We have all seen at least one: a movie so stretched beyond plausibility that unintentional hilarity ensues. While this phenomenon can occur in any genre, it seems to be particularly prevalent with horror movies.
Examples would have to include Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Evil Dead, and Arachnophobia, to say nothing of the majority of the Friday the 13th movies (there were about a dozen all together). In theaters this past weekend, a movie opened which walked the precarious line between the scary and the silly – and walked it rather well. From the writer of the 2004 remake of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead comes Slither, an entertaining new addition to the monster movie family.
In the tradition of Eight Legged Freaks, Slither is the story of what happens when a small town’s community gets overrun with mutating parasitic alien slug creatures who travel through space consuming everything in their path, and it takes full advantage of just how ridiculous that sounds.
Elizabeth Banks (The 40 Year Old Virgin) steps up to what is probably her largest role to date as Starla Grant, the country schoolteacher whose husband has recently been possessed by an interstellar worm.
Starla’s high school friend Bill (Nathan Fillion, Serenity), who is now the head police officer in town, joins her in the battle to prevent Earth from being next on the buffet.
Not to be confused with the Scary Movie franchise or Shaun of the Dead, Slither is not meant to be a parody.
Instead of trying to be funny, the filmmaker simply did not concern himself with being serious.
The result is 90 minutes of mayhem, blood, slime, and Bruce Campbell-worthy one-liners.
Enjoy.
Slither is rated R for action, gore and language. It is currently playing at Carmike 14 Cinemas in Johnson City.
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