Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a couple gushing reviews of James Gunn's SLITHER. I really hope I agree with these reviews. Nothing would make me smile bigger than seeing someone capture a NIGHT OF THE CREEPS tone, especially if it's mixed with TREMORS, like the first review says. I'm a big fan of those kinds of creature features, so count me in for this one!
Hey Harry and all,
Just saw a screening of “Slither” in Burbank, CA. They said it was the first screening, but I know I’ve read other reviews on this site before. After seeing it, all I wanted to know is: WHO THE FUCK IS JAMES GUNN? I’ve seen his name on Aint It Cool before but I had no idea what his deal was and why I should know his name. After getting home, looking him up on IMDB.com, and after seeing this movie – I get it. This is one sick, twisted, fucking funny dude who truly gets the type of horror that I haven’t seen in a theater in a while.
This is a guy who worked at Troma. This is a guy who wrote the 2004 “Dawn of the Dead” (which I dug). This is a guy who played an insane masturbator in Sgt. Kabukiman! That may not mean much, but it does show that he has a good sense of humor and a good sense of horror. And he shows it in “Slither.”
So here goes the story: Aliens land in a small town. They take over the body of a citizen (Michael Rooker) and then he impregnates another woman who will serve as an egg sack for a ton of these slithery (go figure) slug-like aliens who will, eventually, attack the town – turning them into zombies with three plans of action: eat meat, kill all humans, and take care of Rooker’s wife. They all turn into an extension of Rooker… who is turning into a squid/slug-type thing. To save the day, you’ve got local cop (Nathan Fillion), a teenager, and Rooker’s wife, named Starla (Starla?!).
As far as these sorts of movies go, the story isn’t terribly original. But it takes “Night of the Creeps” and mixes it with a sampler platter of Joe Bob Briggs/MST3K films. Think a little “Brain Dead”… a little early Cronenberg (Shivers/Slither… hmmm)… a little “Dawn of the Dead”... and a whole lot of “Tremors.” That, if nothing else, makes for something old and something new on the big screen. Sure, we’ve seen some of this before, but Gunn seems content with that and adds spice a couple other places.
One place is with the characters. Nathan Fillion’s character was refreshing because he wasn’t the heroic cop who knows just what to do. Whenever something would happen that would make me say, “What the fuck was THAT?” he said, “What the fuck was THAT?” He and Gregg Henry (who plays a Mayor whose favorite word is “cocksucker”) made for most of the laughs. Michael Rooker is strong (as always) even when he’s acting under a ton of make-up (more on that later). The odd thing is that I bought his relationship with the gorgeous Elizabeth Banks (Starla) more when he was completely in prosthetics than I did before he was infected by the alien. The supporting characters did a good job. It may sound stupid, but they all had great character faces, which just made it that much more cult-y.
The CGI wasn’t finished for the screening and I’m interested to see how the final slugs and other things work out, but I can’t tell you how happy I was to see so much use of prosthetics. I remember buying my first Fangoria about 14 years ago and loving the world of practical make-up. But, as time went on, I stopped buying the magazine because more and more movies went the CGI route and, though I’ll never know what goes into these CG effects, I’d just resign myself to saying “Aww, it’s a computer.” So, it was refreshing to see the transformation of Rooker from normal… to diseased… to slug-like… to totally fucked-up (the final creature sort of reminded me of the Thing from, well, “The Thing”)… all done practically. Lots of blood, lots of heads blowing off, a ton of dead animal carcasses, a disgusting egg sack of a woman, and one really great split open body… ahhh, lovely.
Now, for the downsides: The pacing dragged a little for me at the beginning. Maybe I was just antsy to get to some gory shit, but there were a couple conversations I really didn’t need to see… a couple times where I thought “okay, pick up the pace here… there are fucking aliens attacking!” They just could have hit some of the beats better. The other main nitpick is the music. I actually think some of the pacing could be fixed with a good, strong score that pumps it with a pulse. The comedy will come out of the writing, the horror will come out even more with the music. I know it’s an early cut, but I need a little more score to get my heart pounding. Also, gimme a bigger finale, damnit! It was good… it could have been great!
I just really hope that the marketing folks at Universal know what they’ve got themselves into. This is a really fucking gory, foul, hilarious movie that just may not translate to the mainstream and will definitely be rated R. Post-screening comments in the bathroom (ahh, the urinals: where the truth comes out) and outside were pretty damned good except for the folks who a) didn’t like this type of movie and b) didn’t know what to expect. This is pure comedy and pure cheesy (in a good way) horror. It’s not really about tension or beating out other horror classics (that trailer cracked me up… but maybe set me up for a different movie).
So, thanks, James! It’s nice to see a B-movie that was actually an A-minus movie on the big screen. Sure, it’s a few boobs short of a Troma Film, but I think fans of these types of movies will dig it and, for me, it’s going down as something that I’ll drag my friends to when it comes out in the theater… if for no other reason than they just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. And it’ll just be a shitload of fun. If you need it, I recommend a few beers beforehand….
If you use this, I’m the…
The Burst Pustule
And here's review number two... this one goes into some of the negatives of the flick... luckily it doesn't sound like anything that'd derail the movie if left in and could be fixed with a quick snip here or there. Enjoy!
Hi all,
I just got back from the first ever public screening of Slither at AMC 16 in Burbank and thought you might want to hear a review. I didn't know anything about this movie going into it except that it was a horror movie starring Nathan Fillion. I'm a big fan of his work on Serenity and Firefly so I had to give the movie a try even though the premise seemed a bit stupid. Well, the premise was stupid…I'll say that right out….but it worked because Slither is supposed to be stupid. The pass to the screening said the movie was comparable to movies like: 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead (2005), and Saw. But it was dead wrong (excuse the pun)…this movie was more like Eight Legged Freaks or Shawn of the Dead. In other words: it was damn funny.
*SPOILER*
The story itself is not that original: parasitic aliens land on earth and infect humans spreading quickly like a virus…or as one heroin described them; a conscious disease. Worms slither into people's brains through their mouths and take control; turning them into zombies all thinking with one mother-alien brain.
*END SPOILER*
But it wasn't the story that made me love this movie; it was the characters and the comedic timing that won me over. I don't think I've laughed so much during a horror movie since Shawn of the Dead. The script was clever and the actors had impeccable timing and delivery. One of my favorite characters was the mayor. He is not your typical mayor; drinking and cussing in public. His lines are some of the best in the movie, and he particularly shines in a scene where he expresses his panic through the lack of a soda can. Nathan Fillion also kills as the sheriff (although I'm definitely biased because of my love for Firefly), he has the same wit and charm as he does in his other work and proves once again that he can carry a feature length movie on his shoulders.
One word of warning before I leave you: THIS MOVIE IS GROSS. If you don't enjoy gore or seeing slime and blood all the time…this movie is not for you. But if you want some good clean (I mean…uh…completely disgusting) fun at the movies this January, I'd highly recommend Slither.
MAGICDGK
