The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2014: Slither (2006), directed by James Gunn

  The Trailer

and 

The Appropriate Tune: "Inside You", by Elvis Depressedly  

      If the general opinion of the internet is accurate, as it always is, then everyone in the world loved Guardians of the Galaxy and it is the best movie of the past decade. I can understand the sentiment, even if I can’t match that level of hype, because GotG was a pretty good movie. There were definitely some flaws, I thought the pacing was off and the romantic bits felt rushed and ultimately unfulfilling, but it was definitely a fun experience with potential to go off in even more interesting ways in the future. Whether Marvel can keep up with that level of hype with their Cinematic Universe idea is debatable, given the general quality of their comics I have my doubts.

      A lot of the credit for GotG’s success deserves to go the director, James Gunn, which is one of the coolest names anyone has ever had. James Gunn was originally a big name in Troma, you see, the anti-Hollywood, anti-film industry film studio most notable for The Toxic Avenger and copious amounts of breasts, so I think the off-kilter weirdness of the Guardians probably came far too easy for him. Gunn actually penned the script to Troma’s romantic tour-de-force Tromeo & Juliet, an adaptation of the Shakespeare classic that adds some much needed monsters into the mix. He also makes an appearance in Lloyd Kaufman’s book “Make Your Own Damn Movie”, which very educational and informative guide to the hell that is independent filmmaking. Even though this isn’t a book list, I’ll recommend that anyone interested in the film process give it a  read. If you actually want to make films however, you might want to stay away. It’s kind of depressing.

      In 2006, Gunn decided to pay tribute to the gorehound films of the 80’s, John Carpenter’s The Thing in particular, with his film Slither. In traditional horror movie fashion, Slither starts with a bizarre alien creature falling to Earth and landing in a small American town. The bizarre alien creature, in this case a worm, enters through people’s mouths and promptly burrows into their brain, not only turning them into zombies but transforming them into hideous mutants as well. It’s up to the sheriff of aforementioned small American town (played by Firefly favorite Nathan Fillion) and a motley crew of people to fight against the alien menace and save mankind from ultimate assimilation.

      Much like how GotG was a superhero movie that poked fun at superheroes, so too does Slither with horror movies. I don’t think it works out quite as well as Guardians, but it’s still a fun watch, and the great monster effects can satisfy most gorehounds that might be interested. If you ever wanted to see someone explode into a squirming mass of worms before, you might just get your wish this Halloween.