What would you say if I told you there was a movie that had mutants, space slugs and zombies? If you would say, “Yuck,” then “Slither” is not the movie for you. However, if you recall how much you enjoyed “Tremors” or other B-grade horror movies that reveled in the B-gradedness (yes, it is a word - because I say so) like “Re-Animator” or “Night of the Creeps,” “Slither” is right up your alley.

Deer season is about to open in the rural community of Wheelsy and all of the good ole boys and girls are ready for some hunting. What they don’t know though is they may be hunting something else really soon and, more than likely, they’ll find themselves being hunted by said mutants, zombies and space slugs. The weirdeness starts when Grant Grant, one of the wealthier guys in town, gets stung by some egg-like thing that fell from space. He goes all mutant, starts eating lots of raw meat and impregnates a local barfly with something really, really nasty. Soon, the space slugs are unleashed and if they wiggle their way into someone, that person becomes a zombie-like creature that is connected with the mind of Grant. Basically, Grant can see and hear everything that his zombie minions can see and hear and he can speak through them. This makes his attempts to reconciliate with his hot wife Starla both creepy and hilarious.

That tone is present throughout the film and that’s what makes “Slither” so much fun. The performances are on target, especially from Nathan Fillion (Captain Mal from “Firefly” and “Serenity”) who plays the reluctantly heroic sheriff, and Gregg Henry, the profane, wheeling and dealing mayor. Writer-director James Gunn clearly had a blast creating Wheelsy and all of its colorful characters and then trashing the place. “Slither” has a lot going for it, especially when the audience is cracking up in one scene, only to be cringing the next. I mean, there’s a zombie deer, for crying out loud.

So, what’s missing? For me, I wanted a little more of the townsfolk and it would have been really great to have one scene of the zombie deer taking down some hunters. For as crazy as “Slither” got, and it was pretty crazy, it could have been even crazier, especially earlier in the film, when things were a little slow.

Still, if you like your horror to have a funny bone, or you like your comedy to be gooey and gross, “Slither” is the film for you.

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