Splintered

Sure, without knowing what I was in for here, aside from "Splintered" being a horror or thriller movie, then I opted to sit down and watch director Simeon Halligan's 2010 movie "Splintered" here in 2025, as I had the opportunity to do so.

A bit amazing that writers Stephen Trimingham, Simeon Halligan and Mat Archer collectively could muster so little. But there might be some truth to that old say 'too many chefs spoil the broth'. But hey, if you are a newcomer to the horror and thriller genres, you might get a kick out of watching "Splintered". But for a seasoned horror veteran, such as myself, then "Splintered" was simply too boring and uneventful, too generic and mundane.

I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, and that turned out to be the one thing that kept the movie afloat. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

Visually then the movie was okay. Nothing outstanding or noteworthy, but adequate enough for what it was.

Hardly a movie that I would recommend horror fans to spend 81 minutes on watching. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of director Simeon Halligan's 2010 movie "Splintered" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

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.

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.

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.

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