What happens when a filmmaker takes a wonderfully absurd, gooey and goofy premise and runs with it without pulling any punches or losing sight of his vision? If you’re James Gunn, you might end up with Slither: a remarkable film that hits every right note imaginable like a blast to the face and gut. Gunn, the writer of the better-than-it-should-have-been Dawn of the Dead ’04, and the director of the whacked out Tromeo and Juliet, a retelling of Shakespeare’s classic tale done Toxic Avenger style, delivers the goods in this monster-mash throw back of a B-flick, albeit, one with a respectable budget. On a personal level I must admit that seeing Slither was like seeing a film made by a director who crawled inside my head and projected on the screen everything I could possibly want to see in an all out zany, sci-fi, monster, gore-fest. Yeah, it’s that good.
There may not be an original idea in the entire narrative, but what does make Slither stand above recent genre offerings is its perfect execution. If you are a fan of sci-fi and horror films, chances are you have seen many films like Slither before. Films such as Alien, Night of the Creeps, Evil Dead, Shivers, Night of Living Dead, Tremors, Jaws and even Akira all get sampled in this hip-hop like construction of a film. But here Gunn is not just lifting, or merely paying homage to some of his favorite films. As a true fan of genre cinema, Gunn is playing the part of a multi-media deejay, mixing, scratching, cutting and looping familiar patterns, cliché, and sequences together with a rhythm and vision all of his own.
Gunn also breaks a few of the genre’s conventions on his way to the grand and gruesome finale, proving that he is not comfortable, or satisfied, with more recent films. Once the meteorite lands unleashing the bloodthirsty alien-sperm-slugs, no one, or no thing, is safe. Children, dogs and cows all get their's in the end, as the carnage has no prejudice towards age, or species. With gut wrenching, and gag inducing, audio queues, the slimy creatures penetrate the flesh of their victims turning them into raw-meat hungry zombies, capable of breeding and multiplying with alarming speed in order to take over the Earth, just as they have done with so many other planets before.
Slither does indeed start off slow, but, rest assured, it is never boring. The deliberate build up gives time for the unforced humor to take hold, and it also gives time for the characters to interact before the bloodbath. Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity) turns in a performance that is remarkable. His charisma and comic timing help to make him a leading man who is able to command the attention this kind of role calls for. The characters in the film are out of their element, and they always seem to be one or two steps behind the situations. The heroes constantly find themselves outnumbered and under armed, and are perpetually on the run, desperately trying to fend off the alien-zombie invasion with whatever weapons they can find - in true survival-horror fashion. In many films like Slither, the characters are nothing but victims for the creatively gruesome on-screen death sequences, but, in this film, Fillion leads the small group of heroes into the hearts of the audience.
Ultimately, Slither works because of the kind of filmmaker James Gunn is; the creation was in great hands. Gunn had a vision and never backed down, leading me to ask this question: how did a film like this even get made and released onto the screens at the major theatres? Slither is a throwback to a time of gratuitously fun genre films that were more than content with their stations in the cinematic world. Gunn knew what kind of film he wanted to make (more than likely, it was also the kind of film he would like to see) and never once did he lose sight of this vision. Slither is gross, gooey, slimy, disgusting, funny, and, most importantly, it’s entertaining as hell. Slither does not have a political message, nor is it excessively dark and gritty; the film is not politically correct, or overly hip and artsy in any way shape or form. In this sense, Slither may be the bravest film to come out of Hollywood in many years. It is brave because it fully embraces the trappings of genre cinema, while giving genre fans exactly what they want without compromising or pandering to the LCD. Slither demands to be seen in a packed house, so don’t miss this rare theatrical opportunity. If you recall fondly a time when films were just a ton of gory fun, you owe it to yourself to check this little marvel out.
