Sitges Film Festival 2026 – There is something naturally imposing about the vast and majestic landscapes the film opens with, and Split Rock wastes little time taking advantage of them. Against this grand backdrop we meet Lauren (Clark Backo) and Ben (Drew Ray Tanner), a couple carrying out geological surveying work in an isolated area where abandoned clay mines and an earlier failed expedition suggest there might be considerably more beneath the surface than rocks and sediment.
Their chemistry feels natural, with a believable familiarity between two people who share both a relationship and a passion for their work. That becomes increasingly important as Split Rock gradually begins pulling them into something far more sinister.
While working alone, Lauren notices a brief flash of light from one of the surrounding rock formations. When it happens again, she appears almost transfixed until Ben and fellow team member Trevor (Graham Verchere) return to find her in a dazed state before she collapses.
Heat and exhaustion provide the obvious explanation, but we know something isn’t right.
Lauren begins experiencing disturbing visions involving a motionless figure whose face is obscured by an intense light. Equipment behaves strangely, while Lauren increasingly finds herself drawn towards the surrounding formations without necessarily remembering how she got there.
Director Ryan Glover allows all this to develop slowly, and Split Rock is very much a slow-burn horror. Thankfully, it is one that held my attention and curiosity throughout. Rather than immediately throwing explanations or conventional scares at us, the film lets the location and Lauren’s deteriorating perception steadily create an uneasy atmosphere.
The arrival of another team member, Sam (Olivia Luccardi), brings additional equipment, while the discovery of an unusual dark rock gives them something tangible to investigate. Highly magnetic and unlike the surrounding geology, it raises more questions than answers.
Science continually attempts to explain events while the evidence increasingly suggests that whatever is happening may be beyond conventional explanation.
The film isn’t without more immediate scares either. One particularly simple moment involving somebody looking through surveying equipment took me completely off guard. And I’m a jumper and yes, I jumped!
Elsewhere, Split Rock is more interested in getting underneath your skin. Lauren loses time, experiences increasingly vivid visions and displays behaviour she cannot explain. One effective nighttime sequence involving the slowly opening zip of a tent proves that sometimes very little is required to create genuine unease.
Lauren eventually becomes convinced that something incredibly old inhabits or somehow connects the landscape around them. Worse still, she believes it is conscious and particularly interested in her.
The performances help enormously. Backo’s gradual deterioration as Lauren is convincing, while Tanner’s increasing concern as Ben works because their relationship was established so naturally beforehand. Luccardi and Verchere’s characters, and their actions as events unfold, help make the expedition itself feel authentic.
The cinematography is another major strength. Those enormous landscapes initially provide spectacular scenery but gradually begin to feel oppressive. The possibility that the surrounding rocks and mountains might themselves be connected to what is happening makes the characters feel increasingly insignificant against something potentially ancient and unknowable.
When Split Rock finally unleashes its more gruesome side, it doesn’t hold back. Several stomach-churning moments involving self-inflicted injury are accompanied by some extremely effective practical gore effects.
And then we arrive at where Split Rock both fascinated and frustrated me.
Later visions appear to suggest a connection between Lauren, Ben and events that may have occurred at the site previously. There are a couple of references earlier on to a Dr Green, the man overseeing the expedition, and a vague reference to an earlier project that appears to have left little in the way of documented findings. There is also a later cryptic comment about someone having to “die twice” which I couldn’t help but feel had to be significant.
Were Lauren and Ben somehow involved in what might have happened before? Are these visions memories, events from the past or something else entirely?
I’m perfectly happy for the film not to explain precisely what inhabits this place. Something ancient and unknowable can become considerably less frightening once somebody explains exactly what it is and how it operates.
My frustration is that Split Rock leaves considerably more than its mysterious entity unexplained.
There’s a difference between keeping an ancient force unknowable and leaving important elements of the story unresolved. By the time the credits rolled, I was still trying to piece together plot threads that felt as though they deserved more clarification.
Perhaps that’s precisely what Glover wants. There are enough clues to formulate theories involving memory, previous events and possibly some form of repetition. I just wish I’d been given one or two more pieces with which to assemble them.
Yet the fact I wanted those answers says something about how successfully Split Rock drew me into its mystery in the first place and continued to keep me invested in the characters, the plot and where it was all heading.
Atmospheric, intriguing, well-acted and beautifully photographed, Split Rock successfully combines a slow burn approach to horror with some surprisingly gruesome practical effects. It kept me asking questions for 98 minutes. My frustration is that when the credits rolled, I was still asking many of the same ones.
