SLITHER REVIEW ***SPOILERS*** by Chindi

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

SLITHER REVIEW ***SPOILERS***

POSTED BY: CHINDI
UPDATED: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 09:13
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VIEWED: 1742
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Wednesday, March 22, 2006 9:04 AM

Here is the industry review of Slither as seen at SXSW. Good recognition for Nathan.. and keep in mind this is from Variety

do not read further as these reviews are pretty spoiler rich

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Slither

A Universal release of a Universal PicturesUniversal Pictures and Gold Circle Films presentation of a Strike EntertainmentStrike Entertainment production. Produced by Paul BrooksPaul Brooks, Eric NewmanEric Newman. Executive producers, Marc AbrahamMarc Abraham, Thomas A. Bliss, Norm Waitt, Scott Niemeyer. Co-producer: Jeff LevineJeff Levine. Directed, written by James Gunn.

Bill Pardy - Nathan Fillion
Starla Grant - Elizabeth Banks
Jack MacReady - Gregg Henry
Grant Grant - Michael Rooker
Kylie Strutemyer - Tania Saulnier
Brenda Gutierrez - Brenda James
Wally - Don Thompson

By JOE LEYDON

"Slither" is a gleefully nasty and ingeniously twisted horror-comedy that pits a populace of heavily armed but mostly clueless rednecks against flesh-eating zombies, slimy extraterrestrial slugs and an acid-spewing, multitentacled mutant. Call it "Night of the Living Dead" meets "Tremors."

ScripterScripter James GunnJames Gunn infuses the pic, his debut feature as a director, with the exuberance of a movie geek given carte blanche to play fast and loose with the cliches and conventions of his favorite films. Result is a rock-the-house crowd-pleaser for genre aficionados, though its breakout potential appears iffy.

Gunn -- a Troma Entertainment alumnus whose writing credits range from "Scooby Doo""Scooby Doo" to 2004's "Dawn of the Dead" remake -- deftly balances broad humor, rude shocks and gross-out special effects for a fang-in-cheek extravaganza that often feels like a slightly more upscale version of cheapie-creepy Troma product.

Wheelsy, the kind of small town where the start of hunting season is celebrated as a local holiday, is where Grant Grant (Michael Rooker), a wealthy but none-too-refined businessman, somehow managed to claim Starla (Elizabeth Banks), a local beauty, as his trophy wife. Trouble is, Starla has grown tired of fulfilling her conjugal duties.

Stung by Starla's latest rejection, Grant seeks solace in a seedy bar, where tarty Brenda (Brenda James) proves far more receptive to his sex appealsex appeal. Unfortunately, when the couple decides to take a walk in the nearby woods, they come across a recently landed meteorite. Something emerges from within -- and plunges into Grant.

For the first half-hour or so, "Slither" seems to be a seriocomic riff on sci-fi thrillers in which hapless humans are infected by extraterrestrial contamination or manmade maladies. As such, the pic often echoes David CronenbergDavid Cronenberg's "Rabid" and John CarpenterJohn Carpenter's remake of "The Thing."

But by the time Grant evolves into a toothy, slime-encrusted behemoth with a pronounced resemblance to a squid, and Brenda expands to become a humongous breeder of malignant slugs, it's clear Gunn won't be content to reference only one kind of monster. Much to the great distress of dry-witted police chief Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) and blowhard mayor Jack MacReady (Gregg Henry), the victims of the malignant slugs won't stay dead. Rather, the dearly departed reawaken as staggering, shambling zombies, mentally connected to Grant, an increasingly more powerful (and more disgusting) entity.

"Slither" begins briskly, gradually accelerates and eventually achieves a breakneck momentum that makes the wild ride even more exhilarating. Here and there, though, pic slows down for a clever bit of throwaway lunacy, like the revelation that Wheelsy has a karaoke bar.

The special effects are a nifty mix of old-school prosthetics and high-tech CGI, making for a few genuinely shocking moments amid the farcical facade. Overall tech values are smartly dedicated to making "Slither" appear polished, but not too polished, so it can impress without straying too far from its B-movie roots.

The well-cast actors -- including Tania Saulnier as a feisty teen whose family gets slugged -- go just far enough over the top to maintain the jokey/scary tone without becoming cartoonish. Fillion is particularly amusing while delivering wisecracks and ironic asides with the same sly spin he brought to cheeky dialogue in the cult fave "Firefly" TV series (and, more recently, its "Serenity" feature spinoff). For all his funny moments, however, Fillion also rises to the challenge of being, relatively speaking, the straight man, or at least the pic's voice of sanity. Henry gets big laughs with a much-bigger-than-life approach. And Rooker is surprisingly sympathetic even as his character turns into a special effect.

Incidentally, the film has absolutely nothing to do with Howard Zieff's 1973 pic of the same name, starring James Caan and Sally Kellerman. Latter also was a comedy but had no slugs to speak of and nary a single zombie.

Chindi

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Wednesday, March 22, 2006 9:13 AM

TEALCANDTRIP

Well, since you've already got the spoiler warning up...

Check it out for yourself:

Warning: Major Grossout and some bad language.

But both clips feature two Firefly alumni!

Great Nathan Fillion here:
http://streamingmovies.ign.com/filmforce/article/695/695304/slither_cl
ip1_031306_wmvlowwide.wmv

Copy and paste this into your browser:
mms://209.133.64.140/vod/thc_Slither.wmv

"I also hear that there's something called Firefly, which is either a canceled science-fiction television show or a new religion, I'm not clear on that. Either way, prayers for the resurrection are involved." – Lore Sjoberg

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