| Slither | |
|---|---|
Official poster for Slither |
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| Directed by | James Gunn |
| Produced by | Paul Brooks Eric Newman Thomas Bliss |
| Written by | James Gunn |
| Starring | Elizabeth Banks Nathan Fillion Michael Rooker Tania Saulnier Gregg Henry |
| Music by | Tyler Bates |
| Cinematography | Gregory Middleton |
| Editing by | John Axelrad |
| Studio | Gold Circle Films Strike Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 31, 2006 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million[1] |
| Box office | $12,834,936[1] |
Slither is a 2006 science fiction-horror-comedy film produced by Gold Circle Films and Strike Entertainment, released by Universal, written and directed by James Gunn, and starring Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker, Gregg Henry, Tania Saulnier and Jenna Fischer, and is produced by Paul Brooks and Eric Newman. Slither is James Gunn's directorial debut.
Contents |
A meteor housing a malevolent alien parasite called the Long One crashes into the town of Woodsville. While frolicking in the woods with Brenda (James), local big shot car dealer Grant Grant (Rooker) is subsequently infected and killed by the parasite. The parasite takes over his body and absorbs his consciousness and memories.[2] With the alien now in control of his body, 'Grant' begins to slowly change into a hideous sluglike monster.
No one suspects Grant of the serial pet murders that have occurred around town, however his wife Starla (Banks) begins to question his health. He avoids doctors appointments and crafts lies to keep her in the dark. Sensing her distance from her husband, her childhood crush, town sheriff Bill Pardy (Fillion), attempts to reassure and comfort her while not acting on his own feelings.
Grant infects the lonely and neglected Brenda with hundreds of his "offspring." He secrets her in an isolated barn where she in turn becomes massively obese as baby alien slugs grow inside her. Sheriff Bill Pardy leads a small group of officers on a hunt for Grant only to be lured into a trap where Brenda explodes releasing hundreds of the alien slugs. Most of Pardy's group become infected, zombie-like creatures. Strangely, the infected begin to want Starla and talk to her as if they are Grant.
Before long, the rest of the town become infected by the Long One's parasites and change into zombies controlled via a hive mind connection with 'Grant', who plans to infect the rest of the world until he is 'all that is' as shown during a failed bonding attempt with Kylie (Saulnier). Its consciousness, however, is tampered with by the real Grant's memories and his love for his wife, Starla. Sheriff Bill Pardy, Starla, Kylie, and Mayor MacReady (Henry) try to escape detection and to kill the Long One. The townspeople attack their vehicle, capturing Starla in the process.
The survivors, Sheriff Pardy and Kylie, track Starla, only to discover the infected are melding into one giant creature. They must risk their lives to stop the infestation from spreading any further. Starla charms the monster by calling him "Grant" and telling him they can be together, but as they get close to each other, she pulls a hairbrush handle from her underwear and stabs him in the chest. He slaps her with a tentacle and knocks her across the room. Meanwhile, Sheriff Pardy bursts in and tries to kill the monster with a grenade, but another tentacle knocks the grenade into the pool, where it detonates. The monster sends two sharp tentacles to stab Sheriff Pardy and infect him, and one is lodged in his stomach, but Pardy attaches the other to a small tank filling the Grant with gas, and Starla shoots the monster, causing it to explode.
All the infected suddenly turn into regular dead bodies, and the three survivors begin their slow walk to a hospital to see about the sheriff's wounds.
