Slither (2006)

Plot of Slither: In the woods surrounding the small town of Wheelsy a fragment of meteor lands and disgorges something. Meanwhile in one of the houses Grant attempts to persuade his young blonde wife, Starla, to have sex with him but she is tired. Later out on the town, after refusing the advances of another young woman, Brenda, he is shot in the chest by a dart like missile from a life form ejected from the fragment of meteor. Back home Starla attempts to seduce him, but he is now an alien, with a desire for meat rather than sex, and appears to have eaten a dog. The local police headed by Bill Pardy, are out and about and are looking for Brenda, who has now been infected by Grant and they find her in a barn as a bloated body which, before their eyes, bursts and from which sluglike entities emerge. These enter the bodies of most of the police crew by their mouths, but Bill and Starla survive. The slug like creatures invade the town and enter the house of the Strutemeyers a family of father, mother two young daughters and an older girl, Kylie, who is having a bath (hence the poster). As time goes on more and more people are infected, but Bill, Starla and Kylie remain human and fight the alien invader.

Content: No sex or nudity, although Kylie’s nudity is cleverly avoided since she has to leap out of the bath. Grant drinks a bit both as a human and as an alien. Once properly infected Grant’s features are distorted and he gradually turns into a sluglike creature with distorted features and a variety of tentacles, one of which slices a townsman in two. As well as the slugs infecting people, they projectile vomit which also infects people. Everybody infected joins a sort of hive mind, so when Starla is captured by the aliens she is treated as a goddess and, unconscious, laid out in a silk nightdress. The Grant creature is particularly disgusting and in the cellar are the dismembered bodies of many animals.

A View: The film is said to have cost $30 million including publicity and only took $12 million at the box office, but has in later life gained a cult following, particularly as one of the films of James Gunn. The critics did not like it much, and although billed as a horror/comedy it seems that most of the jokes were references to other horror films, so not many laughs unless you are a serious horror fan. On the other hand, the creatures were actually quite unpleasant. I don’t know what the difference is between unpleasant and horrifying but there it is. For me the unpleasantness ensures that it is not a fun watch.

Fun Fact: This was James Gunn’s directorial debut. He has gone on to direct blockbusters.