Splintered

Released by: Well Go USA
Released on: 3/20/2012
Director: Simeon Halligan
Cast: Stephen Walters, Holly Weston, Sacha Dhawan, Jonathan Readwin
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
Five 20-somethings go on a quest to investigate an animal attack in a remote area in England. One of the five, Sophie (Holly Weston) has a particular fascination with werewolves, since she believes she was attacked by one as a child. The other four are along for the ride and to be killed. Oops. Spoiler back there…Once they're out in the seclusion of the deep forest, they realize they maybe fucked up not being prepared, and not entirely knowing the situation they put themselves into. Apparently Sophie neglected to tell them whatever they were looking for (with a camera) may in fact be deadly. Meanwhile, Father Thomas (Colin Tierney) knows there is something out in those woods causing havoc, and decides it's time to end it by going on a hunt to kill whatever this beast is, which looks to be a werewolf.

Sophie and one other forgettable person get separated from the others and when they don't come back, the others go looking for them. The two lost puppies find an abandoned building with blood on a broken windowpane, and decide it to be a sound idea to go inside and see what's what. Sophie ends up in a locked room and watched by the utterly insane Gavin (Stephen Walters), who tells her she is in there for her safety. She doesn't believe him of course, and tries to escape many times, ending back up in the cell. “Rescue” arrives, as does the priest with his gun, and the hunt for the beast within the building marches forward.

For about half the movie, this seems to be an uneventful werewolf movie, but it isn't. He comes the part that ruins any chance of being an entertaining wolf flick…it's all psychological. Gasp! There is someone running around and killing the kids, but the werewolf thing…it's a crock of shit. The movie turns out to be nothing more than typical wadding for the crap cannon and it's a chore to sit through.

Stephen Walters plays a dual role, and he's good at playing ape-shit bonkers, even if it is a bit over the top (and with a bad wig). But that's about all this one has going for it and he's not in it enough to make it worth watching just for his performance. Nice wooded locations and a wonderfully creepy abandoned building make for some interesting visuals and atmosphere, but the movie is so DARK the surroundings get swallowed up. The filmmakers totally squandered the location they had. They could have done so much more with what they had. And they could have done much more with the movie, but they don't. They go an easier route and explain it all off like a lame Dean Koontz book making it all psychological and not supernatural. The story is weak and not original, and the movie is absolutely not enjoyable.

Video/Audio/Extras:
The film is shown with a 2.35:1 ratio, and in 1080p, but for a Blu-ray, this doesn't look all that hot. The fact that it's really dark for so much of the time, and when it's not dark it's seemingly green, makes the movie suffer in the visual appeal. As mentioned its tough to make stuff out at times, and when the scene is dark, it looks grainy, but not in the good way. This is more like digital noise. Those scenes also suffer from inconsistent black levels, and they look soft. It looks better than a DVD, but it's not what should be expected with Blu-ray quality of a newly shot movie. The audio track is a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio one and it sounds ok. Nothing fantastic and the sounds seem to come mostly from the front. The balance seems fine, and the woofer gets some action. But like the movie and the video, the audio is nothing to get excited over.

Extras include ten making-of featurettes that do what most of them do: interviews with cast and crew, info about the production. Standard stuff, but interesting to those who like behind the scenes fare. There are a number of deleted scenes and an alternate ending that no one will care about. Add some trailers and a DVD version of the movie (did it even need a Blu-ray release?) and you've got a disc not worth the plastic it's plopped on.

The Final Word:
Lackluster, mostly predictable, and totally forgettable. But hey, judge for yourself.

Note: Images below were taken from the DVD, NOT the Blu-ray.