So I followed up my watching of DISTURBIA with another Hollywood production that's an instantly recognisable updating of many older themes movies. There's a bit of a difference, though, as the guys who made SLITHER are clearly fans of the cheesy monster movie sub-genre and their movie is an updating, not of a Hitchcock classic, but of a number of slimy '80s B-movies. Off the top of my head, I counted the likes of THE DEADLY SPAWN, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, THE BLOB, and Troma as various influences here. SLITHER is a rare beast, a comedy-horror hybrid that's actually funny and scary. I always hate to see creepy worms in films and the ones found here are some of the creepiest.
In essence, the plot is the same as in NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, except on a larger scale: this time, a whole town is taken over, and we see it. There's plenty of reference to the zombie flicks of old, too. One thing you notice is that the special effects are great, for the most part; the big tentacled beast is a bit overly CGI, but the worms look fine. The bathroom set-piece is particularly well down. The action-focused template keeps the movie drumming along nicely and it only put a foot wrong once for me (the gross-out scene involving the bloated woman was just too much, I thought). Nathan Fillion makes for a fine everyman hero, and Banks and Saulnier give him solid female support. Particularly good in the supporting cast is Michael Rooker, playing a guy who transforms into a monster. Rooker is usually typecast as a serial killer or a cop but he's given different material to work with here, and he's fine.
Anyway, the story is simple and the situations tense. There's gore, with heads getting blown apart, and lots of grisly sequences with victims getting impregnated/taken over by the slithering worms. The climax is formulaic, but amiable enough, and as a whole I enjoyed this movie. It makes a difference when a film is made by fans for fans – as was the case with the superior NIGHT OF THE CREEPS.
In essence, the plot is the same as in NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, except on a larger scale: this time, a whole town is taken over, and we see it. There's plenty of reference to the zombie flicks of old, too. One thing you notice is that the special effects are great, for the most part; the big tentacled beast is a bit overly CGI, but the worms look fine. The bathroom set-piece is particularly well down. The action-focused template keeps the movie drumming along nicely and it only put a foot wrong once for me (the gross-out scene involving the bloated woman was just too much, I thought). Nathan Fillion makes for a fine everyman hero, and Banks and Saulnier give him solid female support. Particularly good in the supporting cast is Michael Rooker, playing a guy who transforms into a monster. Rooker is usually typecast as a serial killer or a cop but he's given different material to work with here, and he's fine.
Anyway, the story is simple and the situations tense. There's gore, with heads getting blown apart, and lots of grisly sequences with victims getting impregnated/taken over by the slithering worms. The climax is formulaic, but amiable enough, and as a whole I enjoyed this movie. It makes a difference when a film is made by fans for fans – as was the case with the superior NIGHT OF THE CREEPS.