Slither (Widescreen Edition)
by James Gunn
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DVD details
Actor: Don Thompson, Elizabeth Banks, Jenna Fischer, Michael Rooker, Nathan FillionDirector: James Gunn
Brand: Universal Studios
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
Published: 2006-10-01
DVD Release Date: 2006-10-24
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Slither (Widescreen Edition)
DVD Review: "It's obvious the bastard's got Lyme Disease!"
Summary: 4 Stars
The goofy writer/director James Gunn, who wrote the well-received remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004), dearly longed to hearken back to the '80s horror flicks and their over-the-top gory sensibilities. Thus, SLITHER. So if this modest horror offering reminds you somewhat of RE-ANIMATOR, THE FLY, THE BLOB, THE EVIL DEAD trilogy, and John Carpenter's THE THING, then Mr. Gunn considers his task gleefully accomplished. SLITHER, a film about alien invasion of the slimiest ilk, is ickily grotesque, somewhat terrifying, and very tongue-in-cheek. The make-up, puppeteering, prosthetics, and CGI are very, very nice and the horror sequences will sometimes make you jump, but, honestly, the modern horror audience is by now so de-sensitized by the proliferation of cinematic shockfests that it's gonna take a lot more to elicit honest, startled gasps of fright. But, having said that, SLITHER will make the viewer appreciate its efforts.
The humor is, of course, the movie's saving grace, is what makes SLITHER stand out from other, more solemn splatter-flicks. The comedy meshes nicely with the storyline, is never forced, but surfaces naturally thru the situations that arise. Of course, it helps that Nathan Fillion, with his mastery of the tight-lipped one-liners, and Gregg Henry, here with his verbal diarrhea of profanity, seem to be naturally funny people. You could tell, in the special features segments, how much these cats, as well as the rest of the cast, liked to laugh.
SPOILERS RIGHT HERE!! Plot breakdown: The outskirts of hicksville Wheelsy is the site of a meteorite crash one quiet evening, an event which somehow goes unnoticed by the redneck citizenry. Grant Grant (Michael Rooker), after being spurned by his wife Starla (Elizabeth Banks) for the night, goes into the woods with a chippie he picks up at a bar. But Grant Grant's devotion to his wife makes him have second thoughts about cheating on Starla, and, instead, he is diverted by an icky thing he espies on the ground. Of course, the usual happens and Grant Grant becomes infected and soon is hungering for MEAT and undergoing some pretty gruesome changes. In due time, the Grant monster feels the need to procreate and impregnates a woman, who later spews out a crapload of moist, speedy, little red slugs, who, in turn, slurp into the mouths of the Wheelsy denizens and zombiefy them. These slugs have a direct connection to Grant Grant; thus, whatever they and their hosts see is channeled right back to the Grant monster. Anyways, it's ultimately left up to four people to save the world: Sheriff Bill Pardy (the great Nathan Fillion), Starla Grant (who Pardy has been crushing on for years), the vulgarian mayor Jack MacReady (Gregg Henry), and teenager Kylie (Tania Saulnier).
Because this is supposed to be a B-movie homage, director James Gunn didn't want any A-listers in the cast (besides, it was doubtful if he could've gotten any). The complement of actors he handpicks, while falling somewhere in the B-list category, is energetic, committed, and, dare I say, perfectly cast. Nathan Fillion, who I hope will do more movies, eschews his wry, no-nonsense Firefly hero/captain, Mal Reynolds, and signs on here as a less competent, but still wry, small-town sheriff who, while out of his depth, nevertheless, attempts to do the right thing. Sexy Elizabeth Banks (SEABISCUIT, SPIDER-MAN films) is lovely and sweet and you could see why a cavalcade of one-minded zombies in love, instead of craving her flesh as a snack, would rather play footsies with her. Michael Rooker is here and I chuckle at the making-of segment, wherein it's revealed that the writer/director fawns on Rooker and thinks of him as some kind of an acting demi-god (please, it's Michael Rooker! He's the guy that takes the roles Michael Madsen's turned down). Lastly, Gregg Henry, Gregg Henry, Gregg Henry! I laughed my you-know-what off every time this scene-stealing guy opened his mouth. Please, someone just hand him a Mr. Pibb already.
The pleasingly loaded and profanity-laced (but hilarious) dvd special features offer up:
- a robust Feature Commentary by director James Gunn and actor Nathan Fillion
- "The Sick Minds and Slimy Days of SLITHER": the behind-the-scenes featurette
- Gag Reel
- "Who is Bill Pardy?": a wink-in-the-eye segment on Nathan Fillion
- Extended Scenes: with optional commentary by James Gunn
- Deleted Scenes - with optional commentary by James Gunn
- "Slithery Set Tour with Nathan Fillion" - they gave Fillion a camera and let him run loose on the set
- "Visual Effects: Step by Step" - progression of several special effects scenes shown in stages
- "Bringing SLITHER's Creatures to Life" - 18-minute segment about the monster f/x
- "The King of Cult: Lloyd Kaufman's Video Diary" - a few minutes spent with the president of Troma Entertainment and director of TOXIC AVENGER
- "The Gorehound Grill: Brewin' the Blood" - an f/x mini-course on how to make fake blood, using home ingredients.
In addition to the 1980s horror films, there's also a touch of KING KONG here, manifested in the doomed love story of Starla and the lonely billions-of-years-old monster. So, really, there's nothing new in SLITHER. All the token horror criterias are met, the usual cliched sequences touched upon. But, here, it's not a bad thing. When comfortable derivativeness is partnered with panache, competent f/x, a decent plot, and earthy humor, well, it becomes very palatable, indeed. Three and a half stars for this very fun ickfest.
Description of Slither (Widescreen Edition)
SLITHER - DVD MovieWith laughs and gross-outs aplenty, Slither is the best horror comedy since Shaun of the Dead. Having written for the jubilant trash-mongers at Troma Films before scripting 2004's well-received remake of Dawn of the Dead, writer-director James Gunn crafted this hilarious splatter-fest as an homage to the comically violent horror films of the 1970s and '80s, and he gets it just right with a low-budget look, perfect casting, grisly make-up effects and judicious use of CGI gore. The story's a deliberate monster-mash, borrowing from a dozen other movies with its plot about an invasion of slithery slug-like parasites from outer space, arriving (via meteorite) in the redneck town of Wheelsy, South Carolina, where they turn most of the local yokels into flesh-eating zombies. The first victim (played by Michael Rooker) turns into a squid-like, multi-tentacled host monster (kill him and you kill 'em all), and his terrified wife (Elizabeth Banks) teams up with Wheelsy's sheriff (Nathan Fillion, from Firefly and Serenity) and mayor (comedic scene-stealer Gregg Henry) to eradicate the alien threat before Wheelsy turns into Slugville. Gunn handles comedy and horror with exuberant flair, and Slither's greatest strength is that it never aspires to be anything more than it is: 96 minutes of good laughs and gruesomeness, served up with the kind of gleeful abandon that only true horror buffs can fully appreciate.--Jeff Shannon
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