31 Days of Halloween: Day Fourteen

Slither (2006 Rated R in the US for strong horror violence, gore, language and some really funny shit)

Summary (from IMDB):

In this blend of the B movie classic The Blob (1958) and some Romero’s zombies film, a meteorite collides in a small town. Grant finds it, and is infected by a parasite worm, which installs in his brain and causes him a creepy transformation into a monster. Starla, his wife, and Bill, a policeman, will try to stop him and the plague of worms generated by the creature.

RB Wood’s rating (out of 5): 4 Squids

This completes the trifecta of comedy zombie flicks for the Halloween season–the other two being Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead.  In some ways (like plot), this is the weakest entry, but the laughs are out loud and the violence is intense. This is a complete throw back flick–from the opening meteor strike where the aliens com to earth (see The Blob, The Thing and countless others) to the Dawn of the Dead references (and actually the script writer for this–James Gunn–wrote the script for the DotD remake). 

The Token Town Rich Guy, Grant Grant, (yes, that is his name and he’s played by Michael Rooker, from Henry: portrait of a Serial Killer) is a bit hard up despite being married to Starla (The 40-Year Old Virgin‘s Elizabeth Banks) so off the aging stud-wannabe stomps to the local watering hole where he runs into Brenda Gutierrez (Brenda James), a fresh young beauty who’s had a thing for Grant Grant she was ten. 

In the woods outside Wheelsy, the two are in the midst of a drunken tryst when Grant is distracted by two things: guilt because of Starla, and something that looks like it could’ve crawled out of a stray meteorite that fell in the woods–probably because it did. Of course when he sees the strange sort of creature in the woods, he does what any genius would–he pokes it with a stick. 

And that’s how the fun starts.  Nathan Fillion is fantastic as sheriff Bill Pardy and the rest of the cast plays “dealing with the unknown in a small town” quite well.  This isn’t the best movie of the genre, but it’s really worth a look.  You’ll find yourself quoting some of the more memorable lines for a week or so afterwards.

Tomorrow: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”

Peace