This 2006 James Gunn Horror Film From Before His Marvel Era is Still One of His Best Ever

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As a die-hard horror fan who’s seen my fair share of B-movies, I can confidently say that James Gunn‘s “Slither” is a gem that deserves more recognition than it got back in 2006. With its unique blend of comedy, horror, and sci-fi, it’s like a love letter to fans of Troma, Tarantino, and everything in between.

One way to rephrase the given sentence in a more natural and easy-to-read manner is:

18 years ago, James Gunn’s directorial debut, brimming with an unapologetically revolting blend of goo, splatter, and slugs, managed to shock its relatively small audience. This was several years before Marvel would eventually select him to direct Guardians of the Galaxy. The cast also seemed affected by this. Brenda James, who had to wear prosthetics that would make her resemble a terrifying Violet Beauregarde, broke down in tears upon discovering the bizarre and comedically grotesque end destined for her character’s namesake.

The tale of a drowsy American town overtaken by alien, crawling pests, the film Slither, was initially charged with plagiarizing the concept from Fred Dekker’s 1986 VHS hit Night of the Creeps when its trailer debuted. Indeed, they share some genetic similarities. However, Gunn also drew inspiration from numerous other B-movie classics – notably early works by David Cronenberg like The Brood and The Fly, as well as the manga comic series Uzumaki by Junji Ito – to create a much more extreme version of bodily horror.

Without a doubt, Gunn’s primary influence came from Troma Entertainment, the studio where he learned filmmaking. Under the guidance of Lloyd Kaufman, the future Marvel producer spent his mid-to-late ’90s years writing scripts, producing films, and probably catering events for this studio known for creating the most offensive content with minimal budget. He even wrote a book about it.

Initially, Lloyd Kaufman gained recognition through his production of Tromeo and Juliet in 1997, which was a daring reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s work that seemed remarkably different from Baz Luhrmann’s modernized version the year prior, appearing more authentic to the original. It’s hard to imagine the Bard himself using terms like “s***head,” “dweeb,” or “fiddlef***er” for characters such as Tybalt, and certainly not depicting the tragic heroine as a mutant cow with three penises.

Two years on, Gunn returned to testing societal norms with “Terror Firmer,” a self-aware exploitation film that revolves around a murderous character who identifies as both male and female, trying to eliminate a struggling New York film crew. The death scene involving an escalator is simply unforgettable. Following his work on scripts for films as eclectic as “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” and “Dawn of the Dead,” Gunn chose to utilize his knowledge of low-budget cinema to create his very own cult film masterpiece.

Fortunately, Gunn managed to rein in his controversial humor style which eventually led to his brief dismissal from the Guardians of the Galaxy series he masterfully directed. Despite this, there are still many crass jokes left over from Slither, such as when officer Tourneur (played by Tom Heaton) comments, “Jesus Christ, it looks like something that fell off my d**k during the war,” upon seeing the tentacled monster that eventually absorbs Wheelsy’s entire town. However, there is no evidence to fuel speculation among those seeking revenge.

Gunn remains firm on the gory special effects that made his previous workplace famous, despite their quick and cheap appearance. However, unlike Troma’s costumes, which looked as if they were made in less than an hour with sticky back plastic, the production company behind Slither provided a first-time filmmaker with a budget of around $15 million.

The Wild Special Effects in Slither

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From Brenda’s horrifically-swollen body (described by Gunn as “a big boob with her head as a nipple”) to the pudgy blood-red slugs that might deter some from ever taking a bath again, you can see where every cent went on screen, too. Most jaw-dropping of all is the slow-building transformation of Grant (Michael Rooker) from human husband to Lovecraftian beast whose hive mind inspires every infected resident to submerge themselves in his gooey, amorphous frame. As police chief Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) neatly summates: “That’s some f***ed up s***.”

Beyond its reputation for revolting goo, Slither delivers more than you might think. Balancing humor with a straight-faced approach, the game skillfully showcases its actors’ performances. Among them, Elizabeth Banks stands out as Starla, Grant’s tough wife who survives encounters with everything from zombie deer to airborne sofas. Her unwavering resilience manages to keep at least three characters relatively safe in the end.

In a different context, Gregg Henry seems to be enjoying himself immensely as the profane mayor, whose limits are tested not by witnessing his entire hometown being destroyed by an alien energy source, but rather due to the scarcity of his preferred soft drink. He embodies a character reminiscent of Troma’s typical roughnecks in the movie “Slither”.

Regrettably, moviegoers weren’t quite prepared to accept Gunn’s unconventional, genre-bending style at that point in time. The film Slither only managed to earn approximately $13 million globally, a sum that deeply disappointed Gold Circle Films. However, Marvel executives recognized potential in this underappreciated work, as well as his subsequent film Super, four years later, which led them to entrust Gunn with the control of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

And the adventures of an alien-human, talking raccoon, and sentient tree aren’t as distant from Slither as you might think. Both almost outrival Quentin Tarantino in the pop culture reference stakes (see character names inspired by Rosemary’s Baby and The Thing, for example, or Troma classic The Toxic Avenger briefly popping up in the background). The prominent use of Air Supply’s soft-rock anthem “Every Woman in the World” wouldn’t sound out of place on Star-Lord’s Walkman, either.

In addition, there are some striking connections. Rooker (the blue-skinned space pirate Yondu), Henry (Quill’s grandfather), and Fillion (the voice behind the Monstrous Inmate) each secured roles in Guardians of the Galaxy, albeit with differing amounts of screen time. Furthermore, Kaufman made a brief appearance, and surprisingly, those bothersome red slugs who survived the devastating explosion that wiped out their primary host? They can be found among Benicio del Toro’s collection of extraterrestrial species in later scenes.

As a gamer, I always felt like my first feature, Slither, was more tailored for the late-night audience than the average multiplex. When IGN asked me about its place in the 2006 horror scene, I responded, “I guess you could say Slither is that weird kid in class, the one who’s always up to something odd, so it doesn’t quite fit in with the rest.

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2024-09-18 18:46