(aka
Night of the Creeps 2.)
Release Date: March 31st, 2006.
Country: USA.
Rating: R.
Written by: James Gunn.
Directed by: James Gunn.
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker, Gregg Henry, and Tania Saulnier.
You know, with all of the zombie movies that we've been watching lately, it's become apparent that when done right, the zombie comedies tend to be the best of the bunch. We know:
Slither isn't exactly a true zombie movie, but it does involve a viral outbreak which turns people into zombie-like monsters, so it counts.
Either way,
Slither is a clever little movie that bears more than a passing resemblance to another "alien slugs turn everyone into zombies" movie,
Night of the Creeps. Both movies are highly entertaining, but there's just something about
Slither that excites us more. It's probably that
Slither is more grandiose and crazy in its delivery, and goes to crazier places than does
Night of the Creeps, but it could just as easily be the presence of
Elizabeth Banks that makes us love it so much. It's complicated.
A meteorite crashes into the woods near a small
South Carolina town, bringing with it a gelatinous parasite that has a vagina on its back. When a horny
Grant Grant's wife refuses to put out, he heads to a bar where he picks up a local strumpet and lures her into the woods, presumably to get laid. His romantic plans go awry however, when they happen upon the parasite and it shoots a barb into his chest, thus taking over his consciousness.
 |
| BACKGINA. |
With his transformation into a mutant octopus thing well underway,
Grant begins killing small animals around town, because he's hungry. When his wife begins to question his rapidly deteriorating appearance,
Grant runs off and jams his overpositors into the same strumpet's tummy, and injects her with his slug seed. Then he kidnaps her and starts her on the same diet of dead animals and fresh meat that he's been on. She's going to be a mother, after all, so she needs her nourishment.
 |
| WAS IT RAPE? |
It's not long before the whole town is infected by
Grant's slug babies, and they turn into zombie-like extensions of him, forcing the
Sheriff and his men to hunt him down and stop him. Will the
Sheriff stop
Grant from taking over the world? Will the
Sheriff take the opportunity to movie in on
Grant's hot wife, now that hes a mongoloidal monster? Is there any
Dr. Pibb in the cooler? Far be it from us to spoil anything for you here, but suffice it to say that there is no
Dr. Pibb in the cooler, and somebody is not going to be happy about it.
 |
| SHE DOESN'T CARE THOUGH. SHE PREFERS FRESCA. |
As
Horror Comedies go, this movie is top-notch.
Slither hearkens back to the time of
50's B-Movies, where cheesy monsters besieged
Anytown, USA and wreaked havoc on its citizens, and it does so with a healthy amount of affection, and a great deal of levity. There are plenty of nods to other
Horror properties throughout the movie, like
The Thing (1982),
Stephen King's The Stand,
The Brood (and a few other
Cronenberg flicks),
The Blob,
Predator,
Troma,
Frank Henenlotter, to name a few. It's really great to see a
Horror movie like this made by someone who obviously loves
Horror movies.
Slither is also a gory beast of a movie which boasts some fantastic practical
FX work.
Slither is also blessed with a solid cast of actors that have great comedic chops.
Nathan Fillion is a vastly underrated actor by just about everyone outside of
Geek circles, and his brand of sarcastic humor is a perfect fit in this one. As creepy and imposing as
Michael Rooker can be, he's equally as funny, and his performance as
Grant Grant in this one shows just how dynamic his range is. Some of the funniest bits in
Slither belong to
Gregg Henry, another underrated character guy who is awesome in everything he stars in.
And let's not forget about
Elizabeth Banks. She's a super
QT, she's funny, and she's no stranger to genre work. It's easy to see why she seems to be in everything lately.
 |
| SHE'S GOT THAT PREGNANT 'GLOW' ABOUT HER, DOESN'T SHE? |
The only scene in the movie that was even remotely scary was the part where
Tania Saulnier's home is invaded by the slugs, and that sucks. It's not a big complaint, as the movie was definitely played more for laughs than it was
Horror, but that whole sequence worked so well, and was so intense, that we just wish there had been a few more like it.
 |
| THEY'RE ITCHY. |
Poor kitty!
 |
| NO, WHISKERS, THAT'S NOT A CAT TREAT! |
There's no shortage of gore and disgusting imagery in
Slither. Whether it's slugs crawling into people's mouths, "zombies" eating people, people getting split in half, thousands of slugs exploding from a person's bloated body, or people getting their faces shot off, this movie is all sorts of wet and red.
 |
| THE PRACTICAL FX IN THIS MOVIE WERE RIDICULOUSLY GOOD. |
We get a very quick flash of
Tania Saulnier's goods during a bath scene, but aside from that, this movie is pretty tame in the sexy department.
 |
| STAND UP, WOMAN! |
The real bright spot of this movie is its dialogue, which was sharp and laugh-out-loud funny.
Clark Gregg's rant about
Dr. Pibb was probably the best verbal bit of the movie, but both he and
Nathan Fillion had plenty of great lines throughout.
 |
| THIS GUY lol |
James Gunn is a mad genius. Also,
Nathan Fillion and
Michael Rooker should be bigger stars;
God, they're so good.
 |
| WORST BABYSITTER EVER. |
We've always been baffled at how poorly
Slither was received by audiences; not only did it bomb at the
Box Office, but to this day there's been no
U.S. Blu-ray release, and it remains for many people a largely unknown movie. That's a real shame, because
Slither is probably one of the wittiest and most entertaining
Horror Comedies that we've ever seen.
It's no surprise to us that
Guardians of the Galaxy was one of
2014's biggest hits, because
James Gunn knows how to make an entertaining movie. The proof is right here.
A
Slither is available now on
DVD and
VOD.
These lovely ladies make the world of
Slither a far prettier place to visit.
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