SLITHER
****
Directed by James Gunn.
Starring Nathan Fillion, Michael Rooker, Elizabeth Banks, Don Thompson, Gregg Henry.
Horror/Comedy, USA/Canada, 96 mins, Certificate 15.
Released in the UK on Blu-ray & Limited Edition 4K Steelbook via Visions Home Video on 1st June 2026.
With James Gunn now being the CEO of DC Studios and attempting to reinvent their superheroes in new cinematic interpretations, it’s quite a fun little exercise to go back and see where he came from career-wise. Starting out with the legendary exploitation studio Troma Entertainment as a screenwriter, 2006’s SLITHER was his first directorial feature and, with timing being everything in the movie business, captured the zombie zeitgeist that was happening at the time thanks to SEAN OF THE DEAD, LAND OF THE DEAD and Zack Snyder’s DAWN OF THE DEAD.
But anyone with any B-movie knowledge knows that you have to go back a little further to see where the seeds of this movie came from, as it does have a lot in common with Fred Dekker’s 1986 cult favourite NIGHT OF THE CREEPS as well as David Cronenberg’s late 1970s shocker SHIVERS. However, like Dekker’s movie, SLITHERS is more comedic and full of references to the horror genre, and assumes its audience will get them.
In a typical 1950s sci-fi setup, a meteor falls in the woods in the small American town of Wheelsy and is discovered by Grant Grant (Michael Rooker), the local rich guy who is married to the much younger Starla (Elizabeth Banks), a schoolteacher who is also the crush of Sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion). Grant was having a drunken grope with local white trash Brenda (Brenda James) when he found the meteor and sobered up pretty quickly, just as a weird barb was shot into his torso.
Grant returns back home but now has an insane craving for meat and his features start to mutate into a slimy tentacle creature. At the same time, Sheriff Pardy is asked to investigate the slaughter of several cattle by a strange slimy tentacle creature, which leads him to Grant, opens up his chances with Starla and then forces him and his department to take on the hordes of townsfolk whom Grant has turned into zombie-like creatures with a hive mind and who have been ordered to bring Starla to him.
So yes, SLITHER is a gloopy and bizarre movie that more than lives up to its title, and as it is celebrating its 20th anniversary then what better time to revisit it in HD, where the slimy effects hit even harder than they did in 2006. Thankfully, most of the effects are practical with CGI enhancement for things like tentacle movements, and the CGI doesn’t look that bad thanks to the visual tidy up. However, it is the practical effects that make this movie such a hoot and sales of K-Y Jelly must have gone through the roof in 2006 as the glistening slime is almost tangible through your screen as Michael Rooker transforms into a weird tentacle creature like a cross between John Carpenter’s THE THING and Dr. Pretorius from Stuart Gordon’s FROM BEYOND.
Rooker owns this movie as Grant Grant - no idea why he has the same name as his first and last name, but it adds a fun character quirk - who is probably the worst person in town to become the vessel for an invading alien species as he is detestable. The actor is clearly having a blast playing him as a man transforming into something else but who still loves his wife, his alien side wishing to consume her as the zombie creatures all melt together into his body, à la Brian Yuzna’s SOCIETY.
It all sounds gross and disgusting - and it is - but this movie has such a wild sense of humour, encapsulated in Nathan Fillion’s performance as the permanently bewildered Sheriff and Elizabeth Banks as the devoted wife who has to turn into a badass zombie killer. James Gunn’s history with Troma rears its head every now and then - plus there is a cameo from Troma head honcho Lloyd Kaufman - but SLITHER is a little broader and less mean-spirited with its humour (but not by much), and even if you aren’t so clued up on your genre references it doesn’t really matter as they’re just fun nods for the hardcore.
Featuring a brilliant supporting performance by Gregg Henry as potty-mouthed Mayor Jack MacReady (see - two John Carpenter/Kurt Russell references in one name), SLITHER is an absolute blast 20 years on. Yes, it is very similar to other cult movies you may have seen but those movies are also love letters to previous films, and that is how homages work as we trace a line back through decades of filmmakers using certain visual gags or plot devices that get recycled. It doesn’t stop SLITHER being one of the most enjoyable and rewatchable monster movies of its kind, especially as it comes from a period when horror movies weren’t always so joyously silly. Maybe James Gunn will do a Sam Raimi and revisit his horror/splatter roots between superhero blockbusters? Could happen…
Chris Ward