Slither is Predictable and Campy, But Still Entertaining

When I first saw the preview for Slither, I wasn't too sure I wanted to see it. On the one hand, Nathan Fillion was one of the movie's stars, and I really liked him after watching Joss Whedon's "Firefly" TV show and the related movie Serenity. On the other hand, Slither looked a bit too much like a campy quasi-horror film to be my kind of movie. Anyway, how many times had I already seen the "aliens come to Earth and wreak havoc on small town America" movie? A few too many, that's for sure.

I was impressed, then, when I finally rented Slither. Yes, it did follow a lot of the standard movie formula for the effects of alien invasion on a small town, but there was enough that seemed new to me to keep me entertained. There was the typical beginning, with the alien inhabitting the body of a main character, the subsequent spreading of the alien infestation, and the ultimate success of the protagonists in stamping out the alien threat before it takes over the world. But even though the story was formulaic, it managed to hold my attention throughout the movie. Of particular note were the special effects--when one of the lesser characters gets split open by an alien-inhabited human, the splitting effect looks very realistic, particularly when all of his internal organs spill out. It sounds pretty gross, but even the squeamish may be too much in awe of the realism to be bothered by this bit of gore. The special effects were also great for the characters affected by the alien infestation, particularly the transformation of Grant Grant (Michael Rooker) into the hideous abomination he becomes.

As for the acting, Nathan Fillion does not disappoint as Sheriff Bill Pardy, one of the chief protagonists. Hopefully he won't always be typecast as the slightly Southern gentleman, so similar to his character in "Firefly"/Serenity, Captain Malcolm Reynolds, but there is no denying that he has a talent for playing that sort of character. The truly impressive performance in this movie, however, came from Tania Saulnier, portraying Kylie Strutemyer. Though she has had a few movie roles before, Slither is really her major debut as a movie actress. She is definitely a young star from whom there are likely great things to come.

Although Slither did not do well at the box office, fans of the horror/comedy subgenre will definitely find plenty to like in this movie. DVD sales of Slither have been high, which will hopefully serve to launch this movie into the category of "cult classic" if nothing else.