PR in the Philippines

(SeaPRwire) –   Back in 2006, James Gunn had outgrown his status as a B-movie upstart, but he hadn’t yet become a blockbuster director.

The future co-CEO of DC Films got his start at the (in)famous Troma Studios—an NYC-based B-movie outfit known for mixing slapstick humor with over-the-top sex and violence. Gunn’s debut screenplay, Tromeo & Juliet (1996), was a collaboration with Troma co-founder Lloyd Kaufman. True to Troma’s style, the poster’s tagline boasts: “all the body-piercing, kinky sex, and car crashes that Shakespeare wanted but never had!” Even so, beneath all the shock value lies the genuine heart that sets Gunn’s films apart from their peers.

This isn’t to say Slither is a mature film—just an earnest one. A decade after Tromeo & Juliet, Gunn had moved up to major studios: he penned the script for Universal’s Dawn of the Dead remake (which also kickstarted Zack Snyder’s career) and Warner Bros.’ Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed sequel. Both films were box office hits, paving the way for Gunn’s first turn as a director. Prior to Slither, Gunn had written, acted in, and produced films, but never helmed one. Given how poorly it performed in theaters, it’s amazing he ever got another chance to direct.

Unlike the usual pattern before horror gained critical respect in the mid-2010s, Slither was well-received by many critics (The New Yorker dubbed it a “delightfully disgusting comic horror film”) but failed to connect with audiences. It flopped in theaters, ending up $3 million in the red at the box office (excluding marketing costs). However, it wasn’t a total loss: Slither quickly became a DVD favorite via word of mouth, cementing its status as a long-lasting cult classic.

In hindsight, Slither marks a clear turning point for Gunn, showing he has the skills to handle the bigger scale and polished aesthetic of a studio film while still embracing the gory excesses of his early career. Blockbusters are essentially B-movies amplified to massive proportions—take the original blockbuster Jaws, which has the framework of a Roger Corman shark flick but with a much larger budget. Though Slither wasn’t a blockbuster in terms of its budget (Gunn would take a few more years to hit that mark), it was a huge leap forward for him, making it an ideal example of this trend.

As any great retro sci-fi horror film should, Slither is set in a charming small town: Wheelsy, South Carolina, where the main event is an annual deer hunt and there’s little else to do. We’re introduced to several locals: police chief Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion), his childhood friend and lifelong crush Starla (Elizabeth Banks, sporting a playful Southern drawl), and her husband Grant (Michael Rooker), whose only real appeal is his wealth. When Grant is infected by a billion-year-old, intergalactic parasite, the love triangle doesn’t disappear entirely—but it takes a backseat to the more pressing task of destroying the hordes of space leeches turning Wheelsy’s residents into mindless zombies.

Slither is steeped in the DNA of 1980s horror films. The town is full of nods to beloved horror icons—for instance, the local hangout lodge is named after Frank Henenlotter, director of Basket Case and Brain Damage—and Gunn’s former mentor, Lloyd Kaufman, makes a cameo as the town drunk. The film also shares key plot elements with the 1986 horror-comedy Night of the Creeps, and its over-the-top effects evoke the alien mutants from The Thing (1982) mixed with the infamous “Shunting” scene from the cult classic Society (1989).

Most notably, though, the comedy is just as broad and goofy, with Fillion adding a touch of sarcasm—something he mastered with his direct-to-camera one-liners on Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This self-aware humor pulls Slither out of the ‘80s and into the 21st century, hinting at the irreverent yet warm tone Gunn would later bring to the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Another link between Slither and Guardians of the Galaxy is the former’s ironic use of Air Supply’s “Every Woman in the World”; the song’s cheesy soft-rock vibe playfully contrasts with the on-screen violence.

In Slither, Gunn is a horror fan reveling in a genre he adores—much like how he’d later become a comic book fanatic crafting superhero stories for a living. Combined with a committed cast and a clever script, Gunn’s passion makes Slither an absolute blast. It starts as an alien-invasion comedy, shifts into a gross-out monster flick, and builds to a gruesome zombie apocalypse, all while leaning into silly jokes and grotesque scenes. It’s proof that James Gunn is an unapologetic goofball—and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Slither can be rented or bought on Prime Video, Fandango at Home, and AppleTV.