Why not try....Slither?

Slither is writer and director James Gunn’s directorial debut. Gunn recently hit the big time with Guardians of the Galaxy, a gigantic, flashy, effects-driven blockbuster from the Marvel universe, but this is a much smaller, more tongue-in-cheek film than its superhero cousin.

The film sees an alien parasite land on Earth and infect Grant (the always watchable Michael Rooker), taking over his body and slowly turning him into a monstrous tentacled beast. He then impregnates an unfortunate individual who then gives birth to thousands of slug creatures, who proceed to turn the inhabitants of a South Carolina town into zombies.

Standing in the way of total annihilation is the local police chief, Bill Pardy, played by the ever delightful Nathan Fillion. Fillion is a charming and charismatic screen presence, and Slither is no exception. Joining him is Grant’s wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks), who grew up with Bill as teenagers but ended up marrying the much older Grant.

The film itself is rather gory fun. Gunn’s writing has a lot of dark humour to it (which if you’re a fan of then you should see his film Super, which is even darker and more messed up, but in a good way) but his direction seems fairly standard and I can’t help but think it should be scarier than it is. A common problem for horror-comedies is that the balance is rarely there. Most films end up being too comedic and forget to try and actually scare you. Slither goes for gore, but only occasionally shocks.

Overall, however, it is well worth giving a go. Fillion and Banks are a loveable on-screen pairing, and while the scares may not be there, it is suitably gory and fiendish, with an amusing and quirky script from Gunn.