REVIEW: Slither
This movie was one of the best parody/reworking of all those C budget Troma pictures, it had the right feel of it, the right plot and gore for it, the only difference between those films and this one is that this one was more like a A-budget version of a Troma movie. This movie had everything that a good horror comedy should have, right down to the love interest of story. This movie had tongue-in-cheek horror, it had a great sense of humor that was both perverted and stupid, there was a great cast and performance and some weird relationships mixed into it.
I will first congratulate the actors and actresses of this film, their performances really made this film worth watching, as well. Nathan Fillion, who stared in Serenity, plays the town sheriff and does a fantastic job playing a somewhat calm monotone man who can be really, unintentionally funny at points. Elizabeth Banks, who plays Starla the wife of Grant Grant, does a perfect job for the stereotypical damsel in distress. Her performance was absolutely perfect, even though her part did not demand that much of serious acting, she does a terrific job screaming and basically being a scream queen. Michael Rooker who plays Grant Grant, the most ideal and loving person in the whole town who becomes the “king worm.” His performance, from scene one to the last, was amazing and he really brought his character to life. He used his monotone voice, in accompanied with some funny moments involving his chest and some great scary moments when he slowly turns into the slug and when he is the “king slug.” Gregg Henry, who plays MacReady, plays the funniest person in the whole movie mostly because of his fowl mouth, especially some of his rants that he goes on when he gets angry.
The scares in this movie were prime, mostly because they weren’t “jump out” scares, but rather graphic, gory and disturbing scares. Literally, as I mentioned before, it had the feel of a very gory Troma movie, which was a huge inspiration for writer and director James Gunn. Some of the most disturbing parts happen toward the end when people literally become part of the “king slug” and the whole process of body transformation that takes place. Some great scares came along with the little slugs that would fly into your mouth and try to take over you, the scarier scene was when the slugs invade a nuclear family and take over the little girls, mom and dad and the teenage girl has to save the day.
There were some zombie moments of course, particularly the one where Bill Pardy is thrown out of the window and he sees 300 or so zombies walking down a hill. It’s easy to see that Gunn got his inspiration for this scene from “Night of the Living Dead,†since it so reminiscent of it. It’s also not that hard to see that this movie cleverly blends Romero’s dead movies to “Night of the Creeps,†which this movie very closely follows. It’s also interesting to note that all of the names of the stores and restaurants are named after famous characters in horror movie cinema.
The plot is packed with great special effects, creepy scenes and a great love triangle, of sorts. It has everything from the awkward relationship of Grant and Starla, to the stereotypical relationship of the “cute” sheriff and the “hot” housewife. This movie was certainly a great horror homage to one of the most famous b-movie studies ever, Troma. I really enjoyed this movie and I would highly recommend this movie to anybody who enjoys movies of the gore and disturbing category and the Troma films.
Available from Amazon.
