Horror Movie Research - Splinters (2008)

The film Splinter is about a man and a woman trapped in an isolated gas station by a voracious Splinter parasite that transforms its still living victims into deadly hosts, a young couple and an escaped convict must find a way to work together to survive this primal terror.

I chose this film as I liked the way the editors have created suspense right at the start of the film by splitting the clip up with the opening credits.

White producer credits on a black background appear whilst a low ringing ambient sound is played, already suggesting that this isn't an 'easy watch' type of film.

The text fades into the blackness and a straight edit to a sign of a gas station appears with a booming ambient sound which makes the film start suddenly drawing in more attention; maybe suggesting that something major is going to happen in the first part of the film. This sound echos into nothing.

Crows are heard which is a stereotypical sign for the setting to be abandoned/ not many people around.

Also grasshoppers and insects of this nature can be heard which adds further more to the fact that the setting is in the country/ middle of nowhere which makes whoever is around, vulnerable to what is about to happen.

The camera tilts down from the 'SHERMAN' sign and as this is happening a man in casual work clothes (A grey, white and red polo shirt and black trousers with a maroon baseball cap) walks casually out of the shop, eating a packet of crisps, towards the fuel pumps. This uniform suggests that he works at the gas station but there mustn't be any business as he's not in any hurry. The fact that he's eating crisps can suggest that the time is around lunch time, so even at mid-day there isn't much business shows how isolated the gas station is; away from safety.

The man looks around casually, oblivious as to what is going to happen whilst eating his crisps.

A straight edit to a shot shown at floor level is used to show the mans foot on some sort of wire when a *ding* sound is sounded when he presses it.

More opening credits appear on the screen to break up the film clip and build suspension slowly. The text fades out again, just like the credits before and a straight edit to the next shot, carrying on with what the man was doing. Odd animal sounds are played when the credits come onto the screen.

The man carries on his lunch still acting casual, as if nothing's wrong. This can make the viewers feel scared for him as they know that something is wrong by the odd noises.

The odd animal noises become louder and more defined each time a different credit comes onto the black screen.

The man casually gets a deck chair out and puts it down, not aware of what is going to happen.

He sits down and adjusts his cap casually.

The man finally suspects that something's wrong as he hears a noise coming from the grass behind him. His facial expression appears confused as he searches for whatever made the noise but can't see anything.

A first person shot of the grass behind the man is shown, searching the foliage of any sign of what it was that made the noise.

As he can't see anything so he decides that whatever made the noise is a harmless rodent as he tells it to 'beat it'. This can make viewers cautious again as the know something bad will happen as many things suggest this such as the sound track, the fact that it's set in the middle of nowhere etc.

A panning shot of him sitting on the chair looking around to where the noise came from is shown.
This shot allows the viewer to see the man and the 'danger area' at once.

His suspicions get the better of him as he gets up and walks over to the grass, wanting to know what's creating the noise. He doesn't seem scared or nervous, showing that he's still casual about it all, still unaware of any dangers. Viewers can tell that he's not phased too much by the fact that he's still eating his crisps.







A black screen fades in, followed by white text fading in and out, creating suspense because the viewer will want to see what happens next.
The blackness fades back into the next shot.







His confused face is shown as he still doesn't know what's making the noise.

Whilst the black screen is shown and the credits fade in and out, the crickets and other background sounds disappear, focusing on the odd sounds of the creature.

A shot at floor level is shown of the mans feet slowly walking onto the grass. This can make viewers uneven and worried for the man as it's like he's traveled out of his 'safe zone' and into the 'danger zone'.

His face drops to a shocked expression, showing this when he looks at whatever it is making the noise.
This makes viewers want to know more what it is as he knows, so they want to know too.

More growling sounds are created by the creature, making the viewers want to know what it is.

His facial expression turns to look disgusted and shocked. The camera stays on his expression before showing the creature to climax the tension.

All of a sudden, the creature comes out of nowhere at an extremely fast pace.

The noises of the creature become louder and intimidating.

He falls to the ground quickly.

The next shots are put together extremely quickly. This is created by using straight edits and the changing of shot.
This is a change from what it was as it built up slowly.

His expression is shown and you can hear him scream in pain.

Squirting blood is shown while the rodent rips his skin.
The sound of this is emphasized by being made louder and more prominent.

What looks like a shot reverse shot is used between the creature and the man is used. Perhaps so that you can see both the man and the creature's expression whilst the creature is killing the man.

The creature is shown quickly again, scarring the viewers as it is horrible looking.

A close up of the man's face is shown to see his terrified expression to make the viewers scared for him.

The last shot is an extreme close up of him screaming is very effective as it's shot in slow motion.










His screaming echos and changes to a black screen, showing that the scene is over.