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Review #103: Slither
An alien parasite lands on earth in a small South Carolina town and begins taking over the inhabitants by infecting their brains by entering their bodies.
A small group of survivors must find a way to stop the organism before it gets out of control.
That's really all there is to say, the bog standard, well-used-before-plot is something very familiar with anyone who has seen sci-fi-alien-takeover movies before.
Anybody who has seen any creature feature, from Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers to Tremors will know what to expect from Slither...
... what makes Slither stand out though is the overall use of humour throughout and the overall screenplay too.
It's along the lines of the tongue-in-cheek humour seen in Eight Legged Freaks (albeit with less slapstick) or even Tremors and the film has made well with the sex and gore that is rarely seen in Bodysnatcher style alien movies too.
Some of the plotlines and storytelling, and in particular the dialogue used, is almost parodying those 1950s B-movies too, but in a respectful way.
The action is also along the same lines as the comedy-horror-FX scenes too. A lot of it contains lashings of situation comedy dialogue and still manages to be exciting and really well choreographed.
The effects though are really what the movie is about. There's more use of practical, slimy and gory effects rather than just going all stupid with CGI.
The overall use of well designed makeup and practical effects make for a fresh feeling modern horror-comedy.
The overall design and use of the creatures too is really well put together. Some of it is squeamish, a lot of it is done using humour too.
The overall acting is pretty cheesey, but it's knowingly cheesey and intentionally written that way and the actors involved must have had masses of fun in the process.
Elizabeth Banks and Nathan Fillion as the main duo of the group of survivors are very engaging and almost make the movie on their own.
Underrated actor Michael Rooker as the main antagonist is absolutely brilliant. He's funny, believable in the role and also quite scary at times too.
All in all, a modern comedy horror that's better written than most, and has masses of respectful nods toward the B-movie genre.
In it's own right though, it's a top movie for anyone who's into the aliens taking over small towns plot.
My rating 88%
An alien parasite lands on earth in a small South Carolina town and begins taking over the inhabitants by infecting their brains by entering their bodies.
A small group of survivors must find a way to stop the organism before it gets out of control.
That's really all there is to say, the bog standard, well-used-before-plot is something very familiar with anyone who has seen sci-fi-alien-takeover movies before.
Anybody who has seen any creature feature, from Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers to Tremors will know what to expect from Slither...
... what makes Slither stand out though is the overall use of humour throughout and the overall screenplay too.
It's along the lines of the tongue-in-cheek humour seen in Eight Legged Freaks (albeit with less slapstick) or even Tremors and the film has made well with the sex and gore that is rarely seen in Bodysnatcher style alien movies too.
Some of the plotlines and storytelling, and in particular the dialogue used, is almost parodying those 1950s B-movies too, but in a respectful way.
The action is also along the same lines as the comedy-horror-FX scenes too. A lot of it contains lashings of situation comedy dialogue and still manages to be exciting and really well choreographed.
The effects though are really what the movie is about. There's more use of practical, slimy and gory effects rather than just going all stupid with CGI.
The overall use of well designed makeup and practical effects make for a fresh feeling modern horror-comedy.
The overall design and use of the creatures too is really well put together. Some of it is squeamish, a lot of it is done using humour too.
The overall acting is pretty cheesey, but it's knowingly cheesey and intentionally written that way and the actors involved must have had masses of fun in the process.
Elizabeth Banks and Nathan Fillion as the main duo of the group of survivors are very engaging and almost make the movie on their own.
Underrated actor Michael Rooker as the main antagonist is absolutely brilliant. He's funny, believable in the role and also quite scary at times too.
All in all, a modern comedy horror that's better written than most, and has masses of respectful nods toward the B-movie genre.
In it's own right though, it's a top movie for anyone who's into the aliens taking over small towns plot.
My rating 88%
