Today, I am a happy gorehound. I've just seen "Slither," and it was a truly good time! OK, let's face it... this one isn't going to win any awards for originality. The story here is "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" meets "Night of the Living Dead" with hints of "The Blob," David Cronenburg's "Shivers," and a more-than-passing special effects nod to Brian Yuzna's "Society." But it WORKS here.
James Gunn, a veteran of Troma Studios, has made a horror fan's horror flick. Laced with homages to everything from 1950's drive in cinema to R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" books (not to mention a clip from a Troma movie on a TV in one scene). Gunn clearly knows his audience, because he IS his audience. He delivers up a movie that might be formulaic, but its over-the-top gore, it's black humor (this is one horror show that never takes itself too seriously), and it's general gung-ho, pull-no-punches attitude turn what could have been yet another plodding bit of cinematic flotsam into what could well be an instant horror classic on par with "Re-Animator." If you know what I'm blathering about here, if the names and the titles of these films are familiar, then see "Slither." You're going to love it.
