Nathan Fillion

MAGGOTS, ZOMBIES AND MORE: ’Slither’ delights in gruesome grossness

With his script for 2004’s "Dawn of the Dead," James Gunn surprised prickly horror fans with a remake that was not only reverent but also fresh and funny.

As both writer and director of "Slither," Gunn not only resurrects the living dead, but also every other horror/sci-fi hybrid to ever grace the drive-in screen.

If the movie disappoints, it’s by trying too hard to please with a nonstop assault of tongue-in-cheek chills and gross gags.

"The Blob" and "It Came from Outer Space" come to mind in the first act, which finds Grant (Michael Rooker with a shaved head and bug-eyed glasses) stumbling upon a meteorite in the woods. A sticky trail leads to a Martian maggot that shoots a spike into Grant’s abdomen, transforming him into an octopus creature intent on taking over his small town and eventually the world.

Grant can’t do the job alone. He requires human hosts whose stomachs he can use to hatch millions of extraterrestrial slugs. If one of these parasites finds its way into your mouth, it will turn you into a flesh-eating zombie. Expect an unintentional strain of creepiness (seemingly torn from recent headlines) when decapitated family pets become zombie chow.

It’s no coincidence that "Slither" casts Nathan Fillion as local lawman Bill Pardy. The star of TV’s "Firefly" (and the big-screen "Serenity") employs the same deadpan delivery as he dispatches zombies, slugs and Grant, who is still at large (and getting larger) ravaging the countryside.

Bill keeps his head among a handful of survivors, including a sleazeball mayor (Gregg Henry, another "Firefly" vet) and Grant’s pretty wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks), who also happens to be Bill’s old flame.

The special effects range from sophisticated to intentionally cheesy. While phallic, computer-generated slugs slink across white bathroom tile in the movie’s signature set piece, an attack from a mutated Bambi looks like it was achieved with a ketchup-covered, stuffed deer head.

I know it’s supposed to be silly, but "Slither" feels more like a scattershot spoof than a fine-tuned piece of entertainment. It’s easy to appreciate a movie that loves the horror and sci-fi genres this much. Truly enjoying "Slither" requires you to become a bit of a zombie yourself and succumb to Gunn’s gruesome giddiness.