A 1950s alien-invasion creature feature mixed with a Troma film, SLITHER is gross, funny, amusing, and unique. James Gunn combines his sense of humor and creative mind with that small town setting to give this movie an identity. Though it has inspiration from many films that came before it, it still feels like its own. A great cast of characters compliments the great setting, practical and visual effects. The horror comedy feels like just the right amount as well. I never rolled my eyes at any of the comedy because it never took away from the scary moments. Many times the comedic moments provided relief to the tension that was the scary moments. The amount of great practical and visual effects cannot be understated. Body horror, creatures, blood and gore, zombies, and slithering worms. A kitchen-sink film as far as the amount of different effects you can see. This joins PLANET TERROR and Cronenberg's THE FLY as one of the three films that have blood and gore that actually grosses me out.
Synopsis: Wheelsy is a small town where not much happens and everyone minds his own business. No one notices when evil slips in quietly but, when people find mutilated livestock and a woman goes missing, Sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) discovers an alien organism that threatens to devour all life on Earth.
What I liked about the film early on was how it established the small town setting and character. You get to know people in the town of Wheelsy, South Carolina. They establish who the players are. The schoolteacher played by Elizabeth Banks, her rich older husband played by Michael Rooker, the jerk mayor played by Gregg Henry, the Police Chief played by Nathan Fillion, and the other family which focuses on the teenage Kylie played by Tania Saulnier. The shots of the town early on show that it is a hunting town. Early on in the film one of the events is a dance that celebrates the beginning of hunting season.
The film shows early on that Grant (Michael Rooker) is somewhat possessive of his wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks). She seems to have a past with Police Chief Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion). It seems to be a small town where everyone knows each other. This is seen early on when Mayor MacReady (Gregg Henry) is honking at someone in front of him and swearing and a mother with a child says "Hey Mayor," and he immediately goes back into the facade of the good politician. When Grant goes to buy meat at a store later the retailer knows him by name. Those touches to establish these people knowing each other was a nice touch.
Elizabeth Banks as Starla
Michael Rooker as Grant
Nathan Fillion as Bill
The film gets going quickly. One night Grant wants to have sex with Starla and she doesn't want to. This makes him leave the house. He goes to the local bar and meets up with Brenda (Brenda James) , a woman who used to have a crush on him. It is implied she is the town tramp of sorts. They go to the woods where she shows him a carving she did in a tree of their initials. She makes a move on him but he rejects her out of respect for Starla. They notice a trail that leads to the egg of the meteorite that landed a little earlier. An insect-like alien comes out of the egg and goes into Grant's stomach. We see an X-Ray of the creature moving up to his brain and latching on to it.
As a result of this Grant starts to change. At first you're not sure if this is a bad thing. The next morning he and Starla have sex and she is quite impressed with how he did it as she is really happy at school. However, Grant starts to develop quite the craving for meat and at one point it is heavily implied he kills a dog. Later you find out he did do that and more. He also starts to develop scars on his shoulders and stomach. He eventually goes to see Brenda again and this is when the film turns into real body horror. Tentacles come out from his stomach and he uses Brenda as a breeder for his alien larvae. The film does a great job cutting between Starla at the dance with Bill and Grant with Brenda.
Eventually Grant goes home again and even more grotesque than before tries to attack Starla after she calls the police. The police eventually come looking for Grant after Brenda goes missing. Starla finds many bodies of dead animals in the basement that Grant had padlocked. After this the film turns into a kitchen sink film of sorts. Grant starts turning into this squid-like alien. Brenda starts breeding these small slug-worm things that turn people into zombies that can also be used by Grant to communicate. Think Agent Smith in the Matrix sequels when he takes over people's bodies.
There are many amazing uses of effects and different uses of them in the second half of the film. Grant kills a civilian with his tentacles at one point, splitting him in half and we see the whole body effect. The cops start using shotguns on the zombies. Great headshots and blood squibs come with that. There is a great burning effect when the zombies reveal they can shoot acid at people. The slugs bring more of a creature feature vibe to the film as they crawl around in massive numbers to crawl inside people's mouths to infect them. The way the creatures and zombies are killed is fun as well. At one point Starla impales one with a stop sign. So not only are the creatures unique but how they vanquished is unique and provides great effects as well.
The Progression of the effects on Michael Rooker as Grant
James Gunn got inspiration from many films for this one. While some obvious inspiration is there it never feels like he is copying from anyone. This is not a Bruno Mattei situation. The creature that keeps assimilating feels like THE THING, and the small town atmosphere of that aspect is like THE BLOB. The small creatures going into people's mouths to turn them into zombies is NIGHT OF THE CREEPS. The eggs and the acid are from ALIEN. The worms going into people, specifically the bathtub scene is like SHIVERS. The film's small town alien invasion aspect jives with many sci-fi films from the 50s and 60s. The film is more subtle than a Troma film but the body horror and gore aspect combined with the ridicule is like a Troma film. It is interesting that PLANET TERROR came out a year after this because that film is a film made in the 21st century inspired by the same ideas. To comment on the unique approach though, none of those films ever had a moment where a character has a worm going into their mouth, fighting to get it out and seeing everything in the lead alien's mind as it tries to assimilate them.
MILD SPOILERS AHEAD
I enjoyed the comedy aspect of this film. There were funny moments that gave the more intense moments some levity and it never felt over the top. For example when the cops show up and see Michael Rooker as Grant as the creature for the first time Nathan Fillion lets out a "what the fuck" as the scene ends. That is the type of humor we get here. Even the over the top gore effects are funny. At the end of the film Bill tries to use a grenade and it gets knocked away multiple times and eventually blows up in a pool. Now that could have been dramatic but the film plays it as comedic and it works. Also the Mayor has a hilarious moment where he talks about how there is no Mr. Pibb to drink. When the cops surround Grant in the field near a farm, an older cop says "he looks like something that fell off my dick during the war." Again, great use of humor to break the tension. I never cringed at any of those moments like I might in other films.
There are two huge disgusting explosions in the movie. One occurs when we see Brenda looking like a huge puffer fish breeding for Grant when she explodes into the slugs. The other is at the end when Bill uses propane and puts it into Grant's system through his tentacle and Starla shoots him, blowing him up. While there wasn't much I disliked about this film I actually wish there could have been more. In this case though I wanted more in a good way. I never felt deprived with what I got. I could have used a little more zombie killing in the last act. The CGI slugs were fine but I wish they were practical. Those are small complaints for an otherwise fun film.
Rating: 8/10
Trivia: In the opening scene you can see a building that says R.J. MacReady's funeral home. That is a tribute to Kurt Russell's character's name in the THE THING. The Mayor, played by Gregg Henry is named Jack MacReady. That is a tribute to Kurt Russell's characters in both BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and THE THING. Interestingly enough, James Gunn would go on to work with Kurt Russell in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment