Splinter (2008 film)

The film opens on a sleepy gas station, where the pump attendant is attacked by a rabid animal. The attendant's body begins to contort. A young couple, Seth Belzer (Paulo Costanzo) and Polly Watt (Jill Wagner), drive for a romantic camping trip in the forests of Oklahoma, but their plans are shattered when they are car-jacked by an escaped convict, Dennis Farell (Shea Whigham), and his drug-addict girlfriend, Lacey Belisle. The group gets a flat tire when they run over a splinter-infected animal on the road. They find shelter at the now-abandoned gas station.

Lacey discovers the horribly-infected pump attendant, writhing in the bathroom. She is attacked and is killed by the monster, but her corpse slowly reanimates and becomes a new creature, which attacks the remaining survivors. While fighting her, Seth, Polly and Dennis discover that severed pieces of the infected victims are capable of attacking on their own. Sheriff Terry Frankel arrives and attempts to arrest Dennis, but is ripped in half by Lacey's corpse. The creature takes the top half of the officer's body and bonds with it, becoming a larger creature. The trio hide in the walk-in refrigerator when a piece of the creature's arm attacks them. It is discovered that Dennis has been infected, as his left arm violently twists on its own. Seth and Polly amputate his arm to prevent the infection from spreading. Dennis explains that he had been pricked by a splinter from the dead creature they encountered on the road. Seth discovers that the creatures themselves are actually a fungus taking control of the corpses they infect and consuming the blood in the body, using the currently zombified host to seek out fresh and new hosts. Because of this, they hunt based on temperature; attacking the warmest thing they can find.

By lowering his body temperature with bags of ice, Seth is able to sneak past the creature to the police car, while Polly and Farell distract it with fireworks. Seth discovers that, without the keys, the car and the police radio inside, are useless. His body temperature rises again, forcing Dennis to leave the gas station to lure the creature away from him. As a result, the creature manages to enter the gas station and Dennis and Polly hide in the freezer once more. The discarded fireworks ignite the trail of flammable liquid and the gas station catches on fire. Seth is able to retrieve a shotgun from the police car and helps Polly and Dennis escape. Dennis offers to keep the creature at bay while Seth and Polly escape, and is infected in the process. He shoots one of the gas pumps with the shotgun and the creature is engulfed in flames, killing it. Unfortunately, Dennis is still left infected. He gives Seth and Polly a key to a bank account, telling them to give it to the wife of a man he shot, who later died. Dennis shoots directly into the propane tanks, incinerating himself, the station, and any remaining infected corpses.

Seth and Polly wander into the distance, but the final scene reveals that there are other infected creature corpses lying dormant in the woods.

• Jill Wagner as Polly Watt
• Paulo Costanzo as Seth Belzer
• Shea Whigham as Dennis Farell
• Rachel Kerbs as Lacey Belisle
• Laurel Whitsett as Sheriff Terri Frankell
• Charles Baker as Blake Sherman Jr.

• Official website
• Splinter at IMDb
• Splinter at AllMovie
• Splinter at Rotten Tomatoes
• Splinter at Metacritic