Director Toby Wilkins‘ debut feature Splinter is a fast-paced, well-crafted bit of sci-fi horror with plenty of gore and thrills to keep audiences amped up and on-edge for much of its tight 85-minute running time. The title of Wilkins‘ film refers to the delivery method employed by its resident monster, a parasite that shoots splinters at its victims to infect them. All tangled limbs, snarling teeth, and contorted torso, the creature leaps, slithers, and growls with ferocious determination, and seems a descendent of John Carpenter‘s mutating menace in his remake of The Thing. While the monster‘s exact nature and cause are never fully explained, it hardly matters, because Wilkins, along with screenwriters Ian Shorr and Kai Barry, and a tight-knit, compelling cast keep us hooked, right out of the gate.

Wilkins posits Splinter‘s horrors in the backwoods of the American heartland where likeable couple -- bookish Seth (Paulo Costanzo) and outdoorsy Polly (Jill Wagner) find themselves on a camping trip with a broken tent. They ditch the camping idea, and set out in search of a motel to spend the night. En route, the two are ambushed by gun-wielding fugitive Dennis (Shea Whigham) and his strung-out girlfriend Lacey (Rachel Kerbs). The criminals hijack Seth, Polly, and their truck, and, driving on, pull over at the most unfortunate of gas stations. The creature has taken root here, having already "absorbed" both a dog and a hapless attendant, and now springs into action against the bewildered gang which retreats into the gas station‘s convenience store. Much of Splinter‘s action takes place here, behind the windows, aisles, and even the freezers of the store, as Seth and Polly form an uneasy alliance with Dennis, who‘s left sans girlfriend after Lacey meets a grisly fate, and together they try to outwit the primal terror.

With its walled-in, almost claustrophobic setting, Splinter echoes Night of the Living Dead, of course, and Frank Darabont‘s adaptation of