All you need for a 90-minute thrill ride are four people, an isolated gas station and one truly disturbing creature.

First-time director Toby Wilkins assembled all of the above and made “Splinter,” one of 2008’s best horror films.

WWTW caught up with Wilkins to discuss how a gymnast helped him create his film’s unique beastie and what truly scares him as a filmmaker.

WWTW: How did you become involved with this project? What convinced you this should be your feature film debut?

TW: I was just finishing work on “Devil’s Trade” for Ghost House Pictures, and a producer friend called me with a script, then called “Tooth and Nail” by Ian Shorr.

It reminded me of all the contained, small scale siege movies I loved as a kid, films like “Alien,” “Dawn of the Dead,” and “The Thing.”

A sub-genre of horror that I felt had been underrepresented in recent years, and once I realized this was also a perfect vehicle for the Splinter creature concept I had been developing with my friend George Cawood, everything just clicked into place.

WWTW: A key reason why “Splinter” works is the strong performance of Shea Whigham as the complicated villain. Can you share your thoughts on the role  and whether it evolved during the shoot?

TW: The personal journey at the core of the character of Dennis is something that we worked very hard on, both at the script stage, and with Shea Whigham once he was on board. It was important to me that all the main characters be complex, and flawed, and believably human.

I knew that if I was going to ask the audience to spend most of the film locked in a confined space with these people, they had to be interesting, and real, and the whole cast brought exactly what was needed to make that come true.

WWTW: Talk about the creature at the heart of “Splinter” and how you wanted to rely more on physical effects than CGI.

TW: I have a background in digital effects, specifically in creating seamless, invisible effects, not big CGI monsters, and probably because of that I really don’t like CG in horror films. I can’t tell you how many times I have been yanked out of a movie experience at the sudden appearance of a CG creature. It kills me every time.

So when it came time to bring the Splinter creature to the screen, I knew the only way to do it was with practical effects.

Having the real thing on set obviously brought a lot of value, not just to the audience experience, but also to the
crew and the cast.  When  everyone, the actors, camera operators, the cinematographer, all the way through to the editor can actually see what the audience will see, it gives everyone a more visceral connection with the material, and that makes a huge difference.

WWTW: I understand a college gymnast helped create some of the effects in the film. Can you explain?

TW: Jamie Henderson was a national champion gymnast we found at the University in Oklahoma where we shot, they just happened to have one of the best gymnastics departments in the country.

I worked with Jamie extensively to develop the flips and twists and jumps that the creature would do once it infected its first human victim in the film.

We also had actor Charles Backer, the gas station attendant, who had several years of training as a mime, doing the more expressive and detailed movements of his character’s infected state.  Most creature scenes in the film are a combination of those two guys doing their thing, and a stunt man for the more wild and dangerous stuff towards the end of the film.

WWTW: In the U.S., “Splinter” played in only a few theaters before its DVD release. Yet many inferior horror films get a wide distribution stateside. Is  it getting harder for independent horror films to get seen in the U.S., or can the DVD market supply all the financial backing to keep indie projects afloat?

TW: I don’t think it’s just horror films, I think indie film in general is very hard to get into theatres, most big chains don’t even carry lower budget studio films.  It’s also quite rare that you’ll find even great indie horror films like “The Descent,” or “28 Days Later” getting picked up by a major distributor and shown on one or two thousand screens in the U.S.

But Magnolia and their genre division, Magnet, are on the cutting edge of new distribution models like the one they used for “Splinter” in the US, which included not just a limited theatrical release, but an HD cable sneak preview before that, and also HD On Demand, and a few festivals too.

For an indie film like ours it’s all about getting seen by as many people as possible, and sometimes theatres aren’t the best way to do that when more and more people have home theatre systems, and DVDs are cheaper to buy than one cinema ticket.

But that’s not really what threatens the survival of indie film, or indie horror. The real threat to the business of original, creative independent film is piracy.

WWTW: In an interview you said people gravitate toward horror films, in part, because they often resonate with movies they watched as children. What horror movies made an impact on you as a young movie goer?

TW: I think the list is very much the same as the one I already mentioned …and, of course, as a kid what could beat “Gremlins” and awesome B-movies like “C.H.U.D.” and “The Deadly Spawn?”  But if I’m picking the single most influential horror film, I would have to go with “Alien.”

WWTW: What are your thoughts on the current state of horror movies? What trends excite you … and which ones leave you depressed as a fan of the genre?

TW: What’s sad is when I hear someone say “I normally avoid horror movies, but I really enjoyed this one,” because that’s just the thing about horror as a genre, there really is something for everyone.

But there’s a whole generation whose perception of what the word horror means is “Saw,” “Hostel,” “Last House On The Left,” etc. because they make the most noise in the marketplace. And while those are all great horror films, they are just one small subset of a genre that has so much more to offer.

If you want home invasions and torture porn there’s certainly plenty of that, but there are also great creature features, ghost stories, zombie movies, demonic possession, vampires, mummies, werewolves, sea monsters … you name it.

(Photo: Top right – Director Toby Wilkins. Inset, left, a scene from his new horror film “Splinter.”)

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Splinter” proves you don’t need torture racks (“Saw”), masked killers (“Halloween”) or even a shaky video camera (“The Blair Witch Project”) to give us the creeps.

The new film spins on a blissfully simple premise. Four people get stuck in a Kwik-E-Mart style shop while something nasty waits outside, eager to break in.

That’s it.

When an uncomplicated concept is well executed, that’s all you really need.

Seth (Paolo Costanzo) and Polly (Jill Wagner) are trying to celebrate their anniversary with an impromptu camping trip. Seth ends up ripping their tent, so they decide to find a cheap hotel instead.

Before they find shelter they’re abducted by a pair of not-so-petty crooks. Dennis (Shea Whigham) and Lacey (Rachel Kerbs) are on the run and in need of some wheels, so they take Polly’s car and keep the couple as hostages.

The foursome stops at a local gas-n-go to buy extra coolant, and that’s when the horror kicks in. Lacey is attacked by something vaguely human, a creature with quills jutting out from its mangled body. The rest of the group is forced to retreat into the shop for safety.

Now they must work together to figure out just what assaulted them and devise a way to defeat it. Easier said than done, especially since Dennis has a splinter in his finger that’s turning his hand all sorts of nasty colors.

“Splinter” works because the characters deserve our sympathy and the gore is accompanied by well-choreographed frights. The brainy Seth might end up saving the day, but it’s fascinating to watch Polly’s frustration with his analytical approach – and her appreciation for Dennis’ take-charge style.

The creature itself seems to host on the people it kills, a neat variation on the tried-and-true zombie format.

British director Toby Wilkins (the upcoming “Grudge 3″) began his career as a visual effects specialist, but he’s made a slick transition to helming features. The next step in his education will be to stop shaking his camera every time the creature makes a move.

The film’s lack of ambition starts to show in the final moments. We’re treated to a less than crackerjack conclusion, one that teases out a redemptive storyline that feels pat and unearned.

“Splinter” begs for a sequel – just what are these creatures? Where do they come from? And what havoc are they spreading elsewhere?

But making “Splinter” a franchise misses the point. Let’s leave it as an example of what sturdy craftsmanship, and filmmakers unbowed by budgetary constraints, can accomplish in the horror genre.

(Photo: Jill Wagner and Shea Whigham hide out from a mysterious creature in “Splinter,” a Magnet Release – photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.)

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