SYNOPSIS
From the twisted mind of filmmaker JAMES GUNN (writer, 2004’s Dawn of the Dead) comes the latest addition to the unique canon of horror comedy films -- a story so deliciously heinous, hilariously base and unbelievably demented that its mere name brings to mind the sickening giant mollusks of the invertebrate underbelly world. Huge slugs from outer space, bloodthirsty zombies and slime-ridden oozing bug overlords have finally come together in one cinematic creation: Slither.
As Slither begins, we are introduced to one of the few leaders of Wheelsy’s pack -- successful, albeit oafish, local businessman Grant Grant (MICHAEL ROOKER, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer). With beautiful young wife Starla (ELIZABETH BANKS, The 40-Year-Old Virgin), a large house and fat bank account, Grant truly relishes his “big fish-small pond” role in the town. Other than the fact that the passionate love he feels for his woman goes completely unrequited, he’s a man content. But things are about to change for Grant in ways no one could have ever imagined.
On a humdrum evening, Grant hits the local honky-tonk for an all-night bender. There he encounters Brenda Gutierrez (BRENDA JAMES), the younger sister of an old girlfriend, who’s more than willing to listen to Grant’s woes. Abandoning their drinks for a moonlight stroll, the pair discovers something slimy in the woods behind the bar. Near the remains of what appears to be a meteor, Grant and Brenda find a trail of glistening, noxious ooze and a pulsating, unidentifiable mass. Suddenly, the glob comes to life and overtakes Grant, penetrating his body with a pustule-covered tentacle. An alien parasite has found and infected its unlucky human host, an unwilling transporter who now must continue to infect others in order to survive.
Signs of Grant’s transformation are instantly apparent: the extended periods of time he spends in his basement amassing meat products; the strange sounds and odors Starla notices emanating from the bowels of their home; his erratic behavior towards his wife -- sometimes loving and tender, then suddenly ferocious and aggressive. And most gruesomely, the denizens begin to suspect Grant’s involvement in an unusual number of missing pets and farm animals around town.
With each day that passes, Grant becomes less and less human, evolving into a bloodthirsty creature driven by a primal need to kill and destroy the uninfected. Unfortunately, Grant’s not the only problem. He has begun spawning scores of giant slugs that are out to inoculate any redneck into whom they can get their siphons.
Now joining Starla on her quest to stop Grant and the infected is her former high school beau, local Chief of Police Bill Pardy (NATHAN FILLION, Serenity). A handsome everyman with a burning love for Starla, Pardy gets suspicious of his old rival and leads the charge to take him down. The pair gathers a makeshift crew of uninfected, including foul-mouthed Mayor Jack MacReady (GREGG HENRY, Star Trek: Insurrection) and smart-ass teen beauty Kylie Strutemyer (TANIA SAULNIER) to help stop the evil plague laying siege to Wheelsy.
As the rebels attempt to avoid both the slippery slugs that just want to worm inside of them and their former neighbors-turned-meat-eating zombies, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will stay slug-free. But when the ragtag team comes face-to-face with an ancient, vengeful entity beyond all human comprehension, fierce alliances will be forged, former friends will be destroyed and a hilariously gruesome showdown will take place -- hillbilly style.
Review by
KATHY BLEDSOE
Whenever someone says “never” to me, I remind the naysayer that this word will always turn around and bite back eventually. So, when a senior reviewer from Hollywood Jesus asked me if I would take the screening for Slither, I hemmed and hawed for a good thirty seconds before finally deciding that I should give the horror genre another chance. After all, I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed a graphic novel that was recommended to me and have been trying to keep a more open mind. That and the chance of seeing Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity) onscreen again sealed the deal.
James Gunn has written and directed the most hilarious, gruesome, gore-filled, shocking, crude language-spewing, raw action, fast-paced drama that has dripped down the silver screen in some time. Slither is going to knock the socks off of a lot of people and will probably become a horror hit just like Gunn’s other success, Dawn of the Dead. The guy just has a talent for combining the most incongruous elements into pure art. The fact that he and the cast had a great time making this picture is written all over this production. Disclaimer: This movie is NOT for kids. I know teens will see it, but if I were a parent of children under 17, I would not allow them to go.
That said, the movie is beautifully filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia. Slither has all the watermarks of a high quality production—excellent color quality, believable settings, superb camera work, top-notch use of atmosphere, mood, light and darkness, and a very good soundtrack. (Don’t you just have to love a theme song like “I Love You, But Leave Me the F--- Alone” by the Yayhoos?) The plot is purely B-movie horror/sci-fi/romance, but the production quality is genuine high-budget feature flick. The action is campy but not insulting, and sappy only when Gunn allows it to be. Near the end, Sheriff Bill Pardy (Fillion) has a fight with a vicious canine of some type and you can tell it is some inanimate, petrified prop that he is rolling around on the floor with. The first thought that comes to mind is, all the other special effects are so good, why did the director so obviously use a cheesy prop here? The answer is that Gunn is having as much fun with his audience as the audience is having with the movie in general. Pretty much everything you can think of has happened to the characters already and since the end of the film is near, Gunn is admitting that enough is enough.
Another great thing about Slither is that it is hysterically funny! Before the first minute is over, the audience is laughing and this continues through the entire movie right down to the credits. The humor is masterfully written in, around, and through the gross development of the alien beast, the creation of the zombies, the slimy spit, the copious blood, the wormy pupae, and the loss of body parts and comes in multiple forms—the belly laugh that blocks out the next few lines and brings tears to your eyes, the I-don’t-believe-this snort, the terrifying I’m-so-scared-I-have-to laugh, the nervous giggle, and the oh-my-gosh-he-really-isn’t-going-to-do-that chortle! Many reviewers claim that Gregg Henry (who plays the town mayor) has the best lines. I disagree wholeheartedly because Nathan Fillion is a master at delivering the non sequitur. His timing is positively sublime and his use of facial expressions and eye movements are so natural that you just guffaw at what has all the earmarks of a bomb. For instance, after four of the main characters have managed to escape the freshly created zombies and driven down the road in the sheriff’s patrol car, Pardy slams on the brakes and the camera pulls back to show all of the car’s occupants. They are sitting in catatonic shock and as the camera closes in on each face to try and reveal the minds of these traumatized people, Fillion is the first to draw a deep breath and say, “So… how has everyone’s afternoon been?” Perfect inflection, perfect stress on the right words, perfect deadpan expression = production of the perfect laugh.
Okay… spiritual content… hmmm? My friend Jesus was mentioned a number of times, but except for one instance it was never in any flattering way. There is the issue of the existence of pure evil. This creature that invades the body of Grant Grant (husband of the beautiful school teacher and sheriff Bill’s only true love, Starla) is a monster that has traveled the universe for millennia, eating everything of flesh in sight and leaving dead worlds in its wake. A dialogue could be begun discussing how to prepare for the end of the world and what might come after.
However, after thinking about it overnight and all day, I think what we have to look at is the foundation we might be building our lives on. What is there about me that would produce the courage to stand up to the kind of terror these people encounter? How would I act or react if faced with the challenge of fighting for my life or the lives of those I love? Would I find it easier to just give in and allow the organism to slither down my throat and devour me from the inside out? (I told you this movie is gruesome!) Perhaps I’m really begging the question because I don’t believe that Gunn intended to move in any philosophical or theological direction at all. (The closest thing to a theological statement in the script comes when Gregg Henry screams, “This is about as [effing] far from God as you can possibly get!”) But courage is built through trust in something or someone. Who or what that will be makes for an extremely satisfying discussion because it encompasses what foundation that faith is built on and why we think we could stand firm or why we fear we could not.
Personally, I’ve also been asking myself how on earth I could laugh all the way through this movie. It is somewhat troublesome that I haven’t been able to come up with an answer.
