Slither

Plot synopsis:
A meteorite housing a malevolent, sentient extraterrestrial parasite crashes into the town of Wheelsy, South Carolina. While frolicking in the woods with Brenda, local car dealer Grant finds the parasite and is infected by it. The parasite takes over his body and absorbs his consciousness and memories. With the alien now in control of his body, "Grant" begins to slowly change into a tentacled, slug-like monster.
Many pets soon disappear, but Grant is not suspected. However, his wife Starla begins to question his health; he explains the initial changes in his appearance as an allergic reaction to a bee sting, saying that a doctor has already given him something for it, but Starla soon learns this is a lie. Starla contacts the police chief Bill Pardy – her childhood crush – who attempts to reassure and comfort her while not acting on his feelings.
Grant infects the lonely and neglected Brenda with hundreds of his offspring. He hides her in an isolated barn where she becomes massively obese as baby alien slugs grow inside her. Bill leads a small group of officers on a hunt for Grant; they find Brenda in time to see her explode, releasing hundreds of the alien slugs. Most of Bill's group are infected by the slugs and become Grant's puppets, speaking as if they were Grant and obsessed with bringing Starla home and holding her to her wedding vows.
Everyone in town is quickly eaten by others infected with Grant's offspring, or absorbed into Grant's hive mind except Starla, Bill, mayor Jack MacReady, and a teenage girl, Kylie, who had escaped from her family that were also infected by the parasites. She tells them of how she saw the slug's memories; it moves from planet to planet, eating or absorbing all life it finds there. The parasite's consciousness, however, is influenced by the real Grant's memories and his love for his wife, Starla.
The survivors try to escape detection and kill Grant. The townspeople attack their vehicle, capturing Starla and Jack. Bill and Kylie track Starla to her home, and find that the infected are melding into one giant creature. They must risk their lives to stop the infestation from spreading any further. Jack awakens in the house's basement, where several of the infected are eating; he tries to escape but becomes infected by Grant as he reaches the top of the stairs and opens the door. Starla charms the monster by calling him "Grant" and telling him they can be together, but as they get close to each other, she pulls a hairbrush handle from her underwear and stabs him in the chest with the pointed handle. He slaps her with a tentacle and knocks her across the room.
Bill arrives; Jack begs to be killed, and Bill shoots him in the head. He tries to kill the monster with a grenade, but another tentacle knocks the grenade into the pool, where it detonates. The monster sends two tentacles to stab Bill and infect him the same way he infected Brenda; one is lodged in his abdomen, but Bill attaches the other to a small propane tank, filling Grant with gas, and Starla shoots the monster, causing it to explode, whereupon all the infected die. The three survivors walk away to find a hospital for Bill.
In a post-credits scene, a cat approaches to feed off Grant's remains and is infected.

Tags: comedy, murder, cult, violence, horror, flashback, entertaining

Review:
James Gunn wrote Slither as an homage to the horror movies he loved.
The horror ranges from cheap pop-outs, hilarious gore, and heart pounding action in a genre bending film that is like Tremors for adults.The movie is well acted, and all the actors have such great chemistry together.
The story here is "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" meets "Night of the Living Dead" with hints of "The Blob," David Cronenburg's "Shivers," and a more-than-passing special effects nod to Brian Yuzna's "Society." But it WORKS here.James Gunn, a veteran of Troma Studios, has made a horror fan's horror flick.
He delivers up a movie that might be formulaic, but its over-the-top gore, it's black humor (this is one horror show that never takes itself too seriously), and it's general gung-ho, pull-no-punches attitude turn what could have been yet another plodding bit of cinematic flotsam into what could well be an instant horror classic on par with "Re-Animator." If you know what I'm blathering about here, if the names and the titles of these films are familiar, then see "Slither." You're going to love it..
So, if you like movies like Shaun of the Dead, Army of Darkness, Dead Alive, Gremlins, Tremors, or anything in that vein, you will like this movie.Or if you just wanna see Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) again on the big screen and wistfully wipe a tear or two away, you can go see this movie too.It's creepy, it's gleefully gross, it's HILARIOUS, and I don't think I wasted a single minute watching it.
James Gunn himself said at a recent Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in Chicago that the only film that played a part in "Slither" was David Cronenberg's "They Came from Within" (AKA - "Shivers").
Sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) and Starla must defeat this creature or the entire earth will be consumed.(My Comment) Slither is a 1950's type B-grade horror/comedy movie scenario that has everything.
It managed to be all those things at once and hit all the right notes.In many ways it is like the movie Shawn of the Dead -- real people's reactions to classic horror movie scenarios; funny, self-referential mocking of the horror genre, etc.
Surprisingly funny black comedy is a sharp witted throw-back to old school horror films.Alien creatures inhabit the bodies of some small-town rednecks and reek some bloody havoc!While it's easy to see the influences of every horror movie from Night of the Living Dead (1968) to Tremors (1989), Slither is itself a gutsy horror ride that firmly stands on its own.
The special FX are nicely well-done and provides for some unforgettably wild scenes.Cast-wise the movie isn't half bad either, although it's really Gregg Henry who steals the show as the town's foul-mouthed mayor.All around Slither is an enjoyable creature show for those that like their horror films gooey!
Later I was able to get their autographs and I got my picture with Nathan which let me tell you that man is so gorgeous in person.Well after that panel I was thinking OK so maybe the movie seems a bit better then I thought it would be.
James Gunn, (yes, the man who brought us what I can only imagine are fantastic scripts for Scooby Doo 1 & 2not sure since I would never watch them), has broken into the mix with his film Slither.
Once the creature's first mate unleashes his spawn of collective-consciousness worms, the town comes under attack and only the chief, the host's wife, and the obnoxious mayor can save the day.Amidst all the zombie-turning and the blood, acid spit, and limb jellying, we are treated with some great laughs and one-liners from people who truly know how to deliver the script deadpan for added effectiveness.
Soon the slugs are infecting everybody and its up to the sheriff, Grant's wife and a plucky teenager (Tania Saulnier) to save the town.Horror comedies are hard to pull off--they can become either too gross or too funny.
The Town Rich Guy, Grant Grant, (yes, that IS his name and he's played by Michael Rooker, from HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER no less), can't get no "lovin' from the oven" of his comely blond trophy wife, Starla (THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN's Elizabeth Banks,) so off the aging stud-wannabe stomps to the local watering hole where he runs into Brenda Gutierrez (Brenda James), a fresh young thing who's been crushing on him since she was ten.
He pays homage to while wickedly delivering "purple-nurples" to every monster movie convention we've come to know and love, since the first time we saw Kevin McCarthy running down the middle of the street hollering "YOU'RE NEXT!" And because we all know monster/alien invasion/zombie movies so well, by rights none of SLITHER should really work.
But it does for a couple of reasons: Gunn knows how to walk that tightrope between not enough and way too much, be it humor or horror, and because he got himself one of the best casts to help him out since that other outstanding cult classic that shares a similar pedigree, TREMORS.Besides Henry, Rooker, Banks and James, there's the outstanding Nathan Fillion (FIREFLY and SERENITY's stalwart Captain Mal Reynolds) as Sheriff-turned-Police Chief Bill Pardy, whom up until now only had to deal with deer infestations and Grant Grant stealing the girl of his dreams by marrying her.
Get your NIGHT OF THE CREEPS-THING-PREDATOR-DAWN OF THE DEAD-BODY SNATCHERS-FROM BEYOND-RE ANIMATOR-EVIL DEAD-DEAD ALIVE-ALIEN franchise-SPECIES-THEY CAME FROM WITHIN-lovin' butt to the nearest multiplex RIGHT NOW, and see this the way that G*d and Gunn intended: on a big, honkin' screen with a huge, overpriced bucket of popcorn shared out with your sweetie or your best friend(s).And if for no other reason, see it for the way that Jim Gunn takes a piece of dreadful Eighties schmaltz like Air Supply's "Every Woman In The World", and does to it what no one else could...actually make it funny, sad AND unrelentingly, sarcastically COOL..
By the time I was hit with the 3rd or 4th one-liner I was rolling my eyes and checking my watch.There were definitely homages made to several other films, which is always cool, kind of like an inside joke for us horror fans.
They even got a couple of normally above average actors to "star" in this flick, which to me seems like a strong sign their careers are going down in a havoc of flames.A poor script combined with acting resembling what you'd expect to find at a kindergarten play (aside from the fact that might prove to be charming) leaves only the special effects as a potential savior of this epic mess.
If you want to see a great horror/comedy, Slither is your movie!!
Slither isn't a bad film its juts not wonderful it cant decide what it wants to be a comedy or a horror.It fails on both there are some funny moments in it but the ending feels kinda rushed and doesn't satisfy you.
Starla, the local sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) and the survival Kylie Strutemyer (Tania Saulnier) try to find a way to stop Grant, the leader of a new breed of starving zombies."Slither" is certainly a new cult movie, with funny and gore situations like in "Braindead" or "Shaun of the Dead".
Actually, the story is a collection of many horror and sci-fi movies, such as "Invasion of Body Snatchers" and "The Night of the Living Dead", just to mention the classics, that works perfectly, having many funny lines.
After seeing various trailers advertised on television and a good friend of mine giving me a rather convincing recommendation (which I can only assume must have, in actual fact been an outrageously sarcastic one) to see this, I did so last night.The only thing I could remember from the TV advertisement was the image of a worm like creature followed by various press comments depicting how "Hilarious" this supposed horror-comedy was......where was the comedy?
I've been more terrified by a baby holding a carebear than I was at any point throughout this entire film, to top it all I didn't laugh at a single part of the movie unless it was down to the sheer stupidity of some of the scenes.I'm not one to comment on movies often but this was horrifically disappointing and I feel robbed of a very valuable 1 & 1/2 hours of my life.Cheers, James Gunn, you really made my weekend.No, really..
Gunn is a talented director, the actors are all well known to genre fans, the film is relatively subversive by mainstream standards and there is sufficient black humour to balance the gore.The problem with Slither is that it simply tries too hard to be cult.
This is not due to James Gunn being a bad filmmaker, but rather due to the fact that he spends so much time paying homage to his inspirations that he forgets to add anything new to the genre himself.The other jarring thing about Slither is the quality of the special effects.
I do think American director James Gunn has a better film inside of him, one that's more mature and less plodding, one that's more focused; one that can combine his 'eye' for the ability to get the maximum out of an icky horror infused scenario with content a tad more interesting for the audience than some grotesquely obese alien-human hybrid's love for his former wife.
For many, Slither will be no Close Encounters of the Third Kind.On the contrary, whilst this certainly takes inspiration from such sci-fi/horror greats like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, it unfortunately more resembles Independence Day: fast, somewhat witty but ultimately dumb – these monsters are here to harm and cause conflict, not interact and inspire a film of any substantial weight.
One wonders if they landed at Mercury and Venus first, only to be disappointed it was devoid of life, or if they've just got used to going to the third planet in from each solar-system's sun every time in an educated guess to uncover life.Michael Rooker's character Grant Grant, so archetypal they named him twice, bears the early brunt of this slug-like; parasite-like alien, his insatiable sexual appetites getting him into all sorts of bother in an isolated wood with a woman of equal thought process of whom he essentially rapes later on.
In a rather funny, self-aware jab at the material; a scene nearer the beginning on another strand sees a teacher at the end of giving a class on Darwinism, someone renowned for theories of evolution and the developing and changing of a species – although, the content in that scene which did it for me revolved around the mentioning of 'the survival of the fittest', two items that essentially represent the bulk of the film.Unfortunately, Slither lurches from some rather nasty, uninvolving and leery content early on to do with Grant's going mad and lust for raw meat; staggering from this to another group of characters getting all excited, in that way only people of this ilk can, when drunkard goings-on in celebration of the beginning of deer hunting season unfold.
This bunch, of whom are mostly just fodder for the beasties, however, romp out into the nearby woodland or into the rural unknown in hope of blowing away some easy competition for sport, but stumble across something far more sinister and much more powerful than they earlier imagined.Whilst MacReady is a daft allegorical character, he is given some of the film's best lines; my favourite of which is: "What kind of thing wants you to eat it!?" The film is not preoccupied with character nor script, despite the fun it has with MacReady and desperately attempts to include a third sub-strand in which young local girl Kylie Strutemyer (Saulnier) undergoes a process that'll see her jump from raw, vulnerable, and stark naked in the bath to gun wielding, hard bodied, zombie-ass kicking chick by way of her family falling prey and the world as she knows it going to Hell.
Nathan Fillion's engaging screen personality was largely responsible for making something special out of the potentially run-of-the-mill sci-fi movie "Serenity," and that same personality does something similar for this film, the latest in the flesh-eating zombie genre.In "Slither," a meteor from outer space deposits a gooey egg out in the middle of some woods, which a very unlucky regular Joe comes across one dark night while cavorting with a female companion.
Nathan Fillion, playing the sheriff of this once-quiet village, along with a small batch of survivors, struggle to put an end to the infestation and restore order to the galaxy."Slither" keeps its tongue firmly in cheek, so if it's not a great movie, it's at least a fun and playful one.
Certainly I'm glad I can, because I was really entertained and even fairly impressed with the writing and character work- so many modern films, let alone horror movies, seem to have forgotten that any story begins with its characters; thankfully this one didn't.
Slither, James Gunn's Masterpiece of splatter, slime, and slugs!WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!SLITHER came out all the way back in 2006, a year filled to the brim with horror films.
A good old fashioned space rock lands in the outskirts of a quiet rural (read redneck) town, bringing with it the seed of an otherworldy being that'll be more important later, much more important.Let's take a little step back, Slither has many main characters running all over the shop, each of them played by real character actors who actually look like real people and not movie stars or career extras.
What sets it apart from is brethren is a top notch cast, (Michael Rooker and Tania Saulnier both put in excellent turns), great special effects, (a minimum of bad CGI and a lot of good make-up effects) and a generally funny script.The only problem with the movie (outside of a tendency to overplay the campy) is that is eminently forgettable.
Unlike recent straight horror films such as Saw or Hostel or even recent horror/comedy hybrids such as Shaun of the Dead, Slither doesn't have a single original thought or scene in its pretty little head.It's like that girl you dated in college that was pretty good looking but boring in and out of the sack.
Well what a movie...lol i never thought it would be that good at first i was like ( OK nothing special )...but them bam it hits u right in the face ....hehe i really enjoyed it a lot and the humor is awesome ....
The town's only hopes for survival are on Police Chief Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) and Grant's love for his young wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks).It would take multiple viewings, a notebook and a film encyclopedia to catch all of the references and homages contained in "Slither," but some of the more notable and obvious ones include "Alien," George A.
Becoming infected by the creature, over days starts to mutate, playing host to thousands of slugs to infect other people; turning them into goo spewing zombies.Writer/Director James Gunn has created a great slice of B grade horror.
Slither is a fun horror movie that seems to be both liked by critics and horror fans and I think it is unfortunate that the film is not doing better than it is.
I am thinking YES.Slither is ridiculous and while that may have been the goal, I just don't find humor in how ridiculous it was - at the end of the day it was just a low budget, asinine, sci fi flick with poor CGI, even worse acting and stupid plots that I found hard to sit through as it aired for free in my den on cable TV.There were maybe 2 funny lines but that doesn't even begin to make up for what felt like a poorly made episode of the Twighlight Zone.
So if you see a slug, RUN!!!Review: The actors did a great job and the special effects were there, but the story left out two things that need to be in all horror movies: Sex and hopes for a Part 2.Overall 6/10.
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards gave Slither their highest accolade by way off Award for Highest Body Count for 2006, and yes, well deserved it is too, now that's horror doing its job without fault.Slither makes a pleasant change to the B-Movies of yesteryear who whilst trying their best to be taken seriously, but through time ended up mocked, loved and revered for all the wrong reasons.
For instance look how much more real the gore scenes look in the original Dawn of the Dead.Many will criticize my review of this film and say a movie such as this one is almost completely sci-fi and cannot be forced to rely only on props, puppets and effects.
If you like horror humor and/or Troma, you are guaranteed to laugh out loud through this film.Initially, seeing the previews for "Slither" I thought the movie looked fairly cheesy.
If you're a fan of b-movie monsters, or like a generous dose of humour with your horror, 'Slither' is just the ticket!
The story is fairly basic, as monster movies go, but what makes this film really special is the clever script, the good acting, (especially from Nathan Fillion and Michael Rooker) and the fan-freaking-tastic special effects.
Any movie where the characters use squid stickers on a map to mark the location of the beastie they're searching for is OK in my book.What a funny, refreshing, gross take on the zombie-making, brain-slug sub genre.I thought I would like the movie, but I actually love it.Brilliant, and exactly what horror needs right now.James Gunn, you go out there and make more amazing movies..
In summary, if you like such movies as Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, or Dead Alive, the basic horror comedy that everyone has come to know and love, than this should be right up your alley.
If the previews make it look like something you don't want to see, watch something else, but just so you know, this movie is a lot of fun..
My top 3 horror comedy movies is Dead Alive, Slither, and The Lost Boys!