I remember back in 2002 when James Gunn was the guy who was known for writing the Scooby-Doo movie and everyone freaked out when he was attached to write the remake of Dawn of the Dead. Of course, the DOTD remake turned out to be excellent, and Gunn impressed again in 2006 with the fantastic horror film Slither. Gunn has gone on to do even more amazing movies, but the film we are discussing today is Slither mentioned above.
What’s the plot for Slither? A meteorite comes crashing into Earth and releases a creature that infects a man (the wonderfully named Grant Grant played by Michael Rooker). The man proceeds to spread the infection which results in slugs running rampant and infecting people by entering their mouth and turning them into zombies.
If the general plot of Slither sounds familiar, that would because it resembles the story of the excellent 80s horror film Night of the Creeps. Some may call it a knockoff, but Slither skips the knockoff status by offering up a solid horror comedy, with a fantastic cast of characters, super cool homages, and downright impressive special effects.
I instantly fell in love with Slither the first time I saw it. Nathan Fillion is always a guaranteed hit, and he excels in this film as the town sheriff who has no idea what the hell is happening. Elizabeth Banks plays the beautiful damsel in distress, whose husband becomes the creature spreading the chaos. What makes the flick so damn enjoyable is the fact that it never slows down. It takes the first bit of the film to set up the situation, and once that is over, it’s balls to the walls fun. I’m not entirely sure how anyone could not enjoy this horror flick and colour me super confused as to why it did so damn terrible at the box office.
Thankfully, the chance for a whole new group of people to see the film is possible with Scream Factory releasing the movie on Blu-ray for the first time in North America. The film was released on HD-DVD, but we all know what happened with that failed endeavour. And the film was released on Blu overseas, but never in NA. Thankfully, Scream Factory has presented a robust Blu package. The video transfer is supposedly the same as the Koch Media release in Germany, which was good enough. I do feel the blacks look crushed during most nighttime scenes, but for the most part, it looks good. It’s certainly not the best Scream has released, but it will suffice for fans of the flick.
As for the audio, you have both 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio, and I really got a kick out the 5.1 track. Rear channel use was plentiful, and I had no issues with distortion or noise.
Any new special features are limited, but we do get an enjoyable 30-minute sitdown with director James Gunn who discusses the film at length. Also provided is an 8-minute interview with Gregg Henry, who played the unlikeable mayor in the movie. Other features included on the disc are from past releases, which was kind of Scream to include.
Verdict
Slither has aged wonderfully, and I still enjoy it as much as I did the first time I saw it. Any horror fan should get a kick out of this flick and don’t let the potential knockoff quotes from people deter you from checking it out. The best way to check it out now is Scream Factory’s solid Blu-ray release.
Blu-ray Specs
- NEW Audio Commentary With Writer/Director James Gunn And Actors Nathan Fillion And Michael Rooker
- NEW The Genesis Of SLITHER – An Interview With Writer/Director James Gunn
- NEW The Other MacReady – An Interview With Actor Gregg Henry
- Audio Commentary With James Gunn And Nathan Fillion (From 2006)
- Deleted And Extended Scenes With Optional Commentary By James Gunn
- Visual Effects: Step By Step
- Slithery Set Tour With Actor Nathan Fillion
- The Sick Minds And Slimy Days Of SLITHER
- Brewing The Blood – How To Make Blood
- Bringing SLITHER’s Creatures To Life
- Lloyd Kaufman’s Video Diary
- Gag Reel
- Who Is Bill Pardy? Featurette
- Theatrical Trailer
| DISCS
1
|
RUN-TIME
96 min
|
ASPECT RATIO
1.85:1
|
COLOR
Color
|
LANGUAGE
English
|
| REGION
A
|
RATING
R
|
PRODUCTION DATE
2006
|
CLOSED-CAPTIONED
No
|
SUBTITLES
English
|