1. Plot

2. Cast

3. Themes and influences

4. Home media

5. Reception
    Box office  Critical response   Accolades  

6. See also

7. References

8. External links

• Paul Brooks
• Eric Newman

• Nathan Fillion
• Elizabeth Banks
• Tania Saulnier
• Gregg Henry
• Michael Rooker

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• Gold Circle Films
• Strike Entertainment

Slither is a 2006 American science fiction horror film written and directed by James Gunn in his directorial debut. It stars Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Gregg Henry, and Michael Rooker. The film was produced by Paul Brooks and Eric Newman. The film has similar themes and concepts as the 1986 B-movie Night of the Creeps.

Plot

A meteorite housing a malevolent, sentient extraterrestrial parasitic worm crashes into the town of Wheelsy, South Carolina. While frolicking in the woods with Brenda, local car dealer Grant finds the parasite and is infected by it. The parasite takes over his body and absorbs his mind.^[5] With the alien now in control of his body, "Grant" begins to slowly change into a tentacled, slug-like monster. Many pets soon disappear but Grant is not suspected. However, his wife Starla begins to question his health; he explains the initial changes in his appearance as an allergic reaction to a bee sting, saying that a doctor has already given him something for it, but Starla soon learns this is a lie. Starla contacts the police chief Bill Pardy – her childhood crush – who attempts to reassure and comfort her while not acting on his feelings.

Grant infects the lonely and neglected Brenda and hides her in an isolated barn and feeds her raw meat to culture the hundreds of larvae inside her. In the night, Starla is attacked by the infected Grant. Bill and the police try to shoot Grant, but he escapes. Bill leads a small group of officers on a hunt for Grant; they find Brenda in the barn, where she has become a massive blob of flesh due to the worms. The group barely has time to do anything before Brenda explodes, releasing hundreds of highly infectious larvae. Most of Bill's group are infected and become Grant's puppets, speaking as if they were Grant and obsessed with bringing Starla home and holding her to her wedding vows. Everyone in town is quickly eaten by others infected with Grant's offspring, or absorbed into Grant's hive mind except Starla, Bill, mayor Jack MacReady, and a teenage girl, Kylie, who had escaped from her family that were also infected by the parasites. She tells them of how she saw the parasite's memories; it moves from planet to planet, eating or absorbing all life it finds there. The parasite's consciousness, however, is influenced by the real Grant's memories and his love for his wife, Starla.

The survivors try to escape detection and kill Grant. The townspeople attack their vehicle, capturing Starla and Jack. Bill and Kylie track Starla to her home, and find that the infected are melding into one giant creature. They must risk their lives to stop this disease from spreading any further. Jack awakens in the house's basement, where several of the infected are eating; he tries to escape but becomes infected by Grant as he reaches the top of the stairs and opens the door. 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 with the pointed handle. He slaps her with a tentacle and knocks her across the room. Bill arrives; Jack begs to be killed, and Bill shoots him in the head. He tries to kill the monster with a grenade, but another tentacle knocks the grenade into the pool, where it detonates. The monster sends two tentacles to stab Bill and infect him the same way he infected Brenda; one is lodged in his abdomen, but Bill attaches the other to a small propane tank, filling Grant with gas, and Starla shoots the monster, causing it to explode, whereupon all the infected die. The three survivors walk away to find a hospital for Bill.

In a post-credits scene, a cat approaches to feed off Grant's remains and becomes infected, possibly due to consuming eggs or cysts in the meat.

Cast

• Nathan Fillion as Sheriff Bill Pardy
• Elizabeth Banks as Starla Grant
• Gregg Henry as Mayor Jack MacReady
• Michael Rooker as Grant Grant
• Tania Saulnier as Kylie Strutemyer
• Brenda James as Brenda Gutierrez
• Don Thompson as Deputy Wally Whale
• Jennifer Copping as Deputy Margaret Hooper
• Jenna Fischer as Shelby Cunningham
• Haig Sutherland as Deputy Trevor Carpenter
• Matreya Fedor as Emily Strutemyer
• Amber Lee Bartlett as Jenna Strutemyer
• Iris Quinn as Mrs. Strutemyer
• William MacDonald as Mr. Strutemyer
• Tom Heaton as Deputy Tourneur
• Ben Cotton as Charlie
• Dee Jay Jackson as Dwight
• Frank Welker as the alien slugs (creature vocals)

Themes and influences

Controversy ensued over the many similarities and plot-points shared with Fred Dekker's 1986 horror-comedy Night of the Creeps. According to journalist Steve Palopoli:

Palopoli then goes on to directly compare Slither to the aforementioned Creeps as well as Shivers (1975). Gunn has stated that both Cronenberg's Shivers and his 1979 film The Brood were the two biggest influences on the story in Slither, along with the 2000 manga Uzumaki by Junji Ito.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} 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.

In one scene, the bodies of mutilated dogs are discovered on "the Castevet's farm". Minnie and Roman Castevet were the Satan-worshiping next-door neighbors in Rosemary's Baby.

Home media

Shout! Factory released a Collector's Edition on Blu-ray Disc on July 25, 2017.^[14] In addition to new case artwork illustrated by artist Justin Osbourn, it includes new special features such as a new audio commentary with James Gunn and cast members, new interviews with James Gunn and actor Gregg Henry (Mayor MacReady) as well as all of the special features found on the original DVD video.

Reception

Box office

Paul Brooks, president of the film's production company, Gold Circle Films, said the company was "crushingly disappointed" by the gross.^[4] Universal distanced itself from Slither{{'}}s poor box office performance, citing their distribution of the film as merely part of a deal with Gold Circle.^[18] The Hollywood Reporter speculated that Slither{{'}}s performance "might have killed off the horror-comedy genre for the near future."^[4] Producer Paul Brooks offered this explanation about why Slither failed to catch on with filmgoers:

Critical response

The movie was featured in the April 14, 2006 issue of Entertainment Weekly as #1 on "The Must List"; "Ten Things We Love This Week".^[21] 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.^[22]

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 Roeper saying he was "all zombied out" after reviewing a wave of zombie-themed films from the year before.^[23]

Accolades

See also

• Shivers
• The Thing
• The Deadly Spawn
• Critters
• Brain Damage
• The Blob
• Society
• Bud the C.H.U.D.

References

External links

• {{Official website|http://www.slithermovie.net}}
• {{IMDb title|0439815|Slither}}
• {{mojo title|slither|Slither}}
• {{rotten-tomatoes|slither|Slither}}
• {{metacritic film|slither|Slither}}

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