Welcome back to the Monster- Fest!
For this random monster film, I’ll be looking at a modern- day B- Movie called ‘Slither.’ Made in 2006 and directed by James Gunn, it stars Nathan Fillion, Michael Rooker, and Elizabeth Banks.
The story is kind of the typical “Aliens vs. rednecks†storyline, but with a couple interesting little twists thrown in. It takes place in a small backwater town, near the start of deer- hunting season, apparently an important time for that town. Things start getting interesting when a man with the odd name of Grant Grant (Rooker) and his would- be mistress discover a strange crashed meteor, which promptly opens, causing a small life form to burrow into Grant and take over his body. This starts giving him an insatiable appetite for meat, and makes him convert his basement into a kind of nest for himself which he keeps locked, to the confusion/ dismay of his lovely young wife Starla (Banks, whose character isn’t as trashy as her name would imply. It eventually leads to him killing and eating neighborhood pets, and kidnapping/ impregnating his mistress Brenda with alien seed, all the while developing a more and more hideous, monstrous appearance. These are what cause our hero, a local cop named Bill Pardy (Fillion), to get involved.
Bill and the other cops come across Brenda, who has since swelled up to an enormous size (Basically, she looks like what would have happened to Violet Beauregarde if ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ were a horror film), and explodes, releasing a massive swarm of parasitic, sluglike aliens which take over people’s minds by crawling into their mouths. This turns them into brainless zombies under Grant’s control, which he sets out to do his bidding. It’s up to Bill, Starla, and a couple other survivors to take on the thing that used to be Grant and save what’s left of the town.
The few problems with ‘Slither’ are rather obvious ones which go with the subgenre. First, the characters are pretty much all stereotypical dumb rednecks, but that’s to be expected. Second, it is a bit graphic, but again that is to be expected.
‘Slither’ is still a fun movie. It has a lot of deliberately funny moments, from one- liners to generally odd and preposterous situations. The makeup and creature effects are awesome. They’re a mixture of CGI and prosthetic makeup, especially for Grant’s ongoing transformation from man to alien hybrid monster, particularly in the film’s climax. It looks grotesque and quite scary.
As far as acting, there are definitely some good performances for a B- Movie. Nathan Fillion makes Bill much like his other well- known characters; Witty, funny, to- the- point, and capable of being a brave leader when he has to be. Not as memorable as when he played Malcolm Reynolds in ‘Firefly’ and ‘Serenity,’ but still a good performance. Michael Rooker does a very good job as Grant, both when he’s a human redneck, and when he’s a rapidly- mutating alien monster. Elizabeth Banks is charming and likable as Starla; Even before Grant turns into a monster, you still hate to see her saddled with him and want to see her get together with Bill, whom she begins to connect with.
And so, that’s ‘Slither,’ a gruesome yet funny B- Movie. Worth at least a watch if you’re into that kind of thing (And if you watch it, stay through the credits at the end). We’re coming into the home stretch of my monster- fest, tomorrow will start my final theme for the month! Hurry back!
