Slither
Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:10 am
Didn't see a preview; went on a whim. Slither is about an asteroid that crash lands in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere, carrying an alien slug parasite. The movie plays like a game of spot the homage: obvious inspirations (and at some points, blatant ripoffs) include Dawn of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, The Evil Dead(s), Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Tremors, the entire back catalog of 50's B-horror and 80's Spagetti-horror films, Men in Black, and--last but certainly not least--Troma Films. If you watch closely you'll see a clip from a Troma movie (is it bad that I noticed that?).
The movie starts off looking pretty terrible, with the cheesy title font superimposed over a cheesy plastic alien egg hatching. It plays its camp relatively coy until about 30 minutes in, at which point it turns utterly and unabashedly hilarious. With the exception of a zombie deer attack, the movie looks pretty good in its last half, especially considering its obvious budget constraints. The actors are all second-rate TV stars, but fans of Firefly and The Office will find a few familiar faces.
Although it's never as good as Shaun of the Dead, and some parts near the beginning will probably make you cringe, Slither feels like it's exactly what it wants to be: Troma writ large. If you're into that sort'a thing, this is the movie for you. I enjoyed it quite a bit. B+
The movie starts off looking pretty terrible, with the cheesy title font superimposed over a cheesy plastic alien egg hatching. It plays its camp relatively coy until about 30 minutes in, at which point it turns utterly and unabashedly hilarious. With the exception of a zombie deer attack, the movie looks pretty good in its last half, especially considering its obvious budget constraints. The actors are all second-rate TV stars, but fans of Firefly and The Office will find a few familiar faces.
Although it's never as good as Shaun of the Dead, and some parts near the beginning will probably make you cringe, Slither feels like it's exactly what it wants to be: Troma writ large. If you're into that sort'a thing, this is the movie for you. I enjoyed it quite a bit. B+