Creepy Crawly Number 2 - The Slug (from space)!
Slither
* The creepy crawly up for show; this movie
wastes no time in introducing its slimy slug. We open with a meteorite hurling
through space, then gracefully crashing on earth in some backward, hick town in
the deep American south. On this same night a man is making out with a woman
(not his wife) in the woods, when he spots the remains of the crash site.
Following a trail of a shiny, sticky substance, he discovers a giant slug
looking creature. It spits a dart-like organism at him, which burrows into his
skin. He passes out, then regains consciousness, and seems to be okay – but
this alien visitor was looking for a host, and not only will it use this man’s
body to wreak havoc, it will continue to mutate, and turn most of the small
town’s people into zombie like creatures. Confused? It sounds confusing, but
when you sit down to watch “Slither”, you’ll have no trouble following the
story, even if it makes no sense.
* How they are portrayed in this film; slugs inhabit out planet already, and don’t get as much leeway as snails do. I think we feel sorry for snails, because they are so slow, but they are interesting to look at, especially with their shells, which no two of are ever alike. Heck, it’s even customary to eat them in some cultures. But slugs, which are like naked snails, get that instant look of disgust and are enough to make grown adults squirm. Their familiar form is adapted for the movie “Slither”, but they’re about the size of a rat, bright pink, and can move faster than any snail or slug could dream of. Once the little critters are loose on the town, no one is safe, and everything in their path is a snack. They are part of a hive, controlled by the leading slug organism, which has taken over the body of the man from the woods, and has a plan for the town, and indeed the whole planet.
* The humans who try to squash them; one aspect of this film that required some patience from me, even with its compact running time, was the characters. They are hicks, rednecks and hillbillies of the highest order, living somewhere along the great big Bible belt of the southern states, and lead a simpleton kind of life. It’s no wonder they are easy targets for the alien slugs, who inhabit their bodies and turn them into raw-meat eating corpses, who are really just carriers for the alien invader. Only a few of the town’s folk, including the local police chief, a teenager girl, and the wife of the man from the woods escape the infesting slugs, and try to survive anyway they can. Not sure if they’re dealing with monsters, zombies, freaks or aliens – the truth is, they’re dealing with all of the above, as the film borrows elements from many horror films and mixes the genre with comedy for an entertaining blend. Even for rednecks and hillbillies, you do care for the characters as the film goes along, thanks to the clever writing and surprise twists that happen along the way.
* The grossest moment; Where do I start? There are so many, you could argue the whole film is just one big gore fest. It doesn’t hold back on the gruesome, the bloody, the slimy and the downright disgusting, as the alien is portrayed in its many forms, and does things with and to humans that will make your jaw drop. Perhaps the pick of the bunch in terms of goriest moments, would have to be during the first act of the film. After the infected man infects a woman, who he hides in a barn feeding her raw meat and dead animals, she balloons in size. When she’s discovered, she is still herself – kind of – complaining about how hungry she is, even with the remains of dozens of dead animals littered around her, and her body stretched to the size of a car. When her previous form just can’t hold what’s inside anymore, she literally explodes and out fly thousands of the pink slugs who spread out across town and attack every living thing in sight. From this shocking scene, it only gets better as the stakes get higher, the body rate increases and the slugs continue to mutate into something that you must see to believe by the end of the film.
Slither wouldn’t exist without original films
like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, and almost every zombie film ever made.
It scores points for taking familiar elements of the horror genre and twisting
them around to give us something that is strange, unique and for the most part
very entertaining. Not that I paid attention to the name of the director upon
this films release in 2006, but I just discovered upon re-watching the film now
in 2019, it was made by James Gunn, director of the “Guardians of the Galaxy”
films. You can see traces of his visual style, use of humour and twisted visuals
on display here, which given a decade of practice and refining, led him to be
the perfect choice to direct the Guardians. If you love the work of James Gunn
in the MCU, then check out Slither for his early work as a director, and if you
can stomach the gut churning gore and just laugh along at how silly it all is,
you will have a good time. Anyone else who hates bugs, dead animals, blood,
slime, zombies, killer aliens, hillbillies and almost every other element of a
horror film you could think of, stay away – you will be grossed out and disgusted.
Continue onto "Creepy Crawly Number 3..."
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