20ft High: Blog of Director Toby Wilkins

Splinter pumpkins from fans on Twitter. Thanks to everyone who made and twitpic’d their works of art. Great stuff.

Mazzupial's Top Five

Australian Flag Australian movie blog Movie Mazzupial just put up an article naming Splinter among their top five must see picks for this Halloween. Culling from the past ten years of “underground” horror they have put together a list that would make for a great All Hallows Movie Eve.

Others on the list include Gingersnaps, and my friend Michael Dougherty’s debut feature Trick ‘r Treat. They have this to say about Splinter:

Easily one of the best, most original horror offerings this year, Splinter is a thrilling twist on the zombie-infection scenario. In fact, it creates its own rules with the clever concept of a blood-crazed, parasitic creature that absorbs the corpses of its victims. Visually, there hasn’t been a horror creature quite like the possessed nature of those in Splinter, nor too has such a potentially ridiculous plot been executed so perfectly. For a low-budget release, you wouldn’t be able to tell Spilnter is lacking the financial support of most mainstream horror films given the slick production and creative special effects.

Never taking itself too seriously, Splinter is a cringe-inducing, jolt-filled, fast-paced, thrilling ride and a throw back to the best creature features of the 70s and 80s.

Kind words indeed. You can read the rest of the list HERE.

10 Horror Movies You Might Have Missed

Mania.com have compiled a list of 10 Overlooked Horror Movies of the last 25 years. To my surprise and delight, Splinter made it into the number one slot, so, nine really since I’m guessing you have at least heard of that one.

The list is a great one for horror lovers who may not consider themselves aficionados but are keen to discover hidden treasures. The list includes trailers, and reasons for each film’s appearance on the list.

Now, these aren’t a bunch of obscure avant-garde titles that are an acquired taste, they are just solid examples of off the beaten path horror that may have been… overlooked, and I have to admit there are a few on the list I have overlooked myself.

One recent film on the list is Carriers, which had a blink-and-you-miss-it release in theatres last month despite a great cast including Star Trek’s Chris Pine, Brothers & Sisters/The Ring Two’s Emily VanCamp and one of the most overlooked talents in his age range, Lou Taylor Pucci.

The film looks like a solid thriller with some themes in common with Splinter being a story about people trying to escape infection. The trailer even uses some of the exact same microscope footage I used for the end credit sequence of Splinter. Definitely one to check out.

See the whole list and explore Mania.com HERE.

Vienna International Festival Screenings

Splinter is showing at the Vienna International Film Festival (Viennale ‘09) this Saturday, with an encore performance at midnight on Halloween!

Looking at a few web sites, this seems like one hell of a cool film festival, and the Halloween screening really sounds like a blast.

Despite growing up in London, I have never really travelled through Europe. Vienna is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities, and I can’t think of a better way to travel than as a guest of a major film festival.

Alas, with an indie like Splinter, directors do not seem to get flown all over the world to attend these events. Or at least I don’t. LOL. Would be fun though.

Viennale Party

For more info about the festival and more pictures, visit Film Festival World’s page on the fest HERE. And to buy tickets if you’re lucky enough to be in Austria for Halloween, go HERE.

Hear Splinter star Paulo Costanzo’s idea of a perfect Halloween costume. Video from the red carpet at Spike TV’s 2009 Scream Awards.

Me and the Splinter gang.

Saturday night on the red carpet at the 2009 Scream Awards. From left to right: Nelson Cragg (cinematographer), Paulo Costanzo, Toby Wilkins (me), Jill Wagner, Erik Neff.

Splinter on SyFy

Splinter will screen as part of SyFy’s 31 Days of Halloween!

Included earlier in the month were Saw I, II, III, Jurassic Park, Identity, Autopsy, The Mummy, and my buddy Joe Lynch’s Wrong Turn 2. Coming up in the next week along side Splinter are Ghost Town, Stephen King’s Desperation (how did that title ever got approved?) and the original Final Destination.

Splinter will air Saturday October 24th, at 7/6c.

SyFy is one of the few channels where you can still see real horror movies on TV, so it’s great to be a part of this lineup.

Doing an interview for our friends at FearNet on the red carpet at the Spike TV 2009 Scream Awards with Splinter stars Jill Wagner, Paulo Costanzo.

A New Splinter Review Out of the Blue

It’s been a year since Splinter came out, so there haven’t been many new reviews coming out in recent months. But today a new one popped up on a horror blog, and it’s great.

A Nightmare on Samityville Street horror blog just posted a rave review, here are some excerpts, or you can read the very thorough and insightful review HERE.

“Toby Wilkins hasn’t forgotten the power of classics like John Carpenter’s The Thing or David Cronenberg’s The Fly. His exceptional genre debut Splinter - a body horror/monster pic that sports both blood and brains in equal doses – is a great example of humans forced to sacrifice their own bodies in order to survive.”

“The creature work and concept design of Splinter go a long way in making it the successful movie that it is… …the black splinters featured here make not only the action of the film more entertaining but also thought-provoking. Oh, and aside from all the behavioural implications and biological curiosity, these splinters are freaky as hell!”

“You can tell Wilkins and co had high aspirations when conceiving their macabre little picture and through believable characters and a striking central menace, Splinter is an attention-grabbing debut that deserves more than just a prick.”

Levi's Commercials I Love

When I was a teenager growing up in London, I used to go to the cinema a lot. One of the things that is, or was different about movie theatres in the UK is that they would show commercials before the films.

You may roll your eyes at the idea of giant ads playing to a captive audience… but these were different. I would make sure I got to the theatre early, so I didn’t miss the new Levi’s ad, they were that good. This was the early ’90s and somehow they managed to squeeze enough cinematic quality into those 60 second ads to make them worthy of the big screen.

Directly below is a playlist of six of my favorites, from directors like Michael Gondry and Tarsem Singh. These ads are what first introduced me, and perhaps re-introduced an entire generation of teenagers to the music of The Clash, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Eartha Kitt, Ben E. King, and Jonny Cash. These were ads that were made to play on the big screen, and I loved them.

It’s been a very very long time since I have felt anything worth reporting about a Levi’s ad, but today that changed when I saw a couple of examples from their new GO FORTH campaign. These are two that really registered with me.

They may not have the wit of the ads from fifteen-plus years ago (times are different now and ads that make us think win over ads that make us smile) but they have every bit as much unbridled sexuality, lyrical innocence, and pure artistry. I could actually do with a couple of new pairs of jeans, and I think it’s worth rewarding a company like Levi’s for making ads that do not irritate, bore, or talk down to me.

I’m not a huge fan of commercials in general, and have so far managed to steer clear of the allure of the quick-buck they can represent for a director today. But these are some of the few ads that have made me do anything other than skip ahead on my DVR in quite some time, and if I ever decide to tackle the world of directing commercials, I can only hope to achieve something that stands the test of time like Levi’s ads have for me.

Composer Elia Cmiral on the Radio

Tomorrow (Sun Oct. 4th) at 4pm (PST) award-winning horror composer Elia Cmiral will be live on LA Talk Radio’s Horror/SciFi Entertainment show Out There. You can listen live HERE, and call in to put questions to the man himself at (323) 203 0815. If you miss the live event you can listen to an archive of the show HERE.

In addition to the award-winning score for Splinter, which you can sample and download below, Cmiral has worked on films as diverse as Ronin, Pulse, They, Wrong Turn, Stigmata, and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, to name just a few.

Splinter Price Drop in Amazon Horror Sale

The DVD and BluRay of Splinter just dropped to $17.99 in Amazon’s Halloween Horror Sale. Not much of a price break really I suppose, but every dollar counts in today’s economy, right? And there are some used copies up there from about $10 if you’re into that sort of thing.

Actually they do have some pretty sweet deals in the sale, like one of my all time favorite David Fincher films Seven for $5.49, Shaun of the Dead for $6.99, and a ton of classic ’60s and ’70s stuff.

Anyway…

Roll-over or click images for more info (depending on your browser).

Splinter is in the “crime” sub-category for some reason, I guess that is one of the sub-plots of the film, but not really the source of the horror. Why isn’t there a “creature” category? Why didn’t Splinter fall into the “monster” set? Answers on a postcard please.

How to Make A Splinter Pumpkin!

It’s October, time to start making your Splinter pumpkins!

Splinter Pumpkins

To learn how to make these splendid Halloween doorstep accessories from the lovely Jill Wagner, check the special features of the Splinter DVD, or watch the clip below.

Jill Wagner's Pumpkins

They are super easy to make, and last far longer than a regular pumpkin!

Have fun! And if you come up with something cool, be sure to send me a twitpic @splinterfilm and I’ll create a little gallery to feature everyone’s Splinter Halloween art.

Splinter Location on Google Street View

I just discovered that the location where we shot Splinter has been added to the Google Street View map. You can check out what’s left of the gas station including the pile of melted plastic that once was a trash can, and the facade we built for the exterior bathroom where (SPOILER ALERT) Lacey first discovers the infected attendant. I was looking around trying to find the other locations, like the campsite and car-jack scenes, but it all looks very different without leaves on the trees.

Google Street View

What really kills me is that Google had way better luck with the weather than we did. Our cinematographer Nelson Cragg and I would have killed to get clouds like that in the opening shot of the movie!

Use Google Street View to explore the location for yourself below, or visit the Google page HERE.

View Larger Map

LISTEN: FlikTalk Live Podcast Starts Soon

UPDATE: The live podcast is now over, gave away a couple of Splinter BluRays, and had a blast. The episode is archived at FlikTalk.com and can be found on iTunes also, search for FlikTalk episode 50.

Tonight at 6:30pm (PDT) you will be able to listen to the live podcast recording from FlikTalk.com, right here in this window. I’m going to be a guest on the show. Kind of nervous about being live… anything could happen.

Live Video streaming by Ustream

If this player doesn’t work, or if you have a Ustream account and want to leave a comment in the chat window, you can go HERE.

Thoughts from
the lived-in brain of
director Toby Wilkins.

20ft high:

a blog about what i do