Slither Review

Written by: DerbyDemon   

Slither is an absolute, out-of-this-world-fun horror picture.  Well, really, it's more on the "sci-fi" end of the scale, but that's okay, too.

Written and directed by James Gunn, "Slither" is without a doubt the best movie of its kind that I've seen.  The premise is easy enough:  small town has a meteor strike the earth and out pops, well, I don't know exactly how to describe it, but it's pretty mean whatever it is.  This creater starts to infest all the locals and before you know it you've got flesh eating zombies and one of the most disgusting creatures I've ever seen.  Kudos to Mr. Gunn because he demonstrates that you can have dialogue in these types of movies that isn't stilted, stupid, or boiler plate.

Michael Rooker ("Henry:  Portrait of a Serial Killer" and "Mississippi Burning") plays local rich guy (and I absolutely loved the name) Grant Grant who seems to be ignored by wifey-poo (Elizabeth Banks), Starla, who is never in the mood.  Grant puts on his pants and is off to the local watering hole where he meets Brenda (Brenda James).  After some small conversation, they are off for a romp in the woods.  But, as fate would have it, Grant  shows he actually has a conscience and will not betray his wife--at least for now.  While out in the woods, both Grant and Brenda discover the latest town visitor that seems to shoot needle-like projectiles at its prey.  One strikes Grant in the middle of his chest and the fun begins.  The scenes where Grant is undergoing his transformation are an absolute hoot.  When his head is ballooning on one side and he tells his wife, "it's just a reaction to a bee sting", well, that brought down the house!

I enjoyed all of the characters in this movie because, well, they seemed REAL.   But the one character that stole the show for me was the local mayor, Jack MacReady, played by another great character actor, Gregg Henry.  Mr. Henry's acting credits alone would make this review 50 pages, but I'll just say that I liked his character because he had so much fun playing him.  There were a couple of scenes that he was in that I was holding my sides because I was laughing so hard.    His character's introduction into the movie alone was a show stealer.  It seems that Mayor MacReady has a favorite word and uses it with great aplomb whenever he can.  And his soon-to-be infamous line, "that chick's hard-core", had the audience rolling in the aisles.  

"Slither" is rated R for some moderate gore, violence, some very disturbing scenes, and language.  Its run time is 96 minutes and that's 96 minutes of a real good time!  Enjoy this one folks.  We probably won't see another one like it for a long time.