Rewatch: Slither

2006, James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) -- download

If this blog had started a few years earlier, the movie would have been part of the Days of Halloween series of reviews. Its a throwback to the 80s style of gross-out, not entirely serious horror movie which stars Nathan Fillion as Sheriff Bill Pardy of small, backward Wheelsy, South Carolina. His town suffers a meteor fall containing a nasty alien  -- parasitic, hivemind creating, all tentacly hentai nasty! With an immeasurable amount of good  nature and positive attitude, he and survivors of the town blow the creature all up good.

This movie was a bomb, but I am sure it was mostly the timing. Then again, I am not sure how these kinds of movies are ever expected to do well outside of the horror film fests like Fantasia or Toronto After Dark. The audience for gross out special effects, done at the bare edge of the budget, is minimal. Sure, lock someone in a chair and torture them while teasing a hint of boob and you will get the 20-sumthin crowd flocking, but monster horror with more than a dash of humor is so two decades ago.

I rather enjoyed it, again, but definitely not as much as the first time. I remember thinking it was rather novel considering the company it was keeping, in horror at least -- Japanese remakes, American remakes, torture porn, etc. The best of a lot was actually the indie flick that Graig and I saw in Toronto After Dark Festival, Behind the Mask.  I think Kent even reviewed it, but I don't remember where to find it. I didn't see the movie the year it came out, probably not long after, via download.  Second time around, it is good for some chuckles and I always enjoy Nathan on the screen.

A good amount of the film is dedicated to the metamorphosis of Grant Grant (yep, that was his name) from bored husband into ultra-jealous alien symbiote creature. Michael Rooker is wonderful here, playing a bit more beyond his thuggish usual self, who we kind of feel sorry for. Its not his fault the alien worm hijacks him and makes him into a tentacled, people absorbing, mountain of pink quivering flesh. The others play rather to the side of his starring role, even Nathan's hero role. The rest of the cast is toss away, standard horror flick fare. All in all, most die but the survivors show an astounding amount of moxy considering they have watched most of their loved ones and friends turned into slug zombies and then partially absorbed into Grant Grant. Good natured shock, I guess.

My final thoughts were wondering how they explained this to the authorities, once they reached the next town.