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Messengers 2

 

Directed by Simeon Halligon. Starring Holly Weston, Sadie Pickering, Sacha Dhawan, Colin Tierney. Psychological Horror/Slasher, UK, 96 Minutes.

Release Date : 6th September 2010.

Splintered, what more could I ask for. It’s British, it’s horror, it’s not a remake and it may just have an original script. Yeah ok it borrows a little from Blair Witch and pilfers some what from the premise of the Most Haunted TV series but here is a British horror that may just show some promise. Right??

Well.... You see I really wanted to like this film, it ticks so many boxes and it gets so many things right but it also gets an equal amount of them wrong. Which is a damned shame.

First up, the film looks amazing, so much effort has gone into creating a visually stunning film, be that effective camera work, visuals or most importantly how the whole thing looks to the viewer. It looks big budget, it looks no expense spared but it’s here where it really does not live up to its’ initial promise.

Splintered is set around Sophie, a teen with a troubled past. Suffering from hallucinations and nightmares as a child, she grows up to develop an interest in the paranormal. This interest takes her and a group of friends off into the wilds of North Wales (so far, so Blair Witch). Whilst there it transpires that her reason for investigating is that of a local legend which has recently been making the news whilst being responsible for attacking livestock plus a local farmer as well.

And for me at this point, it is where Splintered loses itself. Anyone familiar with Blair Witch will know that it took a few days into the “film” for the group to fragment for the arguments to start. Anyone familiar with camping or spending long periods of time with a small group will also know that tensions arise when tired/frustrated/wet or lacking in sleep. But the arguments in the group appear once they arrive?? Something within that script just doesn’t seem right. Yes maybe a few days later, yes maybe when they realise they are lost or that no one can help I can understand the arguments occurring.

The story continues as Sophie explores the woods with one of the group and after discovering an ancient building, one of her friends is captured and killed and she is imprisoned in a stone cell. It is here she discovers “Gavin” a previous resident of the building as a child, who returns for reasons later disclosed. It appears that his motive is to protect her from “Vincent”, his older brother. The Gavin/Vincent story is later explained in the film but seems too way out and far fetched to be worth considering, a serious flaw in the story which prevented me from marking this review to a higher rating.

Concerned as to Sophies whereabouts, the remainder of the group end up at the seminary where Sophie is being held and end up meeting both Gavin and his more disturbed sibling, Vincent. And this is what confuses me with Splintered as the last third of the film picks up the pace...

Gruesome nasty deaths are a plenty, yes it plays to the slasher stereotype (is he dead, is he not, let’s just leave him anyway...), there is no phone signal, irrational decisions are made. But what this film does in its’ end sequences is realise that somewhere along the way it has lost the plot and gets it back on track again.

Ok, Splintered is far fetched, it’s like a nasty fairytale, Beauty And The Beast in comparison to the relationship between Sophie and Gavin. I really wanted to like this film and it shows masses of promise but in its’ execution it is massively flawed.

I can’t and won’t be too harsh as for many cast and crew it is their first major production and the film itself is enjoyable but something leaves me feeling that it could be better. That said a lot of effort has gone into it and the parts that do work, work really well. Some of the deaths are particularly gruesome (see the scene towards the end of the film involving Sophies “soul mate” Jane) as a knife is plunged into her just as you believe the remaining members of the group are driving away to safety. Holly Westons portrayal of Sophie is far from being a classic horror final girl but she does execute her role very well and is one of the few people involved in the film who makes her character not just real but also believable and sympathetic too.

I have to say give this film a watch, ok i’m biased towards slasher horror and any film involving a good psychopath gets my thumbs up. But it’s worth a watch, it’s far from being a bad film but the good outweighs the bad.

Extras : The disc was just the film and devoid of anything extra.

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