Slither
2006 · Directed by James Gunn
- horror
- science fiction
- comedy
The story
A small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.
What it’s like
Saturated, grubby small-town daylight gives way to murky night, with the squelch and wet thud of the creature effects doing most of the talking. Handheld-leaning camera work stays close to the chaos, and the palette leans on sickly greens, sodden browns and bright arterial red that look almost cartoonish against rural Americana. The mood is gleefully campy horror-comedy: grotesque transformations played for laughs, sudden gore bursts, and a cheerful disregard for good taste that feels more like a B-movie fever dream than a serious siege. Pacing is brisk and escalating, with the tone swinging between grossout punchlines and sincere small-town banter. Intensity is high: frequent, very graphic gore, bodily mutation and violence, along with some crude sexual humour and nudity, but nothing lingers in dread for long. It suits a late-night group watch or a Friday-night craving for something messy and irreverent. Ideal for fans of splatter comedy and creature-feature excess who don't mind their horror sticky and ridiculous.