Splintered review

On the run from a beast in the Welsh wilderness...

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“Stop messing about guys!” whines Sophie (Holly Weston) in one of two phew-it-was-all-a-dream sequences padding out this no-budget Brit beastie flick.

It’s an inauspicious start, and the rest of the set-up, which follows Weston and chums as they bicker, bonk and imbibe in wild rural Wales, suggests a stinker’s brewing.

Luckily, first-time director Simeon Halligan has some surprises ready – a spooky location, a tense mid-section and a terrifically twitchy, Smeagol-ish turn from Stephen Walters as Sophie’s feral tormenter.

The result is an enthusiastic, if dog-eared mongrel of a movie.

Freelance Writer

Matt Glasby is a freelance film and TV journalist. You can find his work on Total Film - in print and online - as well as at publications like the Radio Times, Channel 4, DVD REview, Flicks, GQ, Hotdog, Little White Lies, and SFX, among others. He is also the author of several novels, including The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film and Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting To This Is England.