Gunn was said to be influenced by the wave of graphically violent horror B movies of the late 1970s and early 1980s, largely created by such directors as John Carpenter, Lloyd Kaufman, David Cronenberg, Stuart Gordon and Fred Dekker; it has close similarities to older staples like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Tremors, Night of the Living Dead, and in particular Night of the Creeps. The film's similarities to other films triggered protests from filmgoers, according to journalist Steve Palopoli:
"When the trailer for Slither came out, Internet boards about the movie suddenly lit up with protests from a legion of fans of the 1986 film Night of the Creeps. 'Alien slugs that turn people into zombies!' they cried. 'What a rip-off!' I bring this up not because I think Slither--which is a tongue-in-cheek pastiche of at least a dozen '80s horror films--could really be considered a rip-off of any one of them except the first one, the second one and the fifth one."[3]
However, Gunn has stated that David Cronenberg's Shivers and The Brood were the two biggest influences on the story in Slither, along with the manga Uzumaki by Junji Ito.[4][5][6][7][8] Slither also pays homage to the studio Troma Films, where Gunn began his career. Troma co-founder Lloyd Kaufman has a cameo as a "Sad Drunk", and one scene includes a clip from the Troma film The Toxic Avenger.
Slither was released on regular DVD and on HD DVD/DVD hybrid disc on October 24, 2006.[9] The HD version is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen encoded at 1080p and Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 surround. In addition to the film, the DVD contains two making-of documentaries, one being solely dedicated to the visual effects. The DVD also contains deleted and extended scenes, a blooper reel, visual effects progressions, a set tour with Nathan Fillion, and audio commentary by James Gunn and Nathan Fillion. Also included are featurettes outlining how to make edible blood, and Lloyd Kaufman's documentary discussing his day on set, and the shooting of his one line (which was eventually cut from the film). Finally, there is an added bonus entitled "Who Is Bill Pardy?" which is a joke feature made by Gunn with the sole purpose of roasting Nathan Fillion, and was shown at the film's wrap party.[10]
Slither debuted in the United States and Canada on March 31, 2006 in 1,945 theaters. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $3,880,270 and ranked #8 at the U.S. and Canadian box office.[11] Slither grossed $7,802,450 in its theatrical run in the United States and Canada.[12] Slither also underperformed in France, grossing $236,261 from 150 screens.[13] The film grossed $5,032,486 as of February 6, 2008 in territories outside the United States and Canada for a worldwide gross of $12,834,936.[12] Its box office performance was substantially less than its total budget of $29.5 million, including marketing costs;[11] the production budget taking up about $15 million of the total.[14] Paul Brooks, president of Slither's production company, Gold Circle Films, said the company was "crushingly disappointed" by the gross.[11] Universal Pictures distanced itself from Slither's poor box office performance, citing their distribution of the film as merely part of a deal with Gold Circle Films.[15] The Hollywood Reporter speculated that Slither's performance "might have killed off the horror-comedy genre for the near future."[11] Producer Paul Brooks offered this explanation about why Slither failed to catch on with movie-goers:
"I think that because it was comedy-horror instead of pure horror is where the problem lay. It's the first comedy-horror in a long time, and maybe the marketplace just isn't ready for comedy-horror yet. It's difficult to think of other explanations."[11]
The DVD opened at #8 in sales and #15 in rentals, grossing $3,389,405[16] in sales and $2.08 million[17] in rentals in its opening week. The DVD total rental gross reached $11.1 million[18] and total DVD sales were $4,541,528 as of 2006.[19]
Slither received mostly positive reviews. Film review website Rotten Tomatoes, which calculates the consensus of critics across the United States, found that Slither was generally embraced favorably by critics,[20] with a rating of "85% fresh".[21] The movie was also featured in the April 14, 2006 issue of Entertainment Weekly as #1 on "The Must List"; "Ten Things We Love This Week".[22] Slither picked up the 2006 Fangoria "Chainsaw Award" for the Highest Body Count, and garnered nominations in the categories of Relationship From Hell, Dude You Don't Wanna Mess With, and Looks That Kill.[23] Additionally, the horror magazine Rue Morgue named Slither the “Best Feature Film of the Year”.[24] Among the critics who did not like the film, Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper gave Slither a "two thumbs down" rating on their television show, with Richard Roeper saying he was "all zombied out" after reviewing a wave of zombie-themed movies from the year before.[25] Guest critic Michael Phillips named Slither his DVD pick of the week on the television show Ebert & Roeper. Slither was listed as one of the “Top 25 DVDs of the Year” by Peter Travers in Rolling Stone magazine.[26]