All posts tagged "review"

Zombies Don't Run Reviews Splinter

Zombies Don't Run

Horror movie blog Zombies Don’t Run were the lucky winners of a Splinter Blu-Ray giveaway over at ObscureHorror.com, and they liked the film enough to post this awesome review and gave Splinter an 8/10.

Thanks to both sites for getting excited enough about indie horror to help spread the word about Splinter.

Mazzupial's Top Five

Australian FlagAustralian 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.

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.

Samityville

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.”

"Edge of the Seat Excitement"

Digital RetributionAustralian horror site Digital Retribution posted a review of Splinter back when it played at A Night of Horror film festival in Sydney in April. Splinter ended up winning Best Picture, and Best Special Effects at the fest and will be out on DVD and BluRay there on September 9th.

Below are a few select quotes from the review, or you can read the whole thing HERE.

“a tense siege film a la Night of the Living Dead, with splatter bordering on Raimi/Jackson territory, genuine suspense, a monster that is equal parts vicious and grotesque, great laughs and a whale of a time to boot.”

“Splinter is a great film… …a top-notch hi-octane thrill-fest…”

“Splinter is edge of the seat excitement from the word go. It’s as gory as you’d hope for, and despite the fact that it’s played dead-pan, extremely funny – the scares and the laughs play off against each other admirably.”

“Splinter is a film you really ought to watch.”

Major Shuffle At The Movies

At The MoviesAccording to ABC News one of the film critic world’s most vocal fans of Splinter, Ben Mankiewicz and his co-host Ben Lyons are being replaced on their show At The Movies formerly hosted by Siskel & Ebert, Ebert & Roeper, etc. 

The two Bens had some really nice things to say about Splinter during its run at the boxoffic, and again when it hit DVD. Once with a message to Hollywood imploring “…more movies like Splinter, fewer movies like Friday the 13th…” You can watch all three mentions HERE, HERE, and HERE. 

Who will replace them? Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune who has not reviewed Splinter, and The New York Times’ A.O. Scott who had this to say about the film back in October 2008: 

“Working from an efficient, bare-bones script by Ian Shorr and Kai Barry, the director, Toby Wilkins, honors the conventions of the genre with skill and enough wit to keep the scares sharp.”

I wish the two Bens the best, and welcome the new gang to the world of TV. Maybe ABC will go back to naming the show after its hosts since Scott & Phillips rolls off the tongue a little better than Lyons & Mankiewicz?

Splinter Review at Oz Horror Scope

OzHorrorScope
Australian “dark fiction blog” OzHorrorScope just published a glowing review of Splinter. Here are a few choice quotes, but you can read the whole thing HERE.

“Splinter is probably the best alien body horror film since The Thing and will have you on the edge of your seat, squirming with every twist and turn.”

”Splinter does everything right.”

“The special effects are superb for an independent film, easily on par with much bigger-budgeted efforts…”

“It is easy to see why Splinter has won six Screamfest Awards and was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. It is a solid film in an era of hit-and-miss horror fare.”

Splinter launches on DVD and BluRay in Australia on 9/9/09 from Icon Entertainment.

Seattle-Geekly Review Splinter

Seattle-GeeklyThe super nice people over at Seattle-Geekly.com just put out episode #22 of their podcast. This time they focus on games, but they also take time to review Splinter. They had some really nice things to say about the movie, and they even used some of the score to accompany their show. 

The podcast is about ninety minutes long and the Splinter review starts at about 13 minutes in, but the whole show is pretty cool, especially if you are in Seattle ‘cos they have some local event info too. It’s a very nicely produced podcast, which is kind of rare.

You can listen to the podcast at their site at the link above, or download it with iTunes HERE. Wherever you listen, remember it’s episode #22. You can also follow them on Twitter @seattlegeekly. Thanks for the shout out guys, you rock!

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

RRR radio podcast review of Splinter. The Triple R, one of Australia’s largest community radio stations with over 300,000 listeners, reviewed Splinter which is currently only available as an import in Australia.

They’ve posted a podcast of the whole film review show Film Buff’s Forecast which you can listen to above, or visit the site directly, HERE to find past episodes of the show. 

They have some really nice things to say about Splinter, the review starts at about 1hr and 25mins in, which is way at the end of the clip.

Thanks to @eddycrosby for the tip. 

Play count: 12

A Five Legged Review of Splinter

The folks at Five-Legged Iguana have posted a review of Splinter. This little quote will give you the gist of the review.

“Splinter is a frisky blast of low budget horror that grabs you from the get-go, and introduces us to one of the freakiest cinematic beasties from 2008.”

You can read the whole thing HERE.

"an eerie, bloody slice of old-school horror fun."

A new review of Splinter posted over the weekend at Quadruple Z. Here are some quotes, but you can read the whole thing HERE.

“Splinter is an eerie, bloody slice of old-school horror fun.”

“a thick atmosphere of dread, spine-tingling tension and a fresh, disturbing new monster the likes of which have never been seen before.”

“This would make a great, midnight party movie to watch with friends who like their thrills and chills in a tight, satisfying package.”

Interview with Dead Harvey

The guys over at Dead Harvey are apparently huge fans of Splinter, and we were able to connect and do a little interview. Here are a couple of excerpts of what they have to say about the film.

“…this film is one of the best horror films of the year…”

”Splinter is a rare indie horror that excels on every level.”  

“It’s the kind of movie you want to go out and tell all your friends to rent after you watch it.”

“I can’t say enough great things about Splinter. It’s a must see and I hope everyone that reads this that hasn’t seen it will check it out and discover what I did: a renewed enthusiasm for the genre.”

You can read the interview, and explore their excellent site HERE.

A Brutal Review of Grudge 3

Brutal As Hell
The site is Brutal As Hell, the review itself is actually pretty great. The reviewer proclaims himself “not a huge fan of sequels” or of the Grudge franchise as a whole, but seems to really dig this one. Here are a few quotes, and he gives The Grudge 3 a glowing 3.5/5 skulls. This should be welcome news to Sam Raimi, who was keen to make this installment work not only as part of the series, but also able to stand on its own. 

“First is the admirable direction of Toby Wilkins… He builds tension through the use of creative camera work as well as the utilization of talented actress Aiko Horiuchi who plays the ghostly Kayako. Horiuchi delivers a heck of a performance…”

“The film manages to pull off a remarkable feat of being not only watchable, but entertaining…”  ”When credits rolled I had to surprisingly admit to myself how much of a good time I had with this film.”

“Gil McKinney puts on his best Jack Nicholson… …It was both a believable descent into madness, as well as an enjoyable one to watch.”

“…genuine scares, and frightful moments.”

“Anyone can slide right in, catch up on the back story, and enjoy this satisfying ghost story.”

“Miraculously, a franchise wrought with unoriginality proved to be able to bring some real entertainment value to the table making this for a heck of a fun film to watch.”

You can read the full review, and explore the extensive review site HERE. They also published a great little review of Splinter back when it was in theatres saying it succeeded in “pushing the siege formula to new levels.”  You can read the rest of that HERE.

Film Intuition Reviews The Grudge 3

Jen Johans reviews The Grudge 3 for her extensive database/blog of over 1,000 film reviews. She has the following to say about the film:

“we get a strong sense… that at last we have a halfway decent plot.”

“[Wilkins] and his screenwriter Brad Keene must be commended for successfully building a good source of dramatic conflict with the revelation that the ‘curse’ of Kayako could have a solution once and for all.”

“[The Grudge 3] is the first one to fully reboot the franchise for American audiences by still retaining but reshaping the great origin story… Likewise, it makes me think that’s perhaps what should have been done all along to make better quality American versions that stand alone as worthwhile rather than simply ripping off Shimizu’s stylistically inventive original.”

“The deaths move from mysterious to grisly in increasingly horrific fashion until everything comes to a head in a truly pulse-pounding… blood-and-guts spattered ending.”

You can read the whole article HERE. 

Splinter Reviewed by Film Snobs

filmsnobbery.comThe guys at FilmSnobbery.com have posted their review of Splinter. Here’s a sample of what they have to say. You can read the whole thing HERE. 

“This movie is a masterpiece of horror cinema that keeps the viewer both engaged and en-GROSSED the entire length of the flick.”

”Splinter is a horror movie done right. It keeps the viewer on the ride from the get go and doesn’t let up until the credits.”

“Fans of the Horror genre should delight that finally someone understands that we’re tired of corny remakes and cheesy ripoffs.”