much of the tension is romantic or sexual in nature, or expresses itself in such terms. Sam resents Sophie's continued hold over Jane, who still refers to Sophie as her "soul-mate", usually a term reserved for a romantic partner. Shy Dean has a hopeless crush on his sister's friend. John thinks he has more chance of success with her, but only if she'll abandon her obsession with the Unknown. Both John and in particular Sam become increasingly hostile to Sophie, deriding her as "a virgin" whose obsession is actually a means of evading emotional and sexual contact. They do not realise just how right they are.
The tensions drive Sophie away from the others, though John follows, thinking to "comfort" her. Here, in the heart of the woods, they discover the Seminary.
And at this point, Sophie's nightmares begin to take on all-too-physical form. John is attacked and killed by something bestial. Sophie is knocked unconscious, and awakes to find herself trapped in a cell-like room, very like the one in her dreams. Her captor is the wretched, barely coherent Gavin. Initially, he seems a threat: the ogre in the castle, the Beast to Sophie's Beauty. He is clearly besotted with her, but he is equally clearly disturbed, and possibly dangerous. He talks of "protecting" Sophie, suggesting that there is something else in the Seminary that will harm her. The situation has unsettling echoes for Sophie. And little by little the dreams that haunt her start to coalesce into something else as long-repressed memories struggle to surface.
Escaping from her cell, Sophie discovers that Gavin really is trying to protect her - from Vincent, his insane, utterly feral brother. She uncovers the two brothers' story: a horrible tale of systematic abuse that has left Gavin a half-insane emotional wreck, and has reduced Vincent to little more than a wild animal. And now Vincent is loose, a ravening id-creature, filled with unfocused rage and bottomless hunger, destroying everything and everyone in his path.
Sophie flees, with Vincent in pursuit, bringing violent death to those around her. Finally, she finds herself back in the woods, alone, all of her friends dead and gone, her nightmare finally coming true. And at that moment, everything she has been repressing erupts to the surface. She sees the real beast, the one who has haunted her and hunted her since childhood: the father who abused her. She understands what she has held buried in her subconscious for so long., and she lashes out, fights back for the first time in her life, annihilating Vincent; utterly feral herself in that moment, as she howls out in rage and pain the terrible truth she must suddenly confront: "I'm not a virgin, I'M NOT A VIRGIN!" It's a devastating moment. Confrontational, certainly, deeply upsetting, yes, but by no means crass or exploitative, because it is grounded so carefully in emotional reality. There is no such thing as closure. The truth is often painful, and catharsis is always violent. It may lead to release, to a cure for one's ills, or it may prove utterly destructive. As the film abandons a bloodied and battered Sophie to her fate, traumatised both by what has happened to her, and what she has discovered about herself as a result, we are left with little hope that she faces a happy future. She has finally confronted the truth about her life. Now she must live with it.
I found myself thinking about this fact as I read the other IMDb reactions to SPLINTERED, and in particular the objections to its allegedly "crass" treatment of the very serious issue of child abuse and its repercussions. Given the fact that SPLINTERED is first and foremost a horror film, not an issue-led social drama, I think the film's approach is entirely responsible and legitimate.
SPLINTERED takes the traditional tropes of the teens-in-peril slasher movie and filters them through the dark, Freudian fairy tales of Angela Carter, to powerful effect. It is the story of Sophie, haunted since childhood by dreams of being attacked by some bestial entity. The film begins with this recurring nightmare, then fast-forwards to the present, where Sophie is headed to the countryside to investigate news reports of a sheep-killing wild animal. With her are best friend, Jane, Jane's geeky brother Dean, Jane's boorish boyfriend Sam, and alpha male John, who clearly has designs on Sophie. The film establishes quickly and efficiently that Sophie is a troubled young woman, isolated even among her friends, who regard her obsession with the Unexplained as a self-dramatising affectation, rather than a method of coping with her own night terrors. This particular case has taken an unusually strong hold on Sophie's imagination and has even begun to affect the shape of her nightmares, as a second waking dream makes startlingly clear. Her subconscious is screaming at her - if she can solve this mystery, then she will finally be able to confront her own.
Sophie, then, is established as the dream-driven questing heroine of Fairytale, whose journey, though fraught with grave risks will ultimately be one of personal enlightenment. But this is a particularly grim fairy tale. Sophie's dream offers her a vision, an intimation of her own future, of the terrors and losses she will face. Her enlightenment will not come cheap, and it may not be something she wants to accept.
The friends establish a camp in the woods, and the various tensions in the group start to surface. All of these relate in some way to Sophie. Significantly much of the tension is romantic or sexual in nature, or expresses itself in such terms. Sam resents Sophie's continued hold over Jane, who still refers to Sophie as her "soul-mate", usually a term reserved for a romantic partner. Shy Dean has a hopeless crush on his sister's friend. John thinks he has more chance of success with her, but only if she'll abandon her obsession with the Unknown. Both John and in particular Sam become increasingly hostile to Sophie, deriding her as "a virgin" whose obsession is actually a means of evading emotional and sexual contact. They do not realise just how right they are.
The tensions drive Sophie away from the others, though John follows, thinking to "comfort" her. Here, in the heart of the woods, they discover the Seminary.
And at this point, Sophie's nightmares begin to take on all-too-physical form. John is attacked and killed by something bestial. Sophie is knocked unconscious, and awakes to find herself trapped in a cell-like room, very like the one in her dreams. Her captor is the wretched, barely coherent Gavin. Initially, he seems a threat: the ogre in the castle, the Beast to Sophie's Beauty. He is clearly besotted with her, but he is equally clearly disturbed, and possibly dangerous. He talks of "protecting" Sophie, suggesting that there is something else in the Seminary that will harm her. The situation has unsettling echoes for Sophie. And little by little the dreams that haunt her start to coalesce into something else as long-repressed memories struggle to surface.
Escaping from her cell, Sophie discovers that Gavin really is trying to protect her - from Vincent, his insane, utterly feral brother. She uncovers the two brothers' story: a horrible tale of systematic abuse that has left Gavin a half-insane emotional wreck, and has reduced Vincent to little more than a wild animal. And now Vincent is loose, a ravening id-creature, filled with unfocused rage and bottomless hunger, destroying everything and everyone in his path.
Sophie flees, with Vincent in pursuit, bringing violent death to those around her. Finally, she finds herself back in the woods, alone, all of her friends dead and gone, her nightmare finally coming true. And at that moment, everything she has been repressing erupts to the surface. She sees the real beast, the one who has haunted her and hunted her since childhood: the father who abused her. She understands what she has held buried in her subconscious for so long., and she lashes out, fights back for the first time in her life, annihilating Vincent; utterly feral herself in that moment, as she howls out in rage and pain the terrible truth she must suddenly confront: "I'm not a virgin, I'M NOT A VIRGIN!" It's a devastating moment. Confrontational, certainly, deeply upsetting, yes, but by no means crass or exploitative, because it is grounded so carefully in emotional reality. There is no such thing as closure. The truth is often painful, and catharsis is always violent. It may lead to release, to a cure for one's ills, or it may prove utterly destructive. As the film abandons a bloodied and battered Sophie to her fate, traumatised both by what has happened to her, and what she has discovered about herself as a result, we are left with little hope that she faces a happy future. She has finally confronted the truth about her life. Now she must live with it.
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