Film Reviews

Slither

• Rating:
• Director: James Gunn
• Starring: Elizabeth Banks
• Details: US / 96 mins / 15s.

All is quiet in the sleepy little town of Wheesly and that's how the town's folk like it. But just beneath the surface, an evil presence lurks; something no one has ever seen before. Soon, strange things start to happen - house pets start to go missing, the town's most prominent businessman Grant (Rooker) begins to act a little odd, and farmer's cows are mutilated in the middle of the night. When a local girl disappears, Sheriff Bill Pardy (Fillion) and his team, aided by Starla (Banks) - the distraught wife of Grant - uncover the mystery of the dark force. What they find is an organism that is hell-bent on destroying life on earth.
Writer of the genre-bending remake of George A. Romero's Dawn Of The Dead, James Gunn steps behind the camera for the first time with this slow-burner horror story. As with Dawn of the Dead, Gunn throws a little bit of everything into Slither, stopping short at the kitchen sink (the small budget wouldn't permit that). With Fillion, coming off the back of the cult hit Serenity, in the lead role, Gunn found an actor who can pull off serious and comedy simultaneously. Fillion is fast becoming a hot talent and his confusedbemused sheriff is a delight here. He gets good support from Michael Rooker who does a great job of whatever role is thrown at him. Rooker restrains himself from going OTT in a character that cried out for it, but his performance is all the better for it. A welcome addition to Gunn's growing career.

Review by Gavin Burke