Genre: Comedy/Horror/SciFi
U.S. Theatrical Release Date: March 31, 2006
U.S. DVD Release Date: October 24, 2006
Tagline:
Not to be confused with the James Caan/Sally Kellerman 'caper' movie from 1973, this "Slither" is a seriocomic horror film that relentlessly alternates between complete gross-out visuals and laugh out loud comedic dialogue. And it succeeds with commendations.
What at first appears to be a giant asteroid tearing on a bulls-eye collision course with Earth turns out to be a cantaloupe size piece of debris after it rips through our atmosphere and impacts in the wooded outskirts of Wheelsy, South Carolina. Upon impact it splits open and out crawls a fat, worm-like creature that retreats in a trail of slime into the woods.
Local entrepreneur Grant Grant (Michael Rooker ~
'The Bone Collector') after being sexually rebuked one evening by his much younger high school science teacher wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks ~
'The 40 Year Old Virgin'), leaves the house and heads to the local bar. Here, he puts his libidinous moves on the sister of one of his old girlfriends, and they head into the woods for some 'hanky-panky'.
In the woods the pair discover the alien creature which shoots a needle-like barb into Grant's chest (No Steve Irwin remarks, please). Within days, Grant is buying up all the raw meat in town and is transforming into a hideous squid-like creature.
As the town becomes more devoid of household pets, natural widlife and eventually livestock Sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion ~
'Firefly', 'Serenity') urgently continues his investigation into these strange events and the disappearance of Grant and Brenda, the woman he was in the woods with the other evening.
After Grant returns home in a failed attempt to impregnate Starla (who was a childhood sweetheart of Sheriff Bill), Bill rounds up his Deputies and a small posse in an effort to track down the 'squid-man'.
The search leads them to an abandoned barn in the woods where the group finds Brenda, bloated to the size of a Thanksgiving Day float, host to a bazillion slithery, red slug like creatures that once she bursts, want nothing more than to crawl down any mammalian creatures throat and absorb them into the Grant/alien consciousness. One side note, before one is truly absorbed by the now gigantic Grant/squid, these beings are now flesh-craving (is there any other kind) zombies who must feed on flesh in order to feed their master.
The town becomes overrun with the parasites and as more and more of the population become zombies, the few remaining uninfected humans struggle in their effort to not become assimilated.
The DVD is presented in an Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio format with English, Espanol and Francais Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. Subtitles are available in English SDH* (subtitled for the deaf and hard of hearing), Espanol and Francais as well as English Closed Captioning.
Bonus Features include...
~ Deleted Scenes
~ Extended Scenes
~ Gag Reel
~ 'Bringing
Slither's Creatures to Life
~ Slithery Set Tour with Nathan Fillion
~ A Making of: The Sick Minds and Slimy Days of
Slither
~ Feature Commentary with Director James Gunn and Actor Nathan Fillion
~ And More!
Director James Gunn presents a tribute to alien invasion, zombie and creepy crawly creature movies all in one excellent little bundle. The movie is not as terrifying as it is "Oh my God, that is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life" kind of squirm in your seat affair. There are some real jump-out-of-your-seat moments. And it is truly funny. I mean laugh-out-loud funny. I mean, when is the last time (if ever) you saw a carnivorous zombie deer.
Gregg Henry (
'The Black Dahlia') turns in an hilarious performance as the town's obscenity spewing Mayor. And Nathan Fillion's deadpan delivery does 'Captain Mal' proud. (This guy is one to watch for superstardom). One particularly hilarious scene is when the posse is going to go into the abandoned barn in search of Grant and Brenda. Sheriff Bill and one of his Deputies throw down rock/paper/scissors to determine who is going in first.
One. Two. Three.
Deputy throws rock, but, seeing that Bill has paper, he quickly sticks out two fingers to make scissors. Sheriff Bill goes first.
And the musical soundtrack also plays a big part in the fun. You'll never listen to Air Supply's 'You're Every Woman in the World' the same again. And a great, funny tune by The Typhoon's, 'Baby, I Love You (but Leave Me the F**k Alone)" plays during the final credits.
A total gross-out, absolutely clever and wildy funny, it's the best Horror/Comedy since 2004's 'Shaun of the Dead'.
Rating: 4 'Zombie Deer' out of 5
TITLE: Slither (2006) ~ STUDIO: Universal Pictures ~ MPAA RATING: *R* for Strong Horror Violence and Gore, and Language ~ RUNNING TIME: 96 Minutes ~ STARRING: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker, Gregg Henry ~ DIRECTED BY: James Gunn
The opinions expressed herein are those solely of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of 'jonja.net nor it's owner.
We do reviews and updates of projects of Sci-Fi movies, television, and books. As well as Horror, Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Anime.
Please feel free to sign up and post your own comments. We would love to hear your opinions, and feel free to join in on our collection of over 450 free flash games and compete with other users for the high score. We also have a great chess system that allows users to compete against one another online.
