Slither: Movie, DVD, HD DVD Review (2006)

9/07/2007 Posted by Admin

Lose the weight, dear

(Originally published 2006)

Ever since the mid-1950s, when B-movie classics such as "Them!," "Tarantula" and "The Deadly Mantis" proved there's nothing financially itsy-bitsy about big bugs gone berserk, Hollywood has delivered its share of creature-features, from such insect-infested shockers as "Beginning of the End,” “Earth vs. The Spider" and "Invasion of the Bee Girls" to the more recent "Tremors," "Starship Troopers," "Mimic" and "Eight Legged Freaks."

Now, the deadly bugs have come creeping again, this time in the form of burrowing, throat dwelling space slugs with a rather aggressive agenda. They appear in James Gunn's "Slither," a slimy, postmodern homage to the B-movies of yesteryear that features scores of the slithering creatures taking over the forgotten town of Wheelsy.

It's easy to see why this town has been forgotten. Located in a slice of rural America that's perfectly scary even without the bugs, Wheelsy's townsfolk are mostly foul-mouthed, bourbon-soaked, mullet-wearing hillbillies two steps removed from the shallow end of the "Deliverance" gene pool. They like to shoot their deer and belt out their karaoke hits almost as much they like to knock back their share of beers.

When a meteorite slams into Wheelsy, the town's chief of police, Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion of "Serenity"), is too bored to notice; he'd rather sleep. But when the wealthy Grant Grant (Michael Rooker) stumbles upon the meteorite in the woods and the slug that was inside takes over his body as its host, soon everybody has no choice but to notice, starting with Grant's wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks). She sees changes in her husband that are a wee bit alarming, such as when he opens his shirt and two barbed tentacles punch through his chest and rush straight toward her.

On the run, Starla meets up with her old flame, Bill, who still carries a torch for her, while her husband infects the rest of the town with his demon seed (one woman he breeds literally becomes the size of a house as she prepares to give a rather painful, side-splitting birth to millions of slugs). What ensues is well-done, mindless fun, filled with enough gross-out gore to thrill any fan of "Fangoria," but also just enough camp humor to keep the movie appealingly light.

Though it doesn't take its subject seriously--it's having too much fun for that--the movie works hard to capture the correct B-movie tone, which is crucial to its success. The film also pointedly pilfers from many other films, particularly Romero's “Dawn of the Dead,” whose influence is realized as each infected person becomes a member of the walking dead and is more than happy to chow down on a neighbor's entrails.

As with so many zombie movies, table manners have no place here--why should they when fresh intestines are on the menu? Gluttony, however, can and does bloom in "Slither," and what it builds to is one savage little garden.

Grade: B

(Also available on HD DVD)