Split Second – an underrated B-movie

I’m going to say now that I enjoyed ‘Split Second.’ Partly because, as I alluded to in the title, it’s an underrated B-movie, but also because I saw it as a child and I am looking at it with a deep sense of nostalgia.  It’s probably not as good as I say it is!

Back in 1992 pretty much all B-movies/monster-munching fun was set in America, so the sight of London flooded in 2008 (hey – it was a long time in the future when I first saw this!) was quite a novelty, let alone a beastie who runs around ripping people’s hearts out and leaving them for the police, or at least one particular police officer – Rutger Hauer.  He got attacked by the killer a while back and, even since then, has been experiencing visions and is psychically-connected to it.

Now, the monster is in London and Rutger – while totally hooked on coffee, chocolate and pretty much anything else that’s bad for you (except alcohol – he quit that!) teams up with squeaky-clean copper called ‘Dick Durkin’ (*snigger*).  Therefore you kind of have a ‘buddy cop’ movie with the end of the world at stake. 

You may notice my slight titter of laughter at the character name ‘Dick Durkin.’ I don’t feel too immature for that reaction, as the film is kind of tongue-in-cheek and knows that it’s hardly on a par with Shakespeare.  It’s a B-movie.  Therefore, don’t expect much in the way of a budget.  And, when I say ‘budget’ I basically mean the monster itself.  You don’t really see it all the way through, so if that bothers you this might not be your cup of tea (or coffee in Rutger’s case).  Plus the other downside is the script itself.  It really does let the whole thing down.  The atmosphere is great – dark and foreboding and the characters are fun, making the film good.  It’s only some of the lines which sound as if they’ve been written by a work experience kid that let the whole thing down.  That and the lack of visual sight of the monster, obviously.

If you’ve see Split Second before then you’ll probably be happy to give it another go.  If you haven’t and you’re into B-movies, then make sure you’re in a forgiving mood and don’t expect too much in the way of special effects and you mind just find it an undiscovered little gem.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that