SLITHER (2006)

4 stars

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In his directorial debut James Gunn takes a B movie premise and runs with it – you know with a title like SLITHER things will eventually get slimy, sloppy and, well, slithery.

A meteorite crashes to earth near a small town (they are always small towns in this kind of movie). We are introduced to high school teacher Starla Grant (Elizabeth Banks) – she is married to the bizarrely named Grant Grant (Michael Rooker) but is hardly wedded bliss. When she rebuffs his advances one evening he goes off to a bar to drown his sorrows and hooks up with Brenda (Brenda James), who was a former girlfriend. Continuing their dalliance in the woods they discover the lump of space rock and he is shot by some alien doodad which is soon have a major affect on him – as he begins to transform with slugs bursting out of him.

His wife Starla initially dismisses his appearance, thinking it’s a bee sting however it isn’t long before he has gone full on monster…

Gunn is clearly a genre fan – with his script riffing on various prior productions, mixing in things like ALIEN (1979), SHIVERS (1975) and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) among others to create a fun and at times humorous sci fi horror. Whilst he is probably best known these days for his various movies for both Marvel and DC – GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY etc – he started out penning for Troma with such delights as TROMEO AND JULIET (1996), transitioning to bigger budgets with a couple of SCOOBY-DOO films and then Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD.

Steve Kirkham

EXTRAS

Interviews With Writer/Director James Gunn; with Director of Photography Gregory Middleton; with Editor John Axelrad; with Special Make-up Effects Designer Todd Masters; with Composer Tyler Bates

A couple of featurettes and set tour with Nathan Fillion

Deleted And Extended Scenes and Bloopers