Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11173 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-10-16
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Synopsis
Here's a gooey, hilarious, creepy horror film for the whole mutant, cannibal family. Michael Rooker (HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER) stars as Grant, a big bald guy from a small southern town who gets possessed by a meat-hungry parasite-worm creature from space. Even under the alien influence he still loves his wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks), but she's alarmed at his weird new habits, such as consuming all the local wildlife. The sheriff in town (Nathan Fillion) investigates. He still carries a torch for Starla from when they were kids, but once the squirming, slithering, and cannibalism begin in earnest, it becomes clear that this is no time for romance. SLITHER's combination of interesting characters, deadpan humour, gore aplenty, and genuine scares, earns it a place alongside cult classics like RE-ANIMATOR and the various LIVING DEAD and EVIL DEAD films. Director/writer James Gunn wrote 2004's DAWN OF THE DEAD before SLITHER and it's abundantly clear where his loyalties lie: SLITHER aims its acid-dripping, brain-sucking tongue right into the hearts of horror fans. Heads explode, monsters squiggle into gaping mouths, tentacles wrap around Banks's negligee-clad body, and the sheriff takes it all in his stride. There's even a twisted intergalactic love story somewhere in the chaos, as well as hordes of in-jokes for the fans.

Customer Reviews

Well Worth Watching
In the past I've always found that a horror comedy film either works splendidly and is side splittingly funny (like Idle Hands) or fails miserably (like The Bogus Witch Project) and ends up being as funny as cancer. Thankfully I have to say that despite a few failings, Slither works well... very well.

The film is based on slug-like alien parasites that crash on Earth from a meteor, and 'infect' an unlucky man before they attempt to take over the population of the town turning them into zombie hosts. Slither has a lot of positive things going for it. We are given a lot of great gore that will please the horror fan in us all, plus we're also given a good degree of suspense, and to be honest the film is actually pretty frightening in places (such as the bathtub scene.) While not being an original idea, the script has obviously been well thought out and planned as everything fits together nicely and it has a solid plot. And thanks to good casting all around the stars of Slither are excellent in their roles. The characters are great and very funny at times especially the town mayor. The special effects are excellent, well above what I was expecting. I thought that the aliens were fantastic (who would have thought that big slugs from outer space could be scary) and the intergalactic romance (while not usually my cup of tea) has been done well and again is rather funny. As I've mentioned Slither is not an original film and is more of a remake / spoof, but it works so well that I sure we can let that 'pass.'

Despite all that, I'll admit that it's not perfect. I found the dialogue to be a bit tacky in places. Some of the action scenes could have been better, and while it is one of those films that are not meant to be taken seriously it is rather too far fetched even for me.

But overall Slither is a very entertaining film that is well worth watching. I enjoyed it a lot. Granted it is not a film for everyone and has a few faults, but the entertainment value is through the roof. It's great to be scared one second, then laughing the next. I'm sure you've heard and read bad things about the film, but give it a chance and I doubt you will be disappointed.

humour splattered everywhere
This offers nothing new. So many horror, sci-fi and zombie flicks are raided that you'll have a hard time naming every referance that goes zooming by. In particular George A. Romero, 50's invaders films and an ending that is lifted straight from Brian Yuzna's 'Society',.
But these referances are all done tongue in cheek and with a careful eye for detail.
The story is cheesy all the way as small town America gets clobbered by a meteorite carrying a less than friendly alien. Pretty soon it has 'taken over' someone and sent it's slug like offspring off to take over everyone it finds. Before long the local sheriff and a small band of helpers are all thats left to fight the little buggers off.
That's about it really and good job too. This doesn't pretend to be anything other than an homage to all films creepy and sci-fi and to keep the humour going as long as possible. For the most part it manages to keep the viewer entertained throughout as the pace is quick and no scene hangs around for very long,(bit like most of the people we're introduced to!),.
The effects are varied in quality from fine to downright tatty,( one scene of the sheriff fighting a psycho deer is pretty awful), but this doesn't detract any more than it does in those ropey sci-fi films of the 50's.
The real saving grace is the humour as the characters all react with total disbelief to the lunacy going on around them. All the performances are fine.
It's only in the final 15 minutes that it seems the film runs out of ideas and finishes fairly weakly,(wait for the credits to end), and the humour begins to dry up.
All in all though it's a fair attempt and is certainly way better than a lot of the big budget blockbuster tat being served up regularly. At least the writer/ director, ( James Gunn who wrote the re-make of 'dawn of the dead'), presumes you have a brain and know your stuff.
Be warned that funny though this is it still has a lot of gruesome and bloody scenes that are unsuitable to those of a nervous disposition. The language is pretty hairy throughout as well.
The picture is fine, there are a lot of dark scenes and the picture holds up well throughout. So too the surround sound is clear and although the effects channels are not as heavily used as would be liked what's there is well seperated and effective.

Stupid, but brilliant at it
Slither is an interesting movie. It's a B-movie with a B-movie cast that doesn't have anything going for it. There should be nothing in this movie to make it work, but somehow it does.

Slither is one of the funniest horrors in recent years. The whole film is done with a knowing smile and doesn't take itself to seriously - a boxing dear?

Nathan Fillion also brings his easy-going Firefly charm and makes the character his own. In other hands, the sherriff could have come across as all serious and annoy, but Fillion, makes him fun and sarcastic.

There's no plot, but the gore is great and most of the horrific sequences are funny at the same time. With Elements of Society and The Thing (referenced in flashbacks to creatures home world), you can't go wrong with this film.

One of the smartest dumb films ever